Depression or Cursed?

Will agree with @Biffa_Bacon here. It seems getting depressed is now becoming almost either fashionable or an epidemic. Seems 50% of population is or was at some point of time depression.

Suffering, failure and sadness in life is inevitable. That doesn’t mean feeling low or stagnated is illness.

Here is my test - Give someone who is depressed a Billion Dollar, A Big Fucking Mansion, few hookers a Classy Girl friend and make him Apple of eye in his social and friend circle. I am pretty Sure almost 90%'s depression will go away.

Do the same to a Cancer or Alzheimer Patient, The illness stays.

Now there are some Rich depressed folks too and may be they fall under the 10% where it is indeed severe illness. ( But rich people also suffers from stagnation, anxiety and unbelievable pressure ). Nevertheless there will be some cases where serious medication is needed but in my opinion it is quite small.

I don’t know which is UR case, Hope it is the first one and nothing serious. But do look for other means for coming out of it also.

6 Likes

I’d agree with most in this thread, do NOT go off the therapy and meds. I’m on Paxil for anxiety/OCD and the difference between before and after is like night and day. My head, whose thoughts raced so fast that I could barely stand it, now has “medium” level racing thoughts. Plus from my social work background (where I had to learn some psychopharmacology), going cold turkey on a lot of these SSRIs is really bad, the withdrawal is terrible.

That being said, I do think it’s possible that a curse could worsen your depression. Like your typical sickness curse, demons/baneful magick can’t cause a sickness, but if you already have one, it can make the symptoms worse. Look into that. And don’t trust the shaman. I have a friend in India who is gay, her parents take her to a shaman to try and “cure” her, and he just sexually assaults her.

3 Likes

Obviously consult with your doctor before going off any antidepressants. But just to play Devil’s advocate, good ol’ Ted does have a point:

Imagine a society that subjects people to conditions that make them terribly unhappy then gives them the drugs to take away their unhappiness. Science fiction? It is already happening to some extent in our own society. Instead of removing the conditions that make people depressed modern society gives them antidepressant drugs. In effect antidepressants are a means of modifying an individual’s internal state in such a way as to enable him to tolerate social conditions that he would otherwise find intolerable.
–Theodore Kaczynski

2 Likes

Wow…i wonder if that works too with cancer or diabetes :thinking:. How easy it would be and how much money could be saved.

2 Likes

I don’t contest the fact that antidepressants seem to be the only thing that helps some people, but wouldn’t you agree that they tend to be massively overprescribed?

3 Likes

Well the problem comes from a practical perspective. Depression is an illness caused by a misregulation of biochemicals in the brain, due to some genetic predisposition and environmental factors.
Nevertheless, all of us have got periods of time in which we feel crap due to external factors but our brain is not misregulated. Therefore distinguishing both and just prescribing to the ones who need it is even harder.
How do we ourselves diferenciate whether we are going through a bad time or whether we are ill?
Doctors try to help by covering both options because chances are that the person who is only going through a bad phase ends up with a misbalance of biochemicals anyway (when we don’t eat properly due to being stressed or sad, misregulations ate even more common).

The most sensible option would be to start referring to a dietitian who could offer support with a diet high in vitamins and tryptophan, as well as prescribing exercise. But people like easy options like popping a tablet in their mouths…

4 Likes

Regardless, i think it is reckless to recommend someone to stop taking their meds so casually. We don’t know the clinical details or background, and it can be unsafe for the person.
That kinda meds need to be titrated slowly until stopped over months due to the risk of the misregulations kicking harder as well as withdrawal syndromes.

2 Likes

Agreed. :+1:

2 Likes

This. I struggle with ptsd from childhood. It causes me to swing between “getting everything done 100 mph” and “there is nothing to be done so im depressed and bored”. Sounds normal but they are manic/depressive episodes.

They dope people up because they realize society makes it difficult for people to up and move and get on with life. Its easier to dope someone up to be a loyal happy sheep than to actually help them figure themselves out.

2 Likes

Also, if you are prescribed SSRIs those can have severe adverse interactions with ayahuasca. I would not take it if you are still on them.

1 Like

You are aware that cancer and diabetes are physical illnesses, while depression is a mental state ?
Having over come depression some years ago and studied psychology, I can assure that people who get depressed are depressed because of something they’re doing to themselves. Once they change the problem behaviour, or address the faulty thought pattern, the depression goes.
Of course, in this age of special snowflakes, in which it is preferred to blame someone else rather than address the problem yourself, it’s far more fashionable to pretend otherwise.

2 Likes

As you say, it boils down to what’s easiest. It’s hard to help someone gain a better understanding of their own mind and learn to change their behaviour.
It creates this idea that people are powerless in the face of many mental illnesses, when really they hold all the power. No psychologist has ever fixed anyone; they just show you how to fix yourself.

3 Likes

Wow. So in psychology you don’t study anything about , i.e.serotonin misregulations?
I am worried about the quality of teaching where you studied then.
Also, i don’t like a single bit how you use your “professional” title to justify your personal opinion. You are either lying or you are not professional at all.

5 Likes

At the end of the day, depression is a response to some social or personal short fall. Masking the symptoms is not the same as fixing an issue. You see a similar thing with people who feel they’re the wrong gender. Rather than look at why they have developed the illness, we try and pretend their isn’t an underlying issue at all.

Heaven forbid people use their experience to add weight to their opinion. Also, “title” I said I’d experienced the illness and studied psychology.

2 Likes

Well you use that experience without real evidence, which can be misinterpreted by others.

It is a misbalance of biochemicals due to genetics cellular and environmental factors. Don’t romanticise Depression.

This has more weight than any opinion or idealisation about depression.
Just because we feel emotions, it doesn’t mean that there aren’t chemicals behind it.
Also i won’t post more about this here because it is getting out of OP’s original thread.

4 Likes

Doesn’t change the fact that, at the end if the day, depression arises from the social factors. You correct the social factors and you correct the depression goes ( provided it didn’t arise from developmental issues or brain damage ) Obsessing over the biology behind it isn’t helpful when giving someone advice about how to cure, or reduce the severity of, their depression.

1 Like

Will add one thing, particular Thought patterns will inevitably lead to feelings emotions take a turn and follow it ( U can’t keep having fearful anxious thoughts with feeling of love ). Feelings and emotions Change One biochemical composition In a big way. So Consciously changing thought patterns can Cure a lot of stuff.

Sure the OP won’t mind discussing something from which not only he but many others may gain some insight.

2 Likes

That is why psychological therapies are so effective. But people keep confusing being sad with being depressed (that is suffering the imbalance).
Psychotherapy, as well as exercise and a good diet , like a said before, should be the first line of treatment, but if the imbalance os too big, medication is needed. And if medication has been used, it needs to be titrated slowly to avoid withdrawal syndromes or worsening.

We are biopsychosocial beings, ignoring one area of us is not realistic.

3 Likes

Of course they will be, but that’s because you’ve alot of work to do. As you improve, the symptoms will lessen and eventually go.
You can torture some people as long as you like, but they’ll never say a word they don’t want to, while other people start singing the moment they see the tools. The difference is mental strength and will power.
Either you’ll find the willpower to force yourself to improve or you won’t. No one can make you improve. No one can give you the willpower you need. Jump in the deep end and see if you’ve got it in you to swim to the shore: there’s no other way you’ll get there.
You know the areas you need to improve, ask yourself why you haven’t made a change yet.

2 Likes

Hormonal irregularities can be cause by something as minute as daily stress.

That doesnt mean they are powerless against it, more often than not they just lack the proper coping mechanisms and bottle it up instead, causes the imbalance. A psychologist will help you by teaching you coping tools first, and then helping you change thought patterns second. Often by revisiting your past to bring up what was buried and causing the imbalance.

I agree with biffa, psychologists help you understand yourself so that you can help yourself.

2 Likes