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I find it hard to believe that so many people here are convinced that there is no reason for drugs or analysis and treatment because they think some people are faking / full of sh!t.
In the last 5 years 3 of my coworkers have committed suicide. All three were long-time sufferers of bi-polar disorders. All three were struggling like hell with their meds, trying to get balanced and go on with their lives in the best way they could. Two of them had children. These people suffered from the most severe sort of disease on the depressive spectrum, a disease which has seen many years of research and treatments tried and refined. In the end it wasn't enough to even save their lives.
These are the rare birds, this type of disease only effects a small percentage of people, and I am led to believe that few suffer to this extent. Far more common are the milder cases, where people can seemingly function more or less normally. They might try to cope with their mood disorder by becoming workaholics, homebodies etc. Perhaps they spend a lot of time playing games on the computer or posting stuff on the internet in order to avoid the sorts of commitments that they have a hard time living up to over time in the real world. Perhaps they have a hard time even initiating romantic relationships because they have a chronically poor self-image due to being chronically depressed. They may pass that off as being unattractive physically, or become frustrated and angry at the opposite sex, but we all know ugly people who have done very well for themselves romantically.
They probably don't even know that they have chronic depression, thinking that their normal depressive state is normal for everyone ( like Osweld, Speer and Lincoln), and that true depression is when they hit bottom and are suicidal. All of this denial makes the possibility of suicide much greater. If you think your mood baseline of "barely tolerable" is normal, and drop into a trough of "living hell" and stay there for a while suicide may look pretty good.
It pays to hide your problems in this society as the hostility on this thread toward the possibility that someone might actually have a physiological problem with psychological implications shows clearly. Unfortunately this usually involves fooling oneself as the first step in passing oneself off as normal. If you are feeling blue, don't listen to the idiots mentioned above. Go to a physician or psychologist and get evaluated. The peace of mind is well worth it, and if it turns out that you have a depressive disorder, just learing what that means and how you can deal with it are good things to know.
I have several close friends who are on medications for chronic depression. All three swear by them. These aren't "happy pills" or narcotics, they are seretonin reuptake inhibitors, which are designed to normalize their brain's seretonin levels. My girlfriend is one of these people, and I can tell you that I do not miss her hysterically crying for 12 hours at a time every couple of months. She doesn't miss it either. She lived like that for 20 years before I insisted that she get some help. The argument that finally convinced her to do something was the effect that her moods had on her daughter, which I understand all too well from having to deal with my own mother's debilitating depressions when I was a child.
I disagree with the opening article to some extent when it says that no one ever heard of childhood depression until recently. That's bogus, we knew about it in the 1970s for sure, and probably some knew about it earlier than that. I wonder where the author of that piece grew up?
As for "the stresses placed on our children by modern life" argument goes, that's crap also where it is applied to having standards and expectations for your children. Divorce and general lack of adequate parental involvement in their lives are much more devestating. Having standards and expectations for your children should in fact be done in a form opposite from the distance and neglect that so often are the norm. Thus "helping" your kids with their homework (don't do it for them!) may only be an opportunity for you to see what they are up to in school and in so doing spending some time with them. This for them reinforces their importance in your eyes as well as the importance of their education. This is quite healthy.
In the last 5 years 3 of my coworkers have committed suicide. All three were long-time sufferers of bi-polar disorders. All three were struggling like hell with their meds, trying to get balanced and go on with their lives in the best way they could. Two of them had children. These people suffered from the most severe sort of disease on the depressive spectrum, a disease which has seen many years of research and treatments tried and refined. In the end it wasn't enough to even save their lives.
These are the rare birds, this type of disease only effects a small percentage of people, and I am led to believe that few suffer to this extent. Far more common are the milder cases, where people can seemingly function more or less normally. They might try to cope with their mood disorder by becoming workaholics, homebodies etc. Perhaps they spend a lot of time playing games on the computer or posting stuff on the internet in order to avoid the sorts of commitments that they have a hard time living up to over time in the real world. Perhaps they have a hard time even initiating romantic relationships because they have a chronically poor self-image due to being chronically depressed. They may pass that off as being unattractive physically, or become frustrated and angry at the opposite sex, but we all know ugly people who have done very well for themselves romantically.
They probably don't even know that they have chronic depression, thinking that their normal depressive state is normal for everyone ( like Osweld, Speer and Lincoln), and that true depression is when they hit bottom and are suicidal. All of this denial makes the possibility of suicide much greater. If you think your mood baseline of "barely tolerable" is normal, and drop into a trough of "living hell" and stay there for a while suicide may look pretty good.
It pays to hide your problems in this society as the hostility on this thread toward the possibility that someone might actually have a physiological problem with psychological implications shows clearly. Unfortunately this usually involves fooling oneself as the first step in passing oneself off as normal. If you are feeling blue, don't listen to the idiots mentioned above. Go to a physician or psychologist and get evaluated. The peace of mind is well worth it, and if it turns out that you have a depressive disorder, just learing what that means and how you can deal with it are good things to know.
I have several close friends who are on medications for chronic depression. All three swear by them. These aren't "happy pills" or narcotics, they are seretonin reuptake inhibitors, which are designed to normalize their brain's seretonin levels. My girlfriend is one of these people, and I can tell you that I do not miss her hysterically crying for 12 hours at a time every couple of months. She doesn't miss it either. She lived like that for 20 years before I insisted that she get some help. The argument that finally convinced her to do something was the effect that her moods had on her daughter, which I understand all too well from having to deal with my own mother's debilitating depressions when I was a child.
I disagree with the opening article to some extent when it says that no one ever heard of childhood depression until recently. That's bogus, we knew about it in the 1970s for sure, and probably some knew about it earlier than that. I wonder where the author of that piece grew up?
As for "the stresses placed on our children by modern life" argument goes, that's crap also where it is applied to having standards and expectations for your children. Divorce and general lack of adequate parental involvement in their lives are much more devestating. Having standards and expectations for your children should in fact be done in a form opposite from the distance and neglect that so often are the norm. Thus "helping" your kids with their homework (don't do it for them!) may only be an opportunity for you to see what they are up to in school and in so doing spending some time with them. This for them reinforces their importance in your eyes as well as the importance of their education. This is quite healthy.
i never had to do army.... so i'm safe!! hihi)
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