On depression, again.
What is the solution to depression? I'm struggling with extreme anhedonia and lowering of affect towards things I should care about. I feel hopeless in my depression and have been wallowing in bed for a good year or two now. All I do is stare at the ceiling and try and sleep it away. I don't know how to change my attitude and it's interfering with my relationship.
I thought that getting in a relationship would help remedy the solution; but, that doesn't seem to be the case. My depression won't go away and it's nagging me constantly. I've already tried accepting it, disidentifying with it, and take medication for it.
How do you deal with your depression? I hope something philosophical can be said about depression so I can stop wallowing and deal with it more effectively.
I thought that getting in a relationship would help remedy the solution; but, that doesn't seem to be the case. My depression won't go away and it's nagging me constantly. I've already tried accepting it, disidentifying with it, and take medication for it.
How do you deal with your depression? I hope something philosophical can be said about depression so I can stop wallowing and deal with it more effectively.
Comments (130)
How do you cope with depression, then?
Yes, I already see a therapist and he asked me the fundamental question as to whether I am committed to getting better or stay the same. I told him that I am content with my crummy life as it currently is, and haven't spoken to him since. Does that mean that I can just learn to cope with it?
Then, how do you cope with the depression then? My life is crummy but not unbearable. Does it have to get worse to get better?
So, what is the appropriate way to deal with this issue? I'm trying to cope with it however I can.
Avoid Atheism; Atheists are depressed (and depressing).
Quoting Posty McPostface
Your therapist was putting a lot on you as the master of your fate precisely when you didn't feel in control.
I would shop around for other resources.
You are a smart and gregarious person. Never give up on your strengths.
But, he was correct, no? I mean, you can't really sugar coat it, can you?
Unfortunately, I don't have the luxury of doctor shopping. They all cost so much! I guess you gotta make all those laborious years at college count somehow...
What do you mean?
No, he was not correct. He was guilt tripping you just when you needed to disassociate what is happening to you from a decision tree that you were actively populating.
He was leaning into your shit just when you needed to be asking why You were leaning into your shit.
Hmm, I think this is sound advice. But, I'm a finicky guy so some people need to feel that they are in control over what's happening in my life, when they assume that God-awful responsibility.
Ehh...
I don't know whether or when or why it will get worse or better. I've been taking antidepressants for 30 years or so. Various formulations. Some of them have worked to some extent. I've spent time in talk therapy. That was good, but it didn't cure the depression.
What made my depression much better was a change in life circumstances over which I had only slight control. It probably is not possible for you to arrange a change of circumstances which would be so beneficial.
And if I understand past conversations, you have much more than simple depression on your plate. Given what all you are dealing with, you should have both a psychiatrist (for medication monitoring) and a therapist -- somebody who can offer you on-going support. A cure is probably not on the horizon, but better management is certainly a possibility. Some of the responsibility for better managing your condition is yours.
Not everything is curable. I have arthritis, and it isn't going to just go away or be cured. It probably won't shorten my life, but it is a pain (literally). My vision is slowly deteriorating. What can be done about that has being done. It will probably continue to slowly deteriorate. People with major neurological or mental illnesses (like bi-polar, schizophrenia, migraine, epilepsy) generally have these conditions for life.
Even with multiple things going haywire, one can opt -- meaning, one makes a concerted effort -- for as full a life as possible. Whiling away your time wallowing in a slough of indolence and melancholia is probably the LEAST healthy thing you can do for yourself.
So the least you can do is get out of bed, get dressed, and go for a walk. I realize that the world outside your front door is either burning down or getting gunned down these days, but you just have to grit your teeth and get on with it. Just avoid assassins and forest fires.
If you don't learn how to achieve getting out of bed, gettng dressed, and going for a walk, then you are probably going to stay stuck in your wallowing hole.
How long you require to take your next walk is a measurement of how well you can manage your condition. That much is up to you. As always, I wish you the best.
Hmmmn. Responsibility is something one experiences so intimately that it is odd how easily it gets blended into other things.
Whatever you are going through sucks simply because you know it sucks. No further verification needed. There seems to be a problem with trusting our perceptions that is not isolated by any particular form of suffering. The differences are significant. But nobody rides free.
That's what I'm afraid of. Uncurable depression. Unremitting, unipolar, non-responsive depression.
Oh dear, I'm digging the hole deeper, aren't I?
What do you mean?
You are right about this. I also have a psychotic disorder (formerly diagnosed as schizophrenia) and anxiety. I'm so broken...
Do you have depression? What worked for you?
My solution to your situation would be to volunteer with some organization and make that your cause.
If I could I would try to help feral cats. I love cats. But there are other rescue groups you can join.
Charitable work tends to fall into 3 categories -- animal rescue, or saving the Earth, or helping people in distress such as the homeless. Which ever of these appeals to you most would be the best for you.
Depression stems from a lack of purpose. Once you have a purpose in life then you will become more enthusiastic about living.
I learned all this in grad school in marketing. The rich are a separate category of target markets and they have their own special needs. Since they have no need to work for a living they usually get involved in volunteer work.
Hmm. Then just shake it off? I've been posting on this forum for about 3 years and it's a cycle of depression or some other ailment. I just ate a hot dog and some chicken, so I'm feeling less depressed. :)
How?
hks is just repeating what your fucked up therapist said.
1 - get out of bed.
2 - take a shower, shave, brush your teeth and get dressed.
3 - google the local rescue groups in your agency.
4 - go to a pet shop and ask if they need volunteers.
5 - go to the local Red Cross and ask if they need volunteers.
Do you want advice on medication? Self medication with alcohol, caffeine and cigarettes et al? Therapy recommendations?
Talking to someone can help temporarily depending on who the person is. Do you have any goals you want to achieve? Can you pamper yourself? Does philosophy help.
I find food has a temporary antidepressant effect and sometimes walking and listening to music. You can just focus on surviving which is what I do.
Do you have a specific problem that needs solving? I have some specific problems and being trapped with them can heighten depression or lead to a perpetually trapped feeling.
I often contemplate dying as a release from the remorseless low mood and bodily fatigue.
Contemplating dying can be comforting sometimes as a potential way out and feeling less trapped. life can seem like a remorseless cycle but then sometimes the mood is alleviated.
I feel frustrated and disturbed by people. I feel like humans are mad and bad and that causes more helplessness and anxiety. You have to try and look for positive affirmations of reasonable people.
I think talking therapy could help but it can be expensive and you need to find the right person and method.
Let's take it slow. I wallow a lot. So wallowing is one goal I want to tackle. I usually wallow in bed. It's what I do best for the matter. Just daydreaming and wallowing in bed. How do I wallow less?
Bed satisfies the need for sleep. Once you have slept enough you need to get up and do something.
My doctor is in charge of that. I used to play around a lot with herbal medications and stimulants. But, I can comfortably say that's in the past now. Do you take anything that helps?
Quoting Andrew4Handel
Yes, I've tried logotherapy, some CBT, and some group therapy. All have failed me thus far.
Quoting Andrew4Handel
I think so? Does that count? What are your thoughts about philosophy and dealing with mental disorders?
Quoting Andrew4Handel
Oh dear. That's not a long term solution. Then again, we're all dead in the long run.
Quoting Andrew4Handel
I think I just need to become undepressed. Thoughts?
What has helped you then?
Quoting Andrew4Handel
I used to be enamoured with death, now not so much. It's kinda scary if you ask me.
Quoting Andrew4Handel
Yes, I think so too. I have to start setting lower expectations of people and myself included. Thoguhts?
Hmm, that's quite succinct and blunt. But, I guess it's true.
Citalopram has a significant effect on my anxiety. It had a bigger effect when I started it years ago but it is the only consistent medication that keeps my head above water.
What I have found that some medications can radically change your mental states, dreams and moods etc so it seems to me that it is brain chemistry definitely affecting mood. I am quite pro medication and brain alteration as well as using other therapies or anything else.
I think my traumatic childhood has probably permanently altered my brain and also I just this year found out I am autistic (at 42).
I don't think the brain equal the mind (call me dualist) but I do think it is bound to influence mind and thought.
I'm on Zoloft (Sertraline), but I feel it pooping out, which is an issue any depressive faces when prescribed (pretty much any) medication. My p-doc already told me I have enough chemistry going on in my brain (Also on Zyprexa and Haldol)... yeah, pretty intense stuff... It sucks, because I know that they are potent mood stabilizers that could and likely are contributing to my apathy and anhedonia. I used to be a stim freak, which helped tremendously with the a-motivation I experience. I often wake up craving Adderall or Dexedrine in the morning. Ehh.
Quoting Andrew4Handel
Same here, though I feel like I've exhausted most of the chemical routes of mood enhancement. I was on Nardil, and was happiest on it; but, it's an old drug that most psychiatrists won't prescribe anymore, sadly. If you ever feel in a rut, then give that one a try. You'll be flying!
Quoting Andrew4Handel
I'm sorry to hear about that. I have little to no memories of my childhood, only adolescence. My dad might have done something to me; but, I'll never know that so I just keep on chipping away I guess.
Quoting Andrew4Handel
Yeah, same here. The mind is still a mystery, as well as the placebo effect to a large degree.
It is certainly scary to think about dying but sometimes living is more frightening and I don't know if dying can be worse than a terrible quality of life. Sometimes I think death is inevitable so we have to confront the fear at some stage. But I do want to die peacefully of old age ideally if I can reach that stage.
But the inevitability of death itself can fuel my feelings pf pointlessness. I personally don't advocate suicide but I think people suffering from mental distress often have to consider it.
Like Camus I think the question of why not die is really important. If we keep ourselves alive what is motivating that? I don't think fear of death is the only thing keeping me a live.
I don't like platitude style advice where you go through the motions of recommending every cliche of pop psychology and positive psychology in the hope that something will work but not getting to the root of someones problems. If you have suffered trauma or fear death etc then I think it is worth discussing or researching these things to confront them in a spirit of inquiry.
The most obvious way to help homeless people is to volunteer in the local soup kitchen. This may be a Catholic relief organization, but they accept non-Catholic volunteers too.
The most obvious way to help animals is go to your local PetSmart and volunteer with the kitties and rabbits there.
Oh, well I seem to have always had a weak will-power. Otherwise, I wouldn't be depressed over it so much. Again, I used to take artificial stimulators like Adderall or Dexedrine to help me motivate myself. Well, there I go again, craving it again.
Medicines are the only solution to this affliction.
Once you have the right medicines, then you can proceed with the next phase, which is becoming productive somehow.
Yes, there's certainly more to life than the fear of death. Otherwise why are so many people living? Then again, suicide rates are still very high despite our level of development. One can always wish to go back to plain and simple living; but, that kind of life is brutish and short.
I still have a resovair of fond memories from my childhood, so that keeps me kicking. They're only glimpses though. I don't get why children don't get depressed where adults so easily fall into that botomless pit...
Hmm, this advice seems a little mean spirited. I am on disability, so that's what's keeping me afloat. Then again, whatever floats your boat, as they say.
The problem with medicating and self medicating s that they are probably altering your brain as well as other experiences and past experiences.
I don't know to what extent I should mess around with my brain but I am not opposed to anything. In England where I live a woman had an implant put in her brain with a control that she could carry round and stimulate herself. If someone feels drastically mentally unwell they can do major interventions. Some people never feel suicidal but have unbearable low mood.
Apparently the danger point is recovering from low mood which I have experienced where you feel like dying so as never to go back to the low mood.
I am not sure what philosophy can offer me. I don't like scientist which I find nihilistic. There are few modern debates that cheer up my world view. I think we are due a thinker that is genuinely unbiased, calm, not ego-maniacal and inspiring.
It seems like it is probably substantial brain differences. Also there is a lot you don't know as a child and you have a lot of novel experiences and hopes. But that is not say no child is depressed.
I was an optimistic child in the face of damaging experiences which was unhelpful because I should have been fighting back against my circumstances.
So being an adult can be disenchanting I suppose
These are brain chemistry problems. Medication is the only solution.
Make the most of your life to the extent you can.
I would think you would be very good volunteering for pet rescue at PetSmart.
Cats and rabbits are such beautiful creatures that they are easy to fall in love with.
Do you have any idea what is causing the depression so you can tackle the cause?
That's true to some extent. I used to affirmatively believe in the Nietzschian saying that what doesn't kill you makes you stronger. Now, I'm not so sure I would want to relive my life with all my reckless ordering of herbal and other medications online.
Quoting Andrew4Handel
Been there. I have anticipatory depression, where when I get glad and cheerful, I recognize it's impermanence and get into a rut again. Hopeless fighting and such ensues.
Quoting Andrew4Handel
Well, philosophy seems to sooth the issue, not as a remedy, more like a topical band-aid.
I agree, I think that children just learn much more quickly, which is natural. They seem to bounce back from adversity like no other. Not all children are like this though, as there are always exceptions to the rule.
Quoting Andrew4Handel
Sorry to hear about that again. I wish I could capture that wonder of life again. Do you feel that sometimes when you rummage around in your own time machine that is your brain?
What do you mean? Care to expand?
Clinical depression seems to be only solved with the right circumstances, per Bitter Crank, and with enough medication.
The problem is that often you do not get enough professional help.
I have met someone who has used masses of experimental medication, supplements and so on. It is a kind of immediate survival technique I suppose. I have not tried illegal/recreational drugs but do use alcohol a few days a week and cigarettes
Apparently MDMA/ecstasy is now being explored for use on depression. Some recreational drugs and up being adopted in medicine.
I wish I could learn how to become more resilient. That's a desirable trait in my mind.
I don't even know where to start... Ever got that feeling when seeing a psychiatrist? It's almost as if you want to relinquish control over your life so someone else can deal with your misfortunes.
Yeah. Typically when you hear about recovery stories, you don't hear about the long list of things already tried or done to remedy the situation.
Ketamine is a drug that I haven't tried but making the news recently. I don't have enough money to visit a ketamine clinic, and my psychotic disorder would prevent me from trying it in controlled settings. Oh well. I guess it's more SSRI's for me.
I like the notion of the brain as a time machine!
I don't know if I want to recapture the wonder of life or rather create a new more realistic wonder.
I am never going to appreciate presents like I did as a child. But I suppose that you can recreate similar experiences, treating yourself, buying yourself gifts, trying to recreate the attitude, trying to be more childlike impulsive and less cynical.
If a depression is largely biological then it might require brain intervention more than behavioral intervention. If your childhood felt good then maybe adulthood is too much a disappointment?
I am quite sympathetic to the Freudian unconscious. I think we might repress or forget the source of our mental distress and have repressed anger etc. For example my parents were not affectionate and so I did not expect it from them so now I am closed off emotionally. I feel uncomfortable with affection and feel I don't need it. I am quite certain that a lot of events from childhood have affected my psyche where I find it hard to renormalize my world view. I think it is going to be hard to ever get my self esteem back.
Have you tried writing about your feelings and analyzing them that way?.
Is this another way of stating disenfranchisement with adult life?
Quoting Andrew4Handel
Indeed. Adult life has been nothing but pain and sorrow for me. I want to go back!
Quoting Andrew4Handel
What's self-esteem? I have a notoriously low self-esteem.
I have tried that. Nothing seems to want to surface. I feel like I might be repressing a lot of crap. I don't know how to access it.
I can't comment on psychotic disorders because I haven't experienced them so I am not sure what advice could be given there. I can kind of rationalize depression anxiety as rational disorders but am Not sure what could cause things that give wild mental states, hallucinations and so on.
It is probably worth just continuing different treatments. It disturbs me when people stop medication even though it was helping them and I am reluctant to completely stop myself because they might still be doing something substantial whereas some peoples mental health rapidly declines because they refuse to take medication.
They only cope. They do not recover.
I've tried so many. Dunno what's left to do about the depression. I even tried disidentifying with my depression, to no avail due to its intrinsic nature.
Indeed. So, how do you cope with depression then?
I think the wonder of adulthood is different than the naive wonder of childhood. Life is usually never perfect and as an adult you can see lots of things that need altering or improving. If society is getting you down then there might be some actions you can take even though it seems like a David vs Goliath struggle.
You might need to search around for new things to interest you.
Have you tried any changes to your diet and exercise habits?
Anything is a lot to ask for someone who may feel like they are trapped in the bottom of a damp well, wrapped in a straitjacket with a bag over there head.
I have tried various things but I am still trying something new at the moment . I feel like the right therapist might be able to delve deeply into your mind and give advice that way. I don't think anyone here is likely to give you better advice.
I don't find writing helpful at the moment although I am considering writing something fictional as therapy. But it does help some people.
In my case I feel I know a lot of what is causing my issues and spend a lot of time thinking about it. But in a way I also feel nervous at writing about my issues and exploring them to closely so fiction might be a disguised way of exploring an issue.
In the end either you can cope with your life or you can't and it feels almost like a lottery. Don't feel to bad about it.
Yes, true. My own remedy to that solution is lacking. I ruminate a lot, as you might have guessed by now.
Too depressed to take the steps to implement any changes at the moment. I got stuck with wallowing.
Quoting Nils Loc
Agreed. That's one predicament to get stuck in.
Hmm, good for you then. So, what else can you share with us that has helped you? I like to think that life can persist after I'm gone. Maybe someone will be better able to appreciate life than I do now.
:up:
Thanks.
Again, I'm quite too depressed to engage myself in such a healthy pursuit.
Quoting Andrew4Handel
Yeah, what's left for some of us is just to cope. I'm setting my expectations ultra-low nowadays.
Are you careful about nutrition? Do you get enough exercise? Enough sleep? I find that a good long bikeride almost always fixes me up. Tire out the body, take a hot bath, and then lie down for a nap. If you aren't working out your heart and lungs, then your bad feels could be asking you for something like that.
Also, how does THC affect you? I find that it always makes things interesting. In low doses there is not much anxiety, if that is a concern. I don't use it often, but it's great as a way to break out of a rut and see the world with a cat's curious eyes again.
I've been through some dark moods that had no obvious reasonable cause. Eventually they lifted. I'd say the key thing is to hang on and experiment.
My opinion: it sounds like you have no purpose or set any subjectively meaningful goals for yourself.
This means you haven’t done enough self analysis and don’t really know what makes you tick. Or you don’t know a plethora of facet of yourself. You need to find what you are best at, and share it with the world. This is the only way you will feel valuable and thus worthy of success, happiness, joy, bliss, etc etc. this means your best efforts are now aligned with what you define as the maximal good... what will to propel you out of bed every morning with eternal vitality. Value this way transcends suffering because it is maximally good and altruistic. It is paradoxical. This produces experiences of beauty and joy. Only good things will happen if you make the decision to commit to willing the best life for yourself and your friends and family and the world. Your access to such miraculous plateaus, as a creator of this supreme manifestion of being, is within in you. This is why you must know thyself. Leap of faith-type moral diplomacy is necessary, as you are doing your completely honest best to perpetuate the manifestation of this potentially magical being-with-others as they could. You don’t know strong you could become.
The only medication I require is hay fever tablets. I take these fairly often because I am also allergic to cats, but I love my kitty. Their added benefit is that they act like sleeping pills so they help me to get to sleep immediately after work.
Sometimes if I drink too much wine I need a couple of aspirin for headaches. Headaches are caused by the toxic alcohols in wine and beer. Rum can cause headaches too. Multiple distillations such as with moonshine (Everclear) removes all the toxic alcohols in booze.
That's it, for me.
I’ve never had depression but have had anxiety disorder in the past, with inexplicable panic attacks and the rest.
Depression can be managed or cured, I believe, but it takes some discipline. Emotions help regulate energy as circumstances require, so the first place to start would be to work on rebalancing the body’s energy and endocrine system. This would entail adopting a healthy diet and getting enough physical exercise. On top of that, mindfulness discipline and meditation can help to quiet the ruminating mind. Any task-positive activity can help with this as well, ideally an absorbing activity where a so called ‘flow’ state can be achieved. Being idle and ruminating is probably the worst thing to be doing.
Also, I learned recently that psychedelics can effectively treat depression. Unfortunately they’re illegal though. It’s believe that they can help to breakup mental patterns (including depressive patterns, apparently).
Mostly paranoia and anxiety. I don't like how THC affects my mood. I always been that doom feeling like I'm doing something wrong.
Heh, easier said than done. Thanks anyway.
Yeah, if there's one thing that I need to work on is self-discipline. I'm hopelessly deficient in that.
Hope your anxiety has subsided. I can't stand being anxious and would take depression any day over anxiety.
Here's one for you:
Well you don't need more bad feels. When I use it these days it's just the tiniest amount to cross a threshold where the surroundings are freshened up. But to each their own. Maybe I should have recommended a kitten.
Yes, psychedelics can help. But, I learned the hard way of once taking magic mushrooms and experiencing ego death and complete horror at the whole experience. It was a psychotic state to not want to be in.
That was awesome negative psychology. Now, I know how to become more miserable. Thanks!
A cat would be nice. :)
B. You are absolutely capable of solving therefore mentioned deficiencies.
... C. ?
I was watching fox television the other day and there was a teenager who was golfing blind after losing both eyes after years of remitted cancer. His other senses maxified. Cancer took his physical vision but he still won the will to live.
Take the mechanism that is causing you to spiral downward and flip it upward.
What do you value? If you don’t know, you should be using your energy to shine the light on that. Take that which you hold in the highest esteem, and pursue it. Share it if you already have it. There is a gift that you can share with the world that will justify your suffering. This paradoxical altruism is very real. Some people walk on elevated plateaus by routinely perpetuating their subjectively-attributed [personal meaning] highest good, manifesting a godly form of Being.
Do you though? The audacity to say such a thing indicates some kind of self-affirmation. I'm just spittballing, but I think a rejection of the ways of the world (adult disenchantment) indicates a stubborn faith in one's own sense of how things ought to be. How might this connect to self-esteem? Do some of us present vulnerability with a cunning we don't fully understand?
When I was about 20, I tended to play the clown around everyone but my closest friend. I didn't take it as a conscious strategy. In a way it was a better mask than silence for a much more essential and serious core of my personality. Silence would have been all too loud, you see --and of course to some degree I did like to goof around more then.
If you have the space and funds for one, I think it's a great thing to try. My cat is playing the fool right now. I just love that evil little thing.
You were misdiagnosed as depressed when you were actually just hungry. It's an easy mistake to make. I was once misdiagnosed as retarded. Turns out I was just sleepy.
Knowing what you're doing wrong is part of the answer to navigating your way to a better place. Duh!
It has all been said before, over and over and over again.
You need to be kidnapped and dunked in cold water everyday for a month.
Forced Bikram Yoga sessions (Bootcamp).
Streaking through various social places.
Horse therapy.
Mime classes.
Mime horse therapy classes.
That might help.
Quoting Posty McPostface
That's what I'm talking about. You don't just have "simple depression". You have a more complex diagnosis. "Depression" may feel the same for you that it would feel like for everybody else (feeling worthless, passivity, sleeping a lot, etc.) but the cause of your depression is likely more complicated. You have multiple diagnoses (if you were diagnosed CD) of MI and CD--which is fairly common. People often self-medicate with alcohol or recreational drugs to help themselves feel better.
Antidepressants may or may not help you -- they just don't work on everybody. So your psychiatrist may have to be extra good at designing treatment plans. You might benefit by being evaluated at a research university medical school clinic like USC or UCLA. They should be able to give you the best possible diagnosis and treatment plan (meds). (You have medicaid or medicare?)
You definitely would benefit from a supportive therapist and a good support group. The National Alliance on Mental Illness NAMI is a group you can use to find support groups. They have an office near you. Unfortunately, great therapists and great support groups can be hard to find.
Eh, I never make mistakes.
*Take it for what it's worth. It's no subsititute for professional advice, obviously.
Your therapist asked you a very important question and you answered it in the current time when you were seeing the therapist but time moves on. So maybe entertaining his question, now at a different time would be fruitful?
Quoting Posty McPostface
Here is the key: be prepared when you use it, embrace it with everything you have because life has been waiting for you to make this decision.
"When it is harder to suffer than change, we change."
Ahem...bullshit :down:
Excellent articulation!
:sparkle:
You are quite brilliant.
I speak from personal experience; I was one.
I understand that you speak from YOUR "personal experience" but that does not mean that anyone else feels that way in being an Atheist or has the same experiences as you.
Quoting Devans99
I do not apologize for calling you out on a wide brush of bullshit being painted across a section of society that is much greater than just yourself.
~shrugs~
What could be more depressing than Oblivion? And then spreading this depressing message the way people like Dawkins and the cosmologists do creates depression in the general population.
Atheism is wrong and outdated. Science has moved on:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fine-tuned_Universe
Please do not quote the Anthropic principle; its (to use your favourite word) bullshit:
- The Weak Anthropic explains the universe must be compatible with life for us to be here. It does not explain why the universe is compatible with life
- The Strong Anthropic explains that the existence of multiple universes with different properties account for our existence. But other universes are statistically likely to be like this one (Life supporting) so the SAP does not explain why the multiverse is fined-tuned for life.
Is this just something you feel like talking about regardless of topic, or are you actually suggesting you have isolated Posty's problems to his lack of faith? If church attendance were a mental health panacea, wouldn't someone have noticed that by now?
The subject is depression not whether atheism is true. If you have actual evidence (i.e. data, statistics etc) of a correlation between atheism and depression, please provide it. Speculations that happen to make sense to you aren't going to cut much ice here. There are plenty of people, for example, who find the idea of an omniscient God who threatens to have you tortured for eternity for not pleasing him a tad more depressing than mere oblivion. But again, evidence. Make a link if you can or move on.
You shouldn't take psychedelics because you're not otherwise doing well. That's my advice to you. My other advice to you is to stop pretending like you have no ego. It's like this thing you like to say, but nothing is more obvious than how egocentric you are. In fact, fewer and fewer threads by you are about anything but you.
The general solution to all your various maladies is either through (1) professional help, or (2) nothing. What this means is that all this talk about you serves no purpose other than to talk about you, which you obviously derive some value from, whatever it is, but nothing we have here is going to make you any amount better.
If I felt my obligation on this forum were to be nice instead of right, I suppose I wouldn't have said what I just said.
Have any of you ever been depressed?
That's like trying to pull the rug from under your feet. I can't reference myself without invoking my ego. I don't gratify it however. It just is.
But, you've never actually felt depressed for prolonged periods of time, yes?
Yes, I have been but kind of know how to control it now. Sort of.
Then, is it a matter of discipline or willpower that has lifted you from your slump?
Just ploughing on, and being creative especially. And being disciplined about intake of media etc. Activity over passivity, I suppose.
You don't sound like the type that complains. I do it excessively. Anyway, kudos to you for getting out of your depression.
Not like what you're describing. I have had some pretty difficult days (none your bidness) which I do believe were handled as best could be expected by an otherwise healthy person, and the pain lasted for a good little while, but it was an injury for which time healed, although I do carry with me the reminder of every blow laid upon me I suppose.. That's just not at all what you describe though, where there's this prolonged hopelessness and disengagement from society. I never gave up, never thought to quit, never stayed still. I'm not suggesting a character flaw with you for doing otherwise, but clearly our constitution is different.
OK, then cheers for getting out of your slumps. I'll try and complain less if that bothers you.
I have a tendency to give up when things become difficult. Hence my streak in life of dropping out of college, or jobs.
I, however, do think it is a character deficiency on my part; but, don't know any methods at instantly becoming a better person.
I think that comment was out of context.
Instantly, as in right now, Google volunteer opportunities in your area and tomorrow you bag food for the homeless, you plant trees in parks, you shelve books at the library, you point patients in the right direction from the hospital help desk, you do whatever. Now you know how to do it. What's your next excuse for not doing it?
Your posts are all about you. They just are. We're not exactly talking about Kant here are we?
Depression? It's like we're talking about the same thing; but, at different spectrums here.
There really isn't anything that I'm bragging about here. And, again you make the mistake that all my topics are about me, when I took the time and effort at addressing every post directed at me, and by other members that are depressed.
I wasn't going to try and advise you, Posty, because I've never been clinically depressed (though my mother was, for most of her life), and so it seemed very presumptuous of me to suggest anything. But your remark about food has made me think maybe I can say something useful. Depression is an illness, and when I am ill, I notice that certain things can make me feel better. Getting enough food is very important; if you don't eat enough, whatever illness you have will make you feel much worse. Two other things come to mind: do things that in the past have made you happy, because there's a good chance they will make you happy again, or at least less unhappy; and try to spend time with people whose company makes you feel better.
I'm sorry, these are not very sophisticated ideas, but I hope they are of some use. Having watched my mother suffer for years, I know what you are going through. I hope life improves for you.
Thank you. Your advice is welcome and appreciated. :)