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We Need to Have Sympathy for Those With Depression. It is an Illness

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Re: We Need to Have Sympathy for Those With Depression. It is an Illness

#41

Post by kanzure »

jtchang wrote: post #32
marvin wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Depression can be diagnosed pretty easily by running through a form of questions and checking off checkboxes. You are depressed if some statistical measures score above a certain value. To which degree are you...Sad? Have trouble getting things done? Don't find joy in the things that used to make you happy? Thinking about death? Feel any emotions at all? Afraid that something terrible is about to happen? Thinking abo…

Why isn't it an exact science? Science teaches us that things should be repeatable and reproducible. Running through a form of questions and ticking off boxes doesn't seem very "advanced" to me. In fact it seems like the very definition of backwards. Why aren't we aiming for a physics level of understanding in psychology?

> Why aren't we aiming for a physics level of understanding in psychology?

We call that neuroscience. On a related note, Henry Markram just got $1.3 billion EUR for whole brain emulation. So there's that.

Re: We Need to Have Sympathy for Those With Depression. It is an Illness

#42

Post by atsaloli »

Mithrandir wrote: post #11
imperio59 wrote: post #3

Where are the clinical tests for depression? The diagnosis is solely based on the opinion of the practitioner, there is no brain scan or chemical test that can conclusively prove that someone is suffering from depression. The so called "drugs" used to treat depression are no better, they "are thought to work" (big pharma phrases it this way in their own TV ads) by re-balancing the brain's chemistry, but in actual fac…

Note: The video linked to by parent is by CCHR, a known Scientology front group[1]. Doesn't mean they're necessarily right or wrong, just thought people should know. 1: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Citizens_Commission_on_Human_R...

Actually, it's no secret that CCHR is related to the Church of Scientology. It says so on www.scientology.org:

As part of their religious Code, Scientologists pledge “to expose and help abolish any and all physically damaging practices in the field of mental health,” and thereby bring about an atmosphere of safety and security to mental healing. Accordingly, in 1969 Scientologists established the Citizens Commission on Human Rights (CCHR), a watchdog group that investigates and exposes psychiatric violations of human rights.

http://www.scientology.org/activity/citizens-commission-on-h...

What's an example of a physically damaging practice? How about involuntary commitment? How about psychosurgery? Forced electroshock? How about being drugged against your will? How about raped in a psych hospital?

Here is what CCHR does about it:

http://www.cchr.org/about-us/cchr-accomplishments.html

I'd call CCHR a social reform group.

Re: We Need to Have Sympathy for Those With Depression. It is an Illness

#44

Post by lifeisstillgood »

austenallred wrote: post #23

Thank you, Mark, for writing this. I have lost three close friends in the past three months to depression. Their deaths were so similar it was shocking; they were all among the most brilliant people I had known, and all had been suffering from depression almost their entire lives. At the funeral of the one who was closest to me, another girl told a story of how on one day when his depression was particularly bad, he…

Thank you for a quote I will now use always going forward

  Depression took his life
Every other disease and illness is personified outside the body - only depression is treated as a choice we make instead of a illness we caught.

Thank you and I am sorry for your loss.

Re: We Need to Have Sympathy for Those With Depression. It is an Illness

#45

Post by khitchdee »

eshvk wrote: post #27
ekianjo wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I am not sure which part of Asia you are referring to, but in Japan there is "depression boom", at least judging by the increased amount of anti-depressants being sold.

I lived in India and the conditions could be described to be bleak enough to make the most optimistic person sad. Suicide rates there were 10x what they are in the west. I am not even sure there is enough cultural understanding and sensitivity about depression: There used to be an uproar and attempts to treat the symptoms when high school kids used to commit suicide by the dozen (typically after poor exam results). (…

Depression is having a negative outlook on life over an extended period of time that starts effecting your everyday decisions and causing you to withdraw from social situations. It's an extension of being sad. Turn it around. If you're happy most of the time, it will be difficult for a psychiatrist to classify you as being depressed.

Re: We Need to Have Sympathy for Those With Depression. It is an Illness

#46

Post by pfortuny »

austenallred wrote: post #23

Thank you, Mark, for writing this. I have lost three close friends in the past three months to depression. Their deaths were so similar it was shocking; they were all among the most brilliant people I had known, and all had been suffering from depression almost their entire lives. At the funeral of the one who was closest to me, another girl told a story of how on one day when his depression was particularly bad, he…

What you say about 'getting out of bed to brush his teeth' is exactly what my friend, a psychiatrist, told another friend of mine about his illness: you have to value EACH and EVERYTHING you do, even if it is just getting up and having a shower.

Help, help, help, support, support, support, being able to talk to someone who just listens and does not say 'cheer up' because you CANNOT either cheer or up. Perceive that you are loved and you are counted upon even when you feel the opposite, and that you are not seen as a nuisance (which is what one thinks in that state).

So hard to help, so much in need of it.

Re: We Need to Have Sympathy for Those With Depression. It is an Illness

#47

Post by chris_wot »

Right now I am depressed. I feel terrible, and very, very guilty that I feel the way I do. I don't want to do anything, but I do want to do something to distract me away from my awful feeling of numbness. I worry about the future at times, and feel I'm at a dead end. I worry about my kids, and my wife, and my ageing parents. I'm sleeping constantly, but when I sleep my dreams are too vivid.

Despite it all, I'm a functioning human being. I function at work so I use this to distract myself. It's a fairly dull job at the moment while I try to do a Computer Science degree. But I've had to defer it due to family pressures and because of this blasted funk. I intended to study in my own time, especially mathematics, but I just can't get enough motivation to do it now. I was teaching myself JPA from scratch, and was making headway, that's gone out the window. I had some ideas for an ITSM app, but that's gone too. I feel like I haven't fulfilled my goals, and a failure.

I'm not a raging depressive, but a few weeks ago I couldn't stop crying. I feel like a burden so I'm trying to hide it all. It leaks out. So I sleep, and this reduces my ability to socialise. I then feel guilty, but nobody is judging me.

It's life I guess. I don't write this to ask for pity, but to explain what it's like, while it's happening. If I had to summarise my mental state, it's like a piece of me has died inside. Knowing that it will go away doesn't really help the feeling, but it gives me fortitude to get to the next day.

I hope this might give some insight to those who haven't felt this way before.

Re: We Need to Have Sympathy for Those With Depression. It is an Illness

#48

Post by austenallred »

chris_wot wrote: post #47

Right now I am depressed. I feel terrible, and very, very guilty that I feel the way I do. I don't want to do anything, but I do want to do something to distract me away from my awful feeling of numbness. I worry about the future at times, and feel I'm at a dead end. I worry about my kids, and my wife, and my ageing parents. I'm sleeping constantly, but when I sleep my dreams are too vivid. Despite it all, I'm a func…

Thank you for your excellent explanation. There's no way I can comprehend what you're going through, but I have the utmost respect for you. Carry on, you're a champ.

Re: We Need to Have Sympathy for Those With Depression. It is an Illness

#49

Post by dtf »

andreasklinger wrote: post #39
austenallred wrote: post #23

Thank you, Mark, for writing this. I have lost three close friends in the past three months to depression. Their deaths were so similar it was shocking; they were all among the most brilliant people I had known, and all had been suffering from depression almost their entire lives. At the funeral of the one who was closest to me, another girl told a story of how on one day when his depression was particularly bad, he…

I love the comparison to being paralysed. Being "mentally paralysed" is actually a good description.

It does feel to me to be one of the cognitive routes into a depressive state. A cluster of problems can overwhelm thinking and mood to such a deep level that it descends beyond reasoning. It's "analysis paralysis" that has worked its way deep into less rational parts of the brain to become a standard mode. Once your brain loses its sense of agency it just kind of collapses in on itself, stewing in an abstract gloop of impossibilities.
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