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Poll: How often do you get depressed?

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Re: Poll: How often do you get depressed?

#21

Post by gruseom »

rickdangerous1 wrote: post #20
gruseom wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If a young person is depressed for days at a time a few times a year, that young person has a clinical case of depression That is far from obvious. The medicalization of depression is itself questionable. There are eloquent dissents by informed critics. It's certainly the majority view right now, but is more a paradigm than a proven truth, and these things are notorious for being subject to fashion. It wouldn't be su…

I agree with you about the medicalization of depression. The unspoken boogey man behind this is that the professionals say this kind of thing in the belief that medicalization is a lesser evil than the prospect of young people killing themselves. Its the old problem of whats good for society isn't necessarily good for the individuals. Wide spread medicalization of depression saves lives, but the cost is that individu…

the professionals say this kind of thing in the belief that medicalization is a lesser evil than the prospect of young people killing themselves

Interesting. I hadn't heard that before. How do you know this?

Have suicides really gone down with the advent of antidepressants? I remember lawsuits about increased rates of suicides among adolescents prescribed some of them. It would be interesting to know the overall rates.

Re: Poll: How often do you get depressed?

#22

Post by keyist »

Didn't expect the results -- thought it'd be less common.

Here's a couple of resources I've found helpful wrt understanding and avoiding depression. Hopefully they'll be useful to someone.

Short: http://lesswrong.com/lw/sc/existential_angst_factory/

Longer: Martin Seligman's book on Learned Optimism http://www.amazon.com/Learned-Optimism-Change-Your-Mind/dp/1...

Re: Poll: How often do you get depressed?

#23

Post by modelic3 »

gruseom wrote: post #15
modelic3 wrote: post #14

I've learned that exercising on a quasi-regular basis 4 times a week and spending an hour by myself once a week cures all psychological ills.

Exercise: absolutely. I wish someone had told me when I was younger how dramatic an effect it has. (I mean mentally and emotionally, not physically, though obviously there are physical benefits too.) It still amazes me. spending an hour by myself once a week Man, I'd go insane if I only got an hour's worth of solitude a week.

It used to be more for me too but somehow as I've gotten older the amount of time has decreased.

Re: Poll: How often do you get depressed?

#24

Post by dfranke »

I went through a serious period of depression during high school. I missed a huge amount of school and there was a period of about a month during which my parents were considering having me committed to an institution.

The key to beating depression is introspection. Recognize it for what it is: a couple chemicals in your brain that are out of whack. No small matter, and there's probably a cause. But your mental faculties are still there -- they just have a distraction breaking their concentration. Think of it just like a loud noise, and tune it out, then figure out where it's coming from and silence it.

Re: Poll: How often do you get depressed?

#25

Post by zasz »

gruseom wrote: post #15
modelic3 wrote: post #14

I've learned that exercising on a quasi-regular basis 4 times a week and spending an hour by myself once a week cures all psychological ills.

Exercise: absolutely. I wish someone had told me when I was younger how dramatic an effect it has. (I mean mentally and emotionally, not physically, though obviously there are physical benefits too.) It still amazes me. spending an hour by myself once a week Man, I'd go insane if I only got an hour's worth of solitude a week.

Interesting. I feel like I'm the only person who hasn't noticed much of a difference, emotionally speaking, even after dramatically increasing the amount I exercise. (I biked about 8 hours a day this summer, and now that I've started work, I ride my bike to work.)

Re: Poll: How often do you get depressed?

#27

Post by anonjon »

Honestly, every day around 3:00.

My Brain gets tired from hacking. It wanders into the depressed area of my thoughts because of this.

I contemplate all of the mistakes, regrets and missed opportunities I've had. I can spend the rest of the day in a melancholy funk.

Sometimes I used wonder how can I go on as a person; but now-a-days I wonder how I can go on as a programmer, because I know (believe?) it is a pattern related to my profession.

I don't know what else I would do as a career, however.

Re: Poll: How often do you get depressed?

#28

Post by modelic3 »

zasz wrote: post #25
gruseom wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Exercise: absolutely. I wish someone had told me when I was younger how dramatic an effect it has. (I mean mentally and emotionally, not physically, though obviously there are physical benefits too.) It still amazes me. spending an hour by myself once a week Man, I'd go insane if I only got an hour's worth of solitude a week.

Interesting. I feel like I'm the only person who hasn't noticed much of a difference, emotionally speaking, even after dramatically increasing the amount I exercise. (I biked about 8 hours a day this summer, and now that I've started work, I ride my bike to work.)

I think it's more about learning to be more in tune with one's own biological processes and rhythms and exercise is one way of achieving it.
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