Is depression a disease? Is it more prevalent today?

[loinburger]

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[Blaupanzer]

Go Lorizael!

Go away NeOmega.

[loinburger]

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[Meticulous Man]

This is an interesting topic and I could write a lot about it, but don't have the energy to do it right now. I'll just say that NeOmega strikes me as being a person who actually has learned to overcome depression without outside help and you should at least think about what he's saying. In my opinion, a person who is suffering from such unfounded destructive thoughts that are indicative of depression should first of all ask himself, "why am I being so immature?"

And don't blindly trust the medical establishment or "experts" in general, least of all in matters that regard your own mind, they are just people like you and me that are operating on the basis of certain theoretical frameworks.

[Lorizael]

Here's the thing. Most humans don't operate on theoretical frameworks. Most humans live their lives by accumulating as a vast number of impressions and feelings and ideas and beliefs, and use whichever one is necessary to justify their own actions.

Doctors and experts are no different but, when it comes to their chosen field, they have an enormous wealth of information - which has been collected, pruned, refined, and redifined by other experts for many, many years - to pull from.

[loinburger]

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[SlowwHand]

Scientists are a fraternity of head scratchers and ball manipulators.

[Dis]

Originally posted by loinburger

I know! I was astonished to discover that sometimes there are even errors in mathematical proofs! One time a so-called "expert" was explaining the "proof" for the halting problem to me, and I asked him if he could prove that there weren't any errors in his proof, and he said he couldn't! Take that, Science!

science

[MRT144]

Originally posted by NeOmega


Whaaat!!!!????

But you need medicine!

Medicine is the cure! Not creativity, or family!

what if beating it on your own terms is taking medicine and getting therapy?

[Dis]

As I mentioned before, just because some people can beat it without outside help, that doesn't mean everyone can.

Everyone is built differently. Including their brains.

I believe one can prevent from going into depression through will alone, but it's near impossible to get out of a serious depression through will alone. Once you are in, you are stuck. It feels like a hole you can't get out of.

[Herra Gautason]

I agree. In fact, this one time while I was playing soccer this guy on the other team tripped and broke his leg, and he was all like "ooooh my leg hurts," and I was all like "stop being such a wimp, crybaby." I mean, christ, a broken leg isn't even a disease!

[Darius871]

Originally posted by Arrian
Better yet...

God.. "I'm just not happy. I'm just not happy. I'm just not happy because my life didn't turn out the way I thought it would." Hey! Join the ****ing club, ok!? I thought I was going to be the starting center fielder for the Boston Red Socks. Life sucks, get a ****ing helmet, allright?! "I'm not happy. I'm not happy." Nobody's happy, ok!? Happiness comes in small doses folks. It's a cigarette, or a chocolate cookie, or a five second orgasm. That's it, ok! You ***, you eat the cookie, you smoke the butt, you go to sleep, you get up in the morning and go to ****ing work, ok!? That is it! End of ****ing list! "I'm just not happy." Shut the **** up, allright? That's the name of my new book, "Shut the **** Up, by Doctor Denis Leary. A revolutionary new form of therapy."

[lord of the mark]

Originally posted by NeOmega


try this:

depressed person: I hate my life, I am so depressed.

me: well you can cure it yourself, it's not a disease

depressed person: Who the hell do you think you are? Are you a doctor? I need a doctor to help me! I can't help myself!!!

me: You are the only one who can help.

depressed person: No, I have a disease, I need a doctor, and a pill! Lots of people say it's a disease!

Some people can amputate their own limbs. That hardly proves that say, an infected limb isnt a disease.

Attacking a depression by changing depressive thinking can a be a fruitful source of cures. few depressives can do that without a trained therapist. That some can is good, but does not mean its not a disease.

also sometime depression goes away by itself. So does the flu. And Chicken pox.

[lord of the mark]

Originally posted by NeOmega


It is nothing like the .9999 = 1 argument.

One involves mathematics, an exact science, and one involves psychology, a self admitted very un-exact science.

Your dealing with the human mind, how could it not be inexact?

[Darius871]

I don't want to step into this lion's den too long but a question comes to mindfor the folks who think nearly all depression cases are completely inevitable chemical imbalances (i.e. for everyone but NeOmega): how do you explain the fact that first-world countries have far higher rates of debilitating depression than less developed ones? If depression is indeed somatogenic, then wouldn't incidence rates be roughly the same in any given populations?