Sky Diving Cured My Depression
nytimes.com
Sky Diving Cured My Depression
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Re: Sky Diving Cured My Depression
#2There's an incredible amount of euphoria when you conquer your fears.
Re: Sky Diving Cured My Depression
#3The history of alpinism can, to at least a first approximation, be summarized as "veterans with PTSD fixing their heads the best way they knew how". This goes for freeclimbing too, to a somewhat lesser extent.
I heard a interview with a vet and climber once who described the appeal of alpinism as "all of the good parts of combat, without the shooting or any conscious thing trying to cause me harm".
Skydiving sounds similar, if shorter in duration than 3 weeks on K2 or something.
Re: Sky Diving Cured My Depression
#4I'm not a fan of the clickbait title here. It trivializes depression.
I think the only cure for depression is death. Too morbid?
You manage depression with behavior and therapy. You can attempt to treat some of the symptoms with drugs. You can break out of a rut by trying new things. But curing depression... like once and for all? That's not realistic.
"Sky diving helped me get out of a depressive episode," or "Skydiving helped me stave off having depressive episodes..." would be more accurate.
Re: Sky Diving Cured My Depression
#5I'm not a fan of the clickbait title here. It trivializes depression. I think the only cure for depression is death. Too morbid? You manage depression with behavior and therapy. You can attempt to treat some of the symptoms with drugs. You can break out of a rut by trying new things. But curing depression... like once and for all? That's not realistic. "Sky diving helped me get out of a depressive episode," or "Skydi…
“Stave off episodes” or “cure” is a modelling distinction.
If the sense of depression doesn’t cloud over a life anymore, they both amount to the same thing.
There’s nothing trivializing about that. It’s just an individual’s story of coping, recovery, and hope.
Re: Sky Diving Cured My Depression
#6I'm not a fan of the clickbait title here. It trivializes depression. I think the only cure for depression is death. Too morbid? You manage depression with behavior and therapy. You can attempt to treat some of the symptoms with drugs. You can break out of a rut by trying new things. But curing depression... like once and for all? That's not realistic. "Sky diving helped me get out of a depressive episode," or "Skydi…
As someone with a sourceless depression for many years, I also used to think (and still do sometimes) that death/oblivion is the only "real" cure, and anything else is a temporary distraction from the problem.
Lately I've been trying to see it from a different direction: What am I really looking for when I harbor suicidal thoughts? Escape, and more specifically: Freedom.
It's not that I WANT to die; on the contrary, I want to live forever! There's too many things I want to do and see. I want to get off this planet and learn what's beyond. But I can't, and in the back of my mind I feel there's no point to anything. I like to create but nothing lasts forever. So I'd be content with just being able to explore and discover as much as I can, as long as I can.
Skydiving definitely gives a sense of freedom, as well as some degree of control – I could choose to throw away my parachute and splat on the ground – but I suppose the rush of physical sensations might make one feel alive enough at the moment to not want to die just then..
Re: Sky Diving Cured My Depression
#7I'd love to see a clinical trial on this. What's a suitable placebo for jumping out of a plane, I wonder?
Re: Sky Diving Cured My Depression
#8Definitely, would do it regularly if not for my daughter.
Cheapest therapy ever, ~$200. Everything in life gets the reset button. Just so happy to be ALIVE. I kissed the ground on my return, haha.
A friend asked how long it lasts, personally was about two months, but there are still residual effects years later.
Re: Sky Diving Cured My Depression
#9Motorcycling can do this too. I've ridden with quite a few people who get depressed if they can't ride.
Re: Sky Diving Cured My Depression
#10I'm not a fan of the clickbait title here. It trivializes depression. I think the only cure for depression is death. Too morbid? You manage depression with behavior and therapy. You can attempt to treat some of the symptoms with drugs. You can break out of a rut by trying new things. But curing depression... like once and for all? That's not realistic. "Sky diving helped me get out of a depressive episode," or "Skydi…
Skydivers suffer from depression too. It would be interesting to know if skydivers as a group are more or less depressed than non skydivers or people who skydive less frequently. Are the effects the same for someone with +1000 jumps or is it the change in environment/trying new things that is the key to stave off an episode?