Teenage Depression - Epidemic or overblown?

[Asher]

Originally posted by Osweld
And I suppose that someone who is depressed would never want to have a scapegoat, an excuse, or just some way of geting comfort and support?

There's probably the odd person who does that, but there are many more who suffer silently.

Have you ever been on any real anti-depressants? They're not all fun and games, they have some very real and very serious sideeffects, unlike Ritalin.

Yeah, it's under diagnosed because virtually everyone one the planet can be diagnosed with it.

Are you still confusing regular depression with real depression disorders?

Very few people can truly be diagnosed with it, especially stuff like bipolar, because it's episodic in nature...

And, since that I have been diagnosed with clincal depression, and fit the discription of manic deppresive, am I not qualified to talk on the subject?

Which is it, "chronic" or "clinical"? Is that as specific was the diagnosis was? Sounds like you're part of the ever typical umbrella case.
Clincal depression is, for the most part, caused by a specific series of events in life that will depress you, not necessarily a true disorder.

What medication have you been on?

no one can know how other people think, and they really only have their own experiences to go by.

But when you've got sample sets of millions of people who have done these things, "their own experiences" slowly turn into "collective experiences" so such things can be generalized...

[Lincoln]

Thanks for your contribution to this discussion Oswald. I have battled depression for much of my life until the last 10 years or so and almost all of my foster sons dealt with it. It can be easy for some to escape life with a pill instead of dealing with the real world. Like I said, to each his own but your opinion is to be respected. I have never encouraged a teenager to go on meds and they all grew out of it and they learned something in the process.

[Asher]

Originally posted by Lincoln
Thanks for your contribution to this discussion Oswald. I have battled depression for much of my life until the last 10 years or so and almost all of my foster sons dealt with it. It can be easy for some to escape life with a pill instead of dealing with the real world. Like I said, to each his own but your opinion is to be respected. I have never encouraged a teenager to go on meds and they all grew out of it and they learned something in the process.

Do you thank God nightly that they didn't kill themselves because you didn't want them to take antidepressants?

Were they truly depressed, or were they typical teenagers?

It's very very easy to dismiss true depression because people think "oh, I was depressed once, I got over it, why can't everyone else?".

It's small minded, and stupid as hell.

[chequita guevara]

Originally posted by Lincoln
Drugs should be the last resort not the first option like they have become for many lazy therapists.

For chemical imbalances in the brain, I must disagree with you. I think the very first thing that should be done (after seeking help) is getting a pill (or combination) to correct the imbalance in brain chems. After that, then a person can seek help with the environmental causes (if any) for the depression. Once the person had dealt with that, then they can come off the meds.

Asher is correct, the problem isn't that too many depressed people are on meds, it's that not enough are. People attatch a major stigma to being mentally ill, and they either refuse to seek help, refuse to take medication, or quit treatment far too early.

It's not about just being a little blue. Suicide is caused by depression. Andrea Yates murdered all of her children because she was psychotically depressed. Many people just suffer through life without truly enjoying it. You only have one life. It's a damn shame to spend it depressed.

[Lincoln]

It is also small minded to asume that we need more drugs to solve everyone's problems. Why is it important to you that we use more drugs in society? Why do you object that some have solved their problems without them? And many people have killed themselves that were on medication so your point works both ways. Maybe if they stayed off of them they would still be here...

[monolith94]

My roomate produces NO natural seratonin. He somehow managed to survive up to middle school with this, however he was always extremely depressed, extremely unhappy, would never smile, and would never laugh.
He tried to commmit suicide. In the "safe room" he ripped of a wire cage the held the light and tried to use the wire from that to slit his wrists.
You would never know any of this, talking to him today. I laugh with him all the time, and he's got a loving relationship with his girlfriend. The positive changes in his life came after a combination of drugs and therapy.
If it weren't for those drugs that you're so derisive of, Albert Schpeer, he'd be dead right now.
Is that really what you want?

[Asher]

Originally posted by Lincoln
It is also small minded to asume that we need more drugs to solve everyone's problems.

Why don't you come back and play when you can read and comprehend people's arguments?

Nobody said we need more drugs to solve everyone's problems, at all. Strawmen by a weak man, nothing more, Lincoln.

There are plenty of people out there who suffer from true depression but never seek treatment for it. Real depression can be treated with drugs with astonishing results. Drugs aren't for everyone, in fact they should be a last resort, but they are a last resort that is available and people who take them shouldn't be degraded like you, Speer, and Osweld try to do (ever so subtlely).

[Lincoln]

You didn't answer my questions. Don't you have answers? You seem to object to people who solved the problem of severe depression without drugs? Why?

[Asher]

Originally posted by Lincoln
You didn't answer my questions. Don't you have answers? You seem to object to people who solved the problem of severe depression without drugs? Why?

I don't object at all. Where did I object, Lincoln? I didn't answer your questions since you obviously misunderstood the argument so all of the questions were pointless.

People get depressed. Most people should be able to (and are able to) get over it without drugs. Some people have real conditions that render life not worth living or very very hard to live with that are better off with drug treatment.

It's quite simple, really.

[Lincoln]

You edited your post I guess so I we really do not disagree. Like I said, to each his own. I have never degraded anyone who uses medication

[Asher]

Originally posted by Lincoln
You edited your post I guess so I guess we really do not disagree. Like I said, to each his own. I have never degraded anyone who uses medication

Which post are you talking about?
I've never changed any of my arguments at all. I appended something in the last post if that's what you're talking about.

[monolith94]

There's a difference between being depressed and having depression, I think…

[Lincoln]

Well I musthave missed your last paragraph on a previous post then. Where exactly is the disagreement?

[Asher]

It can be easy for some to escape life with a pill instead of dealing with the real world.

Did it for me. Perhaps that's not how you intended it, but you made it sound like people who take medication are taking the easy way out when they can just deal with it directly.

[Lincoln]

Thanks for cllearing that up Asher (about editing your post after all) I was afraid that I needed some medication.