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Poll: Have you experienced depressive symptoms over the past two weeks?

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Re: Poll: Have you experienced depressive symptoms over the past two weeks?

#191

Post by nemo1618 »

simonebrunozzi wrote: post #190
danielvaughn wrote: post #22

I don't felt the need to see a doctor about what I'm experiencing, so I'm not sure if what I have qualifies as depression. But over the past several months, it feels like my entire personality and being is a rug that has been pulled out from underneath me. I'm no longer the driven and interested person that I used to be. I struggle to sit down and work - my brain feels scattered and no matter how much I sleep and res…

> I don't felt The correct way to say this is "I didn't feel". It might be irrelevant, but if I were in your shoes I would have liked to be shown the correct way to say it. Not trying to be pedantic. Edit: unless you meant "I haven't felt", which has of course a different meaning.

"I don't feel" is grammatically correct and has lower edit distance.

Re: Poll: Have you experienced depressive symptoms over the past two weeks?

#192

Post by Pokepokalypse »

tbenst wrote: post #70
proverbialbunny wrote: post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>So is that depression? Yep, but the cause in your case is unknown. For example, it could be work burnout causing it. It could be not going outside that is causing it. It could be not socializing that is causing it. It could be your diet. It could be ... If you can identify the cause you can find a solution. Unfortunately, the best most people have is a shotgun approach where they try a combination of solutions attem…

This is a kind and thoughtful reply. I would push back on the notion that there has to be a cause for depression. Maybe there is, but it can lead to the dangerous conclusion that it’s somehow one’s fault, when it’s actually a maladaptive behavioral state; a disease. Fully agree with your advice to talk to a professional.

That's true, and it's a standard grief-mechanism to try to look for a cause. Especially people with an analytical personality. Their go-to emotional coping mechanism for bad feelings can become to try to analyzed and problem-solve. And while you can do that if your depression has an obvious cause. . . there are tons of people who are depressed for no obvious reason - OR - there is no way to get out of the situation that's causing it.

The solution in those cases is to not try to solve it, but instead to let the 'emotional' part of the brain do it's natural function and simply process the emotions. It's difficult because the emotional part of the brain does NOT have the ability to use language. It evolved hundreds of millions of years ago, and is the deepest part of our central nervous system, and absolutely necessary for our survival. It can not be shut off or ignored. And in the case of depression, it may or may not be "normal" - but it is doing it's job.

Re: Poll: Have you experienced depressive symptoms over the past two weeks?

#194

Post by Pokepokalypse »

steve_adams_86 wrote: post #122
danielvaughn wrote: post #22

I don't felt the need to see a doctor about what I'm experiencing, so I'm not sure if what I have qualifies as depression. But over the past several months, it feels like my entire personality and being is a rug that has been pulled out from underneath me. I'm no longer the driven and interested person that I used to be. I struggle to sit down and work - my brain feels scattered and no matter how much I sleep and res…

I find it so strange that when people have such clear indicators of depression, they’re still like “I’m not sure if this is legit depression but...” I personally got to the point where I was practically fantasizing about dying and still wasn’t sure if that’s real depression. I think we ease into it and forget what being happy was like, such that the depression practically becomes normal. It’s awful

That's because depression is deeply tied into the Kubler-Ross model, and the natural first response in the process of grieving is denial.

It's really amazing how easy this is to understand, if you've been through it.

Re: Poll: Have you experienced depressive symptoms over the past two weeks?

#195

Post by mjayhn »

fasteddie31003 wrote: post #129

I hate to be that guy but 2020 has been one of the best years of my life. My girlfriend and I moved out of our 600 sq/ft apt Oakland apartment for Colorado. We now have a good sized house with a large garage for wood working and my new found love of tig welding. It's honestly more walkable/bikable here than Oakland. My car is unlocked with things people could steal in it right now and I don't have anxiety about it.

I mean this is literally all stuff you could have done prior to 2020 and I guarantee you would have had a more enjoyable time doing all of this in 2019.

Since you're new to CO I hope you'll also contribute to the local issues. Today we're helping unhoused Coloradans have water to drink at Benedict Fountain Park. We do this every Sunday.

https://twitter.com/believeEan/status/1327988637468827649

Re: Poll: Have you experienced depressive symptoms over the past two weeks?

#196

Post by proverbialbunny »

hyperpallium2 wrote: post #187
proverbialbunny wrote: post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>So is that depression? Yep, but the cause in your case is unknown. For example, it could be work burnout causing it. It could be not going outside that is causing it. It could be not socializing that is causing it. It could be your diet. It could be ... If you can identify the cause you can find a solution. Unfortunately, the best most people have is a shotgun approach where they try a combination of solutions attem…

doing the exact opposite of how you feel It can be a surprising truth that you have the freedom to choose to do something, even if you don't feel you want to. Your agency is not enslaved to your emotions. Another tack is to approach the activity as an experiment or exploration. Not I must do this , or even if I do this it will help , but: I wonder if it will help, or even I bet it won't, let's see who's right!

I see even when people can rationalize it correctly, that is see the long term gains from doing it, tend to still be enslaved to their present feelings if those feelings are strong enough. This is the struggle of depression.

I find for situations like that, the blastoff technique works well. When you find you need to do something, instead of thinking about it, start counting backwards from 5, like you're a rocket getting ready to blastoff. It takes 4-5 seconds for the other part of the mind to come in and override the action, so as long as you jump out of bed before that timer hits zero, it's easy. This way you can do whatever it is you need to get done regardless how you feel. You can always think about how to do it once you've gotten started. It sounds silly but it works very well and is super easy to do. A zen teacher once told me, "Don't think. Do." to mean basically the same thing.

Re: Poll: Have you experienced depressive symptoms over the past two weeks?

#197

Post by proverbialbunny »

Spoom wrote: post #172
proverbialbunny wrote: post #88

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Thanks. I see how that could be a concern. To address it, there can be causality without fault. Fault is a kind of blame. Blame is when you take out a timeline and put your finger down on an arbitrary part and say, "It's because of this." and fault is taking that arbitrary point and reducing the event down into actors by saying, "It's because of you everything went wrong." Looking closely, fault provides no benefit.…

There are scenarios where there is not a clear cause that is within the person's control. Granted, I think your suggestions are great places to start, and helpful for many. That said, some cases of depression cannot be effectively treated without therapy or medication, and I think it's a bit... incomplete to suggest otherwise.

No one knows that until they've exhausted other options.

Hope is not a bad thing, unless you want to sit around and do nothing with your life and feel terrible. To be concerned with the impossible is a symptom and a cause of depression, called learned helplessness.

Re: Poll: Have you experienced depressive symptoms over the past two weeks?

#198

Post by proverbialbunny »

Pokepokalypse wrote: post #192
tbenst wrote: post #70

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is a kind and thoughtful reply. I would push back on the notion that there has to be a cause for depression. Maybe there is, but it can lead to the dangerous conclusion that it’s somehow one’s fault, when it’s actually a maladaptive behavioral state; a disease. Fully agree with your advice to talk to a professional.

That's true, and it's a standard grief-mechanism to try to look for a cause. Especially people with an analytical personality. Their go-to emotional coping mechanism for bad feelings can become to try to analyzed and problem-solve. And while you can do that if your depression has an obvious cause. . . there are tons of people who are depressed for no obvious reason - OR - there is no way to get out of the situation t…

>The solution in those cases is to not try to solve it, but instead to let the 'emotional' part of the brain do it's natural function and simply process the emotions. It's difficult because the emotional part of the brain does NOT have the ability to use language. It evolved hundreds of millions of years ago, and is the deepest part of our central nervous system, and absolutely necessary for our survival. It can not be shut off or ignored. And in the case of depression, it may or may not be "normal" - but it is doing it's job.

If you try to fight stress (which masquerades itself as problem-solving) it will create more stress. When you're okay in the present moment -- you've let go and accepted how you feel through recognizing the stress is temporary like a rain cloud; it will go away without doing anything -- you can passively and non-interactively observe what is going on, which is the beginning of learning. This learning then turns into answers or at first something to talk about with a therapist. Therapy can help quite a bit with this one. This process of passively observing in a relaxed state no matter how bad you feel, is called meditation, and it's what you're talking about, "let the 'emotional' part of the brain do it's natural function and simply process the emotions".

>And while you can do that if your depression has an obvious cause. . . there are tons of people who are depressed for no obvious reason - OR - there is no way to get out of the situation that's causing it.

That's not really true though. The high majority (88%) of people who go in for CBT therapy are cured from their depression in under 3 months, and of the majority who do not, the largest group is avoidant of psychological work. Yes, there is a small subset of incurable depression. The current theory is it has to do with ones gut biome, but those are estimated to be around 1% of people with depression, and for the majority of those people antidepressants do nothing. They have this constant stomach ache. However, those people can still get benefit by learning how to deal with the situation and live a happy and healthy life. Eg, changing diet can remove many of the symptoms. Calling it depression is even somewhat controversial, because of how different it is from all of the other kinds of depression.

People have yet to realize how far modern psychology has come, in part because most psychologists today practice an ancient form that barely, if at all, helps.

Re: Poll: Have you experienced depressive symptoms over the past two weeks?

#200

Post by proverbialbunny »

sleazy_b wrote: post #107
suifbwish wrote: post #81

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Great advice. I would add that another strategy that has been useful to many is that when you are feeling negative emotions stirring up uncontrollably, it’s important to remember they aren’t real. They are just feelings. At the end of the day all you have is your body, mind, health and wealth. However you feel about those things will change quite a bit throughout the average persons lifetime. What matters today might…

I think they are real. Just because they are a temporary state or contradicted by other real feelings doesn’t make them not real. For me it has been helpful to remember that how I’m feeling now is not the only way I’ll feel and how I’m thinking about a subject is not the only way I have to think about that subject. Feelings and thoughts change, as you said.

I think what suifbwish is getting at is the more meta-physical nature of emotions. What I mean by that is one has strong vivid thought about some doom that will come or some horrible thing that happened in the past and they are strong emotions. It's easy to get caught up in them and lose the present moment. When you lose the present moment your mind can not differentiate between now and a memory, so it thinks the memory is now and responds accordingly.

Memories and emotions are not "real" in that they are not the present moment, and being able to stay grounded in the present moment while having these thoughts can help. In metaphor, it's like pinching yourself while dreaming.

What imo helps the most is realizing everything is impermanent / temporary. If you have a particularly gruesome emotion you can know you don't have to do anything, because it will go away on its own, like a rain cloud, in due time. So you can relax even while freaking out.

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