Is depression a disease? Is it more prevalent today?

[Dis]

Not to threadjack Thorn's angry and suicide threads. I think it's a worthy discussion. Though it may have already run it's course, but there might still be more to discuss, so I'll make a new thread and even a poll on it.

And what about other "diseases" such as social anxiety. Another thing I suffer from (though I haven't actually been diagnosed, since I have never been to a doctor). Sometimes I think people are just naturally shy. Not everyone is born the same. As has been said before. Life is unfair. I'm shy and there is nothing I can do about it. I must accept my fate (seems like a curse to me) in life.

Same goes with depression. Perhaps some people are just naturally depressed. And it runs in families as well. As my mother suffers from depression. Even my half brother who never lived in my household (which was abusive and ****ed up) suffers from depression. He was adopted. Sure it can be treated with drugs. Just because something can be drugged, does that mean it's a disease? I'm not so sure.

And is depression more common today? Perhaps it's more reported, and people aren't as ashamed to admit it. But I do have some theories that staying busy helps stave off depression. It seems to have worked for me. In modern times we have too much free time. It only takes 40 (or less) hours to make a living. And for myself, because I have no friends, I spend too much time thinking. I think too much. And I see how much better other people have it. It bothers me. Things are better when I don't think too much. But right now, I have too much time on my hands. In the old days, people had to work too much to be depressed. At least that's my theory. It's possible they just kept their depression hidden. But it's not an easy thing to hide.

And finally, people are not the same. Some people are just superior to others. And when people realize their inferiority they become depressed. This is the case with me. Although my friend doesn't understand why I have a bad opinion of myself. She thinks I have no reason to be insecure or have low self esteem. But I can't help it. And Intelligence isn't exactly an attractive trait to have. It takes more than that to be a successful person.

[Flip McWho]

Theres a difference between being depressed and just being unhappy all the time. Ones caused by a chemical imbalance whilst the others caused by environmental conditions.

It is more common today, but thats because doctors are better at diagnosing it.

Or at least thats what I get outta my foray's into the subject.

[Jon Miller]

I think it relates to people not working hard enough..

JM

[reds4ever]

It seems more prevailent these days because whinging malcontents are more able to play on being "depressed" than they were years ago when they would have just been given a good slap and told to "snap out of it"

Depressed people are just, well depressing. Who needs 'em?

[Koyaanisqatsi]

It is a disease, but not everything stated to be depression is the disease. It's anecdotal, but my family seems to be pretty convincing evidence that there's a strong genetic component. In four generations of my mother's maternal line, there have been 5 suicides out of 14 people. Two of these were unknown by the rest of the family until recently due to an adoption, and that branch did not know anything about our side either. Two more people in this line have made at least one unsuccessful attempt, and several others have needed some form of therapy. Oddly, there was one generation that it skipped entirely...unfortunately, it isn't mine.

Because of this history, I tend to think that people who just are down for a while because of circumstances etc. and say they are depressed are diluting the meaning of the term. That isn't a disease, it's just life.

[NeOmega]

Depressed people love depressive music, I've noticed, and then they claim the music makes them feel better, because they can relate to it. Just another life observation.

And treating it like a disease reminds me of the professional advice to quit smoking, which includes, "rewarding yourself" or "gradually cutting back" or the patch or gum, when it seems to me, once again from life experience, the only true quitters do it through sheer force of will, cold turkey.

So I would say, depression would fit the addiction model much better, and indeed, I believe many times depression is triggered by a painful event, but instead of moving on, some people feel the need to revisit the event, perhaps it is the stabilizing hormones that are released to once again balance the blood pressure and heartrate that is causing the "high" people are seeking.

I know many people consider alcoholism a disease, and I reject the trend to call addictions disease, I think it does not help the situation, and is just another contributor to our current society of victimization.

[Monk]

Originally posted by NeOmega
I know many people consider alcoholism a disease, and I reject the trend to call addictions disease, I think it does not help the situation, and is just another contributor to our current society of victimization.

How do you define 'disease', then?

[NeOmega]

Originally posted by Monk


How do you define 'disease', then?

something that cannot be cured through therapy.

You cannot will away cancer, or emphysema, or diabetes, or any other physical malady.

[Colonâ„¢]

Monk sighting!

Originally posted by NeOmega
Depressed people love depressive music, I've noticed

Elok is right, you constantly pull unfounded platitudes out of your ass.

[civman2000]

Originally posted by Wikipedia
It is hard for people who have not experienced clinical depression, either personally or by regular exposure to people suffering it, to understand its emotional impact and severity, interpreting it instead as being similar to "having the blues" or "feeling down." As the list of symptoms above indicates, clinical depression is a serious, potentially lethal systemic disorder characterized by interlocking physical, affective, and cognitive symptoms that have consequences for function and survival well beyond sad or painful feelings.

[Blaupanzer]

Everyone suffers sorrow and loss. Therefore, everyone thinks they know about depression. Most of these people don't know squat.

The sense of negative self-worth (the world would be better off without me; each and every person I know, one by one, would be better off without me; I better not start that as I will only **** it up) can be overwhelming. This disease is accompanied by physical symptoms, mind in origin, but real in effect. This disease has treatments, including SRI meds. It does, in fact, seem to have a genetic component.

Pretending it doesn't exist does not help the victims. They can be whiney, I won't deny that. You don't have to deal with them if you don't want to. However, this does not negate the medical aspects of a disorder that very much follows a disease pattern. If you wish to point out that the victims seem to wallow in their sorrow in terms of what the read or listen to, that's your privelege. But unless you have a medical or neurological degree, you aren't persuading anyone.

Psychiatry itself rocks with wars over what is genuine brain disease and what is made up by psychologists with their own self interests and constituencies.

But to those of us who have witnessed the chasm in our own souls will not be conviced that our condition does not exist. Further, for those of us who have been helped by the meds and now participate fully in life, that earlier experience is even more real. I have been there, I know what I saw, I know who I was before, during, and after, and I do not appreciate being scoffed at.

[Blaupanzer]

Dis,

Don't let the judgement of others define who you are. Being fired, if it happens, is not the end of the world. I have not been fired, but may have resigned suspecting the inevitable. The next employer will care what you do on the job, not the history of how you got there.

[Lorizael]

Originally posted by Colonâ„¢
Elok is right, you constantly pull unfounded platitudes out of your ass.

Hey, I thought I was the one to say that.

[SlowwHand]

It's called mental illness for a reason. Chronic depression is a form of mental illness.

Answer, yes.

[reds4ever]

Originally posted by SlowwHand
It's called mental illness for a reason. Chronic depression is a form of mental illness.

Answer, yes.

Being addicted to shopping is called "an illness" these days. People need to get a grip.