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The Depression Thing

zachholman.com

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Re: The Depression Thing

#171

Post by taco_emoji »

Swizec wrote: post #38
ElatedOwl wrote: post #15

I was diagnosed with "major depression" when I was 14, did the medication and therapy thing for a bit but the medication made me a zombie. Therapy helped me learn to cope a little better, but I was never "cured" of my depression. My 20s have been pretty bad, but in the last year and a half I've lost 100+lbs and have been running and lifting. It turns out the common sense advice to depression was really what I needed…

Yup same here. Clinical depression in high school, meds, therapy, suicide watch the whole shebang. Fun times, can’t remember two years of my life. So far the only thing that’s actually worked has been staying busy/productive/creative, good nutrition, exercise etc. Everyone always tells me I’m an insensitive dick when i suggest getting off their ass and doing stuff to treat their depression. But fuck it, that shit wor…

I don't think suggesting lifestyle changes to treat depression makes you an insensitive dick, but I do think implying that it works for every depressed person does.

Re: The Depression Thing

#172

Post by Nav_Panel »

johnny99 wrote: post #89
Nav_Panel wrote: post #66

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is an almost absurd criticism ("be careful telling people to sleep, people I know who were depressed followed that advice and slept for 12-14 hours every day"). Let's fix it by being more specific, so we don't accidentally cause any more problems: "daily moderate-intensity cardiovascular exercise" (or, if you prefer, "resistance training 3x week"). Or even, "a healthy level of exercise". I agree that therapy is…

Sometimes you need a therapist and/or meds to figure out that you need to (or even can) figure it out, and it's possible to overdo just about anything, certainly including exercise and sleep. Depression puts you at the bottom of a well, and by definition not thinking clearly. You're dangerously close to telling people to just deal with it on their own, which is harmful and cold.

Certainly. I have been in the position before where I was at the bottom of my own personal pit and was unable to begin exercising on my own (severely depressed and obese, not a great combination to begin an exercise program). It's not an easy thing to get started doing _anything_ when you're depressed, habits are hard to change. People shouldn't be expected to change these things (purely) on their own, as a lot is a function of environment/genetics/overall life situation, but...

I can recall clearly what it would have been like (for me personally at least) were I in a strongly depressive state: I'd read the comment warning me about exercise, then I'd be afraid to exercise at all.

By framing exercise as a risky behavior based on a few exceptional anecdotes, the poster does depressed readers a disservice. It's relatively established that depressed people are more risk averse in general[1][2], and exercise also has well established benefits in treating symptoms of depression (I shouldn't have to cite sources for this one). The benefits far outweigh the risks.

1: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2590786/

2: https://www.nesda.nl/nesda/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/Wiersm...

Re: The Depression Thing

#173

Post by kevindqc »

Omnius wrote: post #75
gblain23 wrote: post #11

Cutting gluten out of my life basically "cured" my depression, which sounds crazy, since it is just something I'm eating... I'm not allergic, but probably intolerant. I ate wheat for most of my life. I'm pretty sure it is related to inflammation, and how eating wheat products probably screwed my digestion up. I also rarely get sick anymore. Not trying to suggest that medicine, therapy, etc. does or does not work, jus…

1 hour hold account 1 hour old comment. I am not trying to be negative but i have seen no science to state that cutting gluten is going to do anything at all for anyone unless they have Celiac disease. You want to back that up with study or something? Its just WOO if i am wrong i will be happy to eat some crow. Further more the comment near this one about some imaginary threshold of MEME count gives something legitim…

God forbid someone mentions their own experience, especially if they have a disclaimer it's only their own experience!

Re: The Depression Thing

#174

Post by [deleted] »

ElatedOwl wrote: post #15

I was diagnosed with "major depression" when I was 14, did the medication and therapy thing for a bit but the medication made me a zombie. Therapy helped me learn to cope a little better, but I was never "cured" of my depression. My 20s have been pretty bad, but in the last year and a half I've lost 100+lbs and have been running and lifting. It turns out the common sense advice to depression was really what I needed…

[deleted]

Re: The Depression Thing

#175

Post by holman »

gt_ wrote: post #80

Psychologists are much better trained than therapists. If at all possible, see a psychologist. Therapists are minimally trained, and do not understand neurological conditions on nearly the same level. If your issues are beyond basic depression, a therapist will not be able to tell.

(OP here). I don't necessarily want to disagree with you, but I think the answer with all of these things is "well, it depends". It really depends on the person, the situation, and everything.

I think some people are perfectly fine seeing a therapist. My therapist was a psychologist as well, so that opened up some avenues that we might not have been able to explore otherwise, but when it came to any brain chemistry thing he was very quick to say, hey, go see a specialist in this area.

I think that's kind of the commonality here; I know people who have seen different people (of varying professional degrees) and they hated their person. Sometimes it just depends on if you click or not.

(Unfortunately, "hey go see a therapist/psychologist/psychiatrist, but also it might take you a few months and people before you're comfortable!" is not a great rallying cry for people who are really depressed. But unfortunately that's how it goes sometimes.)

In either case, I do agree with you that it's important to know what type of person you're seeking out, and whether you think that'll jive with what will help.

Re: The Depression Thing

#176

Post by eswat »

health insurance problems (yay 🇺🇸, home of the brave, land of the shit health system)

Not sure about other countries with universal healthcare, but seeking therapy for depression in Canada isn’t exactly that much better.

Such treatments aren’t covered by public health insurance so you’ll be spending $100/hr CAD, likely more, out-of-pocket.

When I sought therapy, and this is probably due to unfortunate timing or being in an underserved city (but highly doubt it being Ottawa), I had to wait 3+ months before any therapist near me had room. By that time I had largely remedied my depression myself out of necessity.

EDIT: Realized I’m conflating psychiatry and psychotherapy with my comment. The former is covered by our system but due to the demand you’re looking at several months before seeing someone. My example of waiting 3+ months was just for a psychotherapist.

Re: The Depression Thing

#177

Post by taco_emoji »

dogruck wrote: post #2

My view is that depression is a treatable medical illness. I've never been depressed, but I've lost friends to depression. Edit: to the down voters, I'm not implying it's any easier than, say, beating cancer.

Let's say I post on a relevant article that I think P equals NP, and that I've seen some NP problems that don't yet have polynomial-time solutions. That's it; no justification for the statement, no further elaboration. Would you say my comment was interesting, or valuable, or really added anything to the discussion whatsoever? Or would you think that I was just posting a random, unsubstantiated opinion that actually distracted from productive conversation on the issue at hand?

Re: The Depression Thing

#178

Post by songshu »

ada1981 wrote: post #23

MDMA assisted therapy helped heal this in me entirely. I found depression was resistance to feeling and accepting my emotions fully and that I could instead make space to engage with and be with emotions.

How did you deal with the come downs?

Re: The Depression Thing

#179

Post by dovin »

pure_ambition wrote: post #84

People: PLEASE STOP recommending depressed people to take psychedelics. There is no such thing as "psychedelic therapy." Psychedelics can easily make people with mental health issues MUCH WORSE. Nobody needs a full blown existential crisis on top of major depression. I get it if you like the idea of doing psychedelics, but they are mind-altering in significant and poorly understood ways, and can easily cause others h…

Psychedelic therapy is very real. MDMA was recently deemed a "breakthrough therapy" by the FDA, which means Phase 3 trials are being fast-tracked as they have shown so far to treat PTSD far better than anything currently on the market.

This is just the beginning of rigorous research into psychedelic therapy. We don't have good non-anecdotal data on how it treats depression yet, but we'll get there. And the data is compelling enough so far that to completely dismiss the entire idea is closing your eyes to very valuable tools that we're just beginning to understand.

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