Depression

[RH33]

He was desperate.

[Heart of Northern]

Bad day. I seem to be dragging my whole family down,kids and all. Its shit when I feel like this. Worried about my depression getting to the kids. Wife took them out for the day. I haven't moved from the bed. I have been trying to handle this with just my meds. I haven't spoken to anyone about it and I reckon its getting on top of me again. My Mrs isn't having it easy living with me at the moment. I reckon she's at her wits end.

[eindhovendee]

Bad day. I seem to be dragging my whole family down,kids and all. Its shit when I feel like this. Worried about my depression getting to the kids. Wife took them out for the day. I haven't moved from the bed. I have been trying to handle this with just my meds. I haven't spoken to anyone about it and I reckon its getting on top of me again. My Mrs isn't having it easy living with me at the moment. I reckon she's at her wits end.

No idea what you should do except get professional help mate.

Good luck.

[paranoid android]

Bad day. I seem to be dragging my whole family down,kids and all. Its shit when I feel like this. Worried about my depression getting to the kids. Wife took them out for the day. I haven't moved from the bed. I have been trying to handle this with just my meds. I haven't spoken to anyone about it and I reckon its getting on top of me again. My Mrs isn't having it easy living with me at the moment. I reckon she's at her wits end.

Call your local GP for an appointment tomorrow, mate - also see the excellent links provided in previous posts.

[Heart of Northern]

Cheers for the replies. Its lifted a bit but I genuinely felt I was getting over it. It just seemed to swamp me earlier today. Very up and down since the initial help from the meds but I'll call go tomorrow I reckoned.

[scotboy7]

Cheers for the replies. Its lifted a bit but I genuinely felt I was getting over it. It just seemed to swamp me earlier today. Very up and down since the initial help from the meds but I'll call go tomorrow I reckoned.

You don't say how long you've been on your meds. It may be that they are the wrong type for you and a visit to the doctor will help. I was on a particular type of tablet for around a month and my moods were even worse until I got my prescription changed.

[Swampy]

Well, the proposed mechanism of action of Prozac, for example, is to inhibit the re uptake of serotonin into nerve terminals following its release and action. This is thought to work in depression because there is not enough serotonin in the synaptic cleft for long enough following release. In other words, there's an imbalance between release and uptake. Blocking uptake seeks to restore the balance.

That's not a balance, though. That's the biological manipulation of a pre-existing substance. What I'm getting at is the idea that people who suffer from depression, such as myself, are simply missing a chemical isn't borne out by the facts, yet this is what the "chemical imbalance" model proposes. I'm prescribed a fairly decent dose of an SSRI myself, but I frankly don't know if it's any more effective than would be a placebo, and the more I read about it the less convinced I am.

[Swampy]

For the likes of bipolar disorder, it clearly is a question of chemical balance. There are a range of factors, such as hormonal and genetic, which cause the brain to behave differently from the "range of normal ways" (for want of a better expression) which lead to erratic and unpredictable behaviour. In that sense, there is a chemical imbalance, and the multitudes of medication that are taken to redress that are themselves a balancing act.

Just for example, my mum takes something insane like 8 or 9 different pills two to three times a day. There's the core anti-depressant she'll be on at any given time, then a number of pills in various succession to prevent the excesses of the side-effects of those, then pills to remove the side effects of those and so forth. She is constantly in touch with her doctor even when she's not in hospital having the dosages of each one altered on a near-monthly basis depending on which residual symptoms persist. Every so often, the anti-depressant she is on will cease to be as effective as it was before, and she'll have to be moved onto something else. It mightn't be a chemical imbalance in the sense of, say, an under-active thyroid, insofar as much of the medication that is used is designed to "trick" the brain into behaving in a different way by disrupting its usual patterns rather than redressing the specific deficit or surplus of a naturally occurring hormone or similar, but I think it's entirely reasonable to talk about chemical balance.

You're absolutely right - I am talking here about what's commonly referred to simply as depression, and not bipolar disorder or similar disorders.

[Lisa Cuddy]

You're absolutely right - I am talking here about what's commonly referred to simply as depression, and not bipolar disorder or similar disorders.

I did a presentation on depression when I was at college and researched plenty of information about it, including the different types of depression that people can suffer from. It was clear from brain scans of people with depression that there was certainly differences in brain activity, "chemical imbalance" is a factor for a lot of people. However, what wasn't clear, and what I couldn't find any evidence to suggest either way, was did depression cause the imbalance or did the imbalance cause the depression. Personally, I think it can be either/or. If you have problems or are in a situation that is having a depressive effect, it can surpress this activity and it becomes a vicious cycle. Others may find there is no external cause for their depression, such as those perhaps with bi-polar disorder or other heriditary conditions, but is caused by imbalances or impaired activity. Just my opinion of course. I don't have any of the sources I used to hand, but I'll try and hunt them down later.

[AllyM]

That's not a balance, though. That's the biological manipulation of a pre-existing substance. What I'm getting at is the idea that people who suffer from depression, such as myself, are simply missing a chemical isn't borne out by the facts, yet this is what the "chemical imbalance" model proposes. I'm prescribed a fairly decent dose of an SSRI myself, but I frankly don't know if it's any more effective than would be a placebo, and the more I read about it the less convinced I am.

I'm not sure the thinking is that people, like you, suffering from depression are missing a chemical. Just that not enough of particular chemicals (neurotransmitters) are around for long enough in the right place to produce their action and therefore others which do other things may dominate in a way they wouldn't normally - hence there is said to be an imbalance. I'm not sure how strong the evidence is that that is in fact true. It does make some sense, though.

The bigger problem, I think, is that current drugs are not selective enough. So, to stick with Prozac, it has actions on a large number of proteins in the brain and it is hard to know which are most important. A few years ago, my lab showed that Prozac is quite a potent blocker of a particular type of protein in the brain which will have all sorts of consequences for how nerve cells work. At the time I thought it was most likely what caused some of the side effects of Prozac, but more recently some clinicians and drug companies think it could underlie the therapeutic effects of the drug. I'm not sure that I do!

Given how non selective Prozac and compounds like it are, it is amazing to me that they work at all in depression. And for many people, they do seem to. I hope you are one of them.

[Sergeant Wilson]

the different types of depression

Bad depression?

[uni]

I'm not one for opening up but I suppose that was my downfall earlier so I might as well share my experience. It is encouraging to see the P&B is capable of maturity...sometimes!

Depression and mental illness is something that can cause a lot of damage in one's life. Sadly I found out the hard way when I finally bothered my arse to see the doctor earlier this year after suffering major symptoms for over a year. It started off with panic attacks and anxiety, I was finding it difficult to socialise in groups unless we were outside in the open, I thought I was just developing some form of claustrophobia but when i started happening all the time that was when alarm bells starting to ring. My depression hit it's worst (I hope!) in September of this year. I went through a horrible break up, quickly became disillusioned with life and I could feel myself drifting further and further away from my friends and family. Thankfully I did seek the help and I am currently going the therapy and I'm on anti depressants. It was essential that I sought the help as it was slowly grabbing a hold of my life. In order to get better I am currently signed off work and have been since October and my state of mind meant that I had to throw university after a mere 30 days. I was gutted but I knew there was no chance I could do it whilst battling severe depression. I don't education is for me now anyway, if there is one thing I have picked up from suffering from depression it can sometimes let you take a step back and assess a lot of things in your life. I have no "career" that I want to pursue (genuinely I don't, I never have and I never will) however I do have aims of where I want to be in the future, a steady full time job is certainly the long term option and the job hunt will probably begin at the start of 2013. To be honest the vast majority of this year has been a write off for me.

During the really bad times I had it convinced that everyone else would be better off without me and other depressive thoughts. These are common for depression, even mild depression. If you have little or no self esteem and you suffer from thoughts like these regularly I would recommend seeking help, even if it's just therapy it will do you the world of good! For some it can be severe problems with self confidence. I also have been living quite an unhealthy diet however it's not because I eat too much, it's the opposite. Thankfully I could be doing with losing some weight so no major physical problems will come as a result but a deteriorating or vastly increasing appetite is something to also look out for. I genuinely went a day and a half without eating anything and when I did it was something small like toast or something. This is not good for any recovery, a healthy body gives your mental illness a better chance.

As for your friends and whatnot I would say you do learn a lot about them when you tell your friends that you are depressed (if you chose to). Sadly for me one of my best friends of many years has not reacted that well and I get the impression he doesn't want to spend time with me or he thinks I'm a mad man or something, I don't care what his motives behind him talking to me are but I'll leave him to it and move on with my life. One of my friends has been particularly supportive and understands what I'm going through and just knows what to do but then again I help them through their bad times as well, I didn't know this person suffered from depression until they told me when they thought something was up with me and I told them what I was going through so you would be surprised how close depression can be.

Can't really say more without repeating what others have said (which I have basically done anyway), fell free to chuck a PM if you want to talk or anything.

I highly recommend Breathing Space by the way, good to see it has already been mentioned in the thread. Especially if you feel you are heading towards a "bad" period of time (it's not like the Samaritans, it's slightly different and offers more therapeutic help and advice for those who are feeling depressed/down, they recommend phoning Samaritans if you are feeling suicidal or if you are going to harm yourself etc). Although it's not available 24/7 its free.

Here is the website (has some good stuff to read); Breathing Space

Phone number 0800 83 85 87 (Available Monday to Thurdays 6pm-2am, Weekend Friday 6pm to Monday 6am)

Edited December 9, 2012 by uni

[Andreas Kelevra]

I have no doubt there is genuine depression (especially post-natal due to hormones), but it seems to be over publicised and over hyped.

Its like this ADHD, we don't have wee bad buggers anyone, Wee Jamie has ADHD, more likely he's a wee b*****d and a skelp would be more usefil than Ritalin.

My old dear was on Prozac after my Gran, her Mum died, sometimes you are supposed to feel sad, it's part of life. The drug companies are lapping this up and making a fortune, I wonder how much of this anti-depression stuff is sold in the developing world. Where they have more things to get depressed about.

Watch the news and then got for a run, you're not living in Gaza or Damascus. Count your blessings and enjoy yourself.

[Benjamin_Nevis]

I have no doubt there is genuine depression (especially post-natal due to hormones), but it seems to be over publicised and over hyped.

Its like this ADHD, we don't have wee bad buggers anyone, Wee Jamie has ADHD, more likely he's a wee b*****d and a skelp would be more usefil than Ritalin.

My old dear was on Prozac after my Gran, her Mum died, sometimes you are supposed to feel sad, it's part of life. The drug companies are lapping this up and making a fortune, I wonder how much of this anti-depression stuff is sold in the developing world. Where they have more things to get depressed about.

Watch the news and then got for a run, you're not living in Gaza or Damascus. Count your blessings and enjoy yourself.

Head, desk

[Andreas Kelevra]

So there hasn't been one single false diagnosis of depression ever? Every single person going to the doctors with depression is depressed?

It's too easy to hand over some pills, so the quack doesn't feel guilty if some poor sod tops themselves.

I stand by my opinion, its over hyped and in lot of cases, people are being doped up without reason. Where does it say you should be happy all the time?

[dorlomin]

Depression and mental illness is something that can cause a lot of damage in one's life. Sadly I found out the hard way when I finally bothered my arse to see the doctor earlier this year after suffering major symptoms for over a year.

Thanks for sharing so much. Its useful in that perhaps someone reading this thread sees something of what they are going through in this and perhaps takes a step closer to getting help.

There should be no more shame in being depressed than breaking an arm. It can hit anyone almost anytime.

During the really bad times I had it convinced that everyone else would be better off without me and other depressive thoughts.

These days I manage my symptoms very well, but only if I recognize them. They can sneak up and be causing me grief before I realize I am having a bad time. It is likely people on this forum, reading this thread, will be suffering symptoms and not really see it as being much more than moody or a bit down.

Comedy moment but when things were at their worst I had what I called the 'Coldplay test'. Back in about 2006, if I got emotional and weepy at a Coldplay song I knew I was suffering a bit of an episode and to take the necessary steps. If on the other hand I wanted to throw things when Coldplay or Athlete were on, I knew I was in good mental health.

[Jambo Stu]

So there hasn't been one single false diagnosis of depression ever? Every single person going to the doctors with depression is depressed?

It's too easy to hand over some pills, so the quack doesn't feel guilty if some poor sod tops themselves.

I stand by my opinion, its over hyped and in lot of cases, people are being doped up without reason. Where does it say you should be happy all the time?

You may or may not have some kind of a point, but to come out with that shit on here after some of the stories people have opened their hearts to talk about makes you look like a complete bellend to be honest.

[Swampy]

I stand by my opinion, its over hyped and in lot of cases, people are being doped up without reason. Where does it say you should be happy all the time?

Your opinion seems to be based on a huge misapprehension of what depression actually is. It's not not being happy. Start with an entry-level text and educate yourself a bit.

[uni]

So there hasn't been one single false diagnosis of depression ever? Every single person going to the doctors with depression is depressed?

It's too easy to hand over some pills, so the quack doesn't feel guilty if some poor sod tops themselves.

I stand by my opinion, its over hyped and in lot of cases, people are being doped up without reason. Where does it say you should be happy all the time?

Yes but you claimed that depression is over hyped and over publicised which everyone knows is a simple lie. If it was over publicised why is there still people out there too scared to seek help for what could be a mental issue. You also used the example of a person close to you who suffered badly from grieving. Yes it is natural to feel sad when something of that manner occurs. However there is a difference between being "sad" and being "depressed", having gone through both I can assure you when you are sad you can see the light at the end of the tunnel, you know you won't be sad for long. When going through the worst of depression you cannot see an end to it, to put it simply it's absolutely torture.

[dorlomin]

I stand by my opinion, its over hyped and in lot of cases, people are being doped up without reason.

Depression is not one "thing". Its a host of different human experiences. Sometimes it can be largely physical such as Seasonal Affected Disorder where a person is not generating enough serotonin and an intervention of light treatment can go a long way. In other cases it is retained childhood learned behaviors of retreating into oneself in order to protect the child from further emotional damage. As an adult this behavior becomes damaging and limits the ability to deal with situations and get help.

In many cases it can be unresolved traumas interfering with the daily life.

"Depression" is a catch all term that covers a great deal of mental and emotional problems.

But the first step in getting better is acknowledging you have a problem, and a big part of that can be seeing how normal it is to have one.

I dont see how you posts encourages this.