Is depression a disease? Is it more prevalent today?

[loinburger]

I believe it, Mercutio was a veritable member of the Renaissaince Village People (but was overcompensating to disguise his amorous lusts).

Tybalt killed him in a lover's quarrel. "Romeo is mine, you *****!" Romeo, misunderstanding Tybalt's intentions and Benvolio's sexual preference, proceeds to kill Tybalt. "Benvolio is mine, you handsome cowboy trucker!" Alas, Romeo takes his own life when he discovers that Benvolio is straight.

[MRT144]

Originally posted by NeOmega
No, you cannot cure the flu or cancer through willpower.



More people who aren't on antidepressants their whole life.

i know people who cured their cancer through their belief in god and believing they would beat the cancer.

so your proof that drugs work is less people on drugs? youre either a troll or an idiot or have no concept in continuing treatment for a terminal disease. some diseases require a lifetime of treatment. maybe affliction is better suited for mental disorders that you think can be tamed by willpower alone.

im just saying most people with these afflicitions already lack enough willpower to overcome them. its a catch 22. if they had teh ability to overcome the affliciton they wouldnt have it to begin with.

anyway, since you categorically reject drugs, talk therapy, etc etc as an option for diseases any further discussion is worthless since you are firmly in the blind faith in willpower alone camp. if the most efficent, cost effective, and overall effective treatment is taken off the table theres no point in going any further.

[Flip McWho]

I'm surprised he'd be against therapy. You could think of it as a method of strengthening the will of somebody to beat.

im just saying most people with these afflicitions already lack enough willpower to overcome them. its a catch 22. if they had teh ability to overcome the affliciton they wouldnt have it to begin with.

That's not necessarily true as some may be held back from realising the power of their will through the symptons of their affliction.


It appears to me that he's thinking that all afflictions of the mind can be cured by the mind.

Even though he realises that the physical body can't do the same. And the mind is just a byproduct of the physical body.

Though thats just a guess.

[Meticulous Man]

Some thoughts.

Dis said in the OP that depression results from the realization that one is inferior. Inferior in whose terms? Clearly, people who have the character traits of outward aggression, eloquence, ambition etc are in superior in our society, but only as a means to an end. Am I correct?

Apart from there being a lot less diagnosed depression in the developing countries, what's up with this?

HAPPINESS AROUND THE WORLD
# The happiest
Nigeria
Mexico
Venezuela
El Salvador
Puerto Rico
# The least happy
Russia
Armenia
Romania
Source: New Scientist

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/africa/3157570.stm

And it could indeed be that a lot of people in the industrialized countries trick themselves into believing that they are happy, though they really aren't, because of their level of material well-being, which skews the polls a bit into their favor.

[Ecthy]

I can be ambitious, aggressive all that sh!t, but I have my doldrums. Dis' theory sucks.

[Colonâ„¢]

I'd be very sceptical about such a "happiness" ranking, change the methodology and the results look totally different.

[Meticulous Man]

Ecthy: but the point is whether you feel inferior when you are having one of your downs and on what grounds.

Colon: well, according to the article the questions asked were along the lines of "how happy are you" and "how satisfied are you with your life". As I said, people in Western countries could indeed answer untruthfully inferring from their material wealth and the ranking is indeed to be taken skeptically.

[Ecthy]

Aivo, I always feel superior, especially when I come to this place

[Skanky Burns]

Originally posted by loinburger
I had this poignant explanation relayed to me, so alas this is a "second-hand experience" (but maybe I should claim that I have first-hand knowledge and then I can totally override anything that so-called experts have to say on the subject)

Guilt prevents suicides. "If I kill myself, Mom and Dad will be sad."

Anti-depressants reduce guilt. "If I kill myself, Mom and Dad will be sad. But so what?"

Ergo: anti-depressants result in suicide.

There is also the motivation factor:

"I want to kill myself but to do that I would need to get out of bed or something. Meh"

Anti-depressants increase your motivation slightly. "These anti-depressants have made me feel slightly better, although I am still depressed. But now I can actually do something about it!" That something may just be to kill themselves.

Which is why people who are first put onto anti-depressants are required to go to their local GP very very regularly.

[reds4ever]

HAPPINESS AROUND THE WORLD
# The happiest
Nigeria
Mexico
Venezuela
El Salvador
Puerto Rico
# The least happy
Russia
Armenia
Romania
Source: New Scientist

Easy. It's nicer living in a warm country. Did they pay someone to come up with that?

[Ecthy]

Skanky, when I got mine I had nothing like that. No talking therapy, no regular GP visits. He was really cool about it and probably rightfully so.

ADs didn't give me motivation, but more positive thinking generally.

[Skanky Burns]

The standard practise if to give you one week's worth of ADs, so you have to come back after one week if you wish to continue with them. They don't generally give you several months worth at a time to begin with.

[Ecthy]

I can't remember if I had to come back after one week. I think I did have more sessions with him but it was all very casual.

[Spiffor]

Originally posted by Darius871
After digging up my old textbook it seems I was mistaken; actually the discrepancy is in suicide rates and not depression incidence. You're right that the latter's underreported in LDCs, but suicide rates are pretty hard statistics.

From my impression of Mali (one of the poorest countries in the world, but also one where people don't seem depressed), I would imagine there aren't many suicides there because their society is built in such a way that everybody has a purpose and a role in life.

IMO, western individualism strongly contributes to feelings of powerlessness, as we're in a society that:
1. Lets everybody pick their own path. Those who don't manage to pick a clear meaning to their lives are more likely to feel loss.
2. Emphasises achievement and overachievement, meaning that ordinary people will more often feel that they suck.

Pretty much everybody knows these feelings at some point or another in the west (and in some circumstances, they can create depression), while it might be different in many third-world countries.

[Meticulous Man]

Spiffor:

I think that a major cause of depression in the West is that people internalize values that work against them.