Have you ever/ do you suffer(ed) from depression!?

vibe666

not myself, but it's in the missus's family and nearly ended in a suicide last year.

the relative in question was initially just diagnosed as having depression but has recently been diagnosed with bipolar disorder (which afaik is classed as manic depression) and is now taking lithium for it, but he doesn't seem to be a whole lot better tbh and in fact very recently seems to be getting worse again.

it's a year since it all came to a head and they are still changing his medication regularly to try and get the right mix for him, but it's not really working.

one of the worst parts of it all is that he has a wife and kids who are at their wits end and the whole family is struggling to cope with it and nobody seems to be able to do anything to help him.

his father has taken it so badly that he seems to be on the same slippery slope now and has taken to the bed for most of the day.

davidf1412

I read somewhere that the low-serotonin theory of depression has been refuted - but as drug companies make billions from serotonin boosting drugs they will wheel out their PR companies to bury this - as they have tried to bury the link between some SSRI anti-depressants and increased risk of suicide especially in younger patients. I would have thought the brain is an incredibly complex organ that we know little about and just going in and messing around with its chemicals might be risky.

Far better to exercise (especially team sports where you make friends), and one activity that sorted out my depression was volunteering to help people worse off than I was - you see your life in perspective and again you meet people and feel part of a team, and valued. And eat oily fish to get those omega-3 or whatever it is!

AckwelFoley

Mods sorry for the thread bump I needed to reply.

davidf1412 wrote: »

I read somewhere that the low-serotonin theory of depression has been refuted - but as drug companies make billions from serotonin boosting drugs they will wheel out their PR companies to bury this - as they have tried to bury the link between some SSRI anti-depressants and increased risk of suicide especially in younger patients. I would have thought the brain is an incredibly complex organ that we know little about and just going in and messing around with its chemicals might be risky.

Far better to exercise (especially team sports where you make friends), and one activity that sorted out my depression was volunteering to help people worse off than I was - you see your life in perspective and again you meet people and feel part of a team, and valued. And eat oily fish to get those omega-3 or whatever it is!

Gravity has been refuted too.

Simply refuting something doesnt always give any credance to the arguement.

However i do agree regular exercise does certainly help because it boosts levels naturally and partaking in something like volunteering helps focus the mind on other things and gives one less time to think negatively.

I do feel that there are far too many people prescribed meds, however we cant ignore the need for them for some people in conjunction with therapy, diet, exercise and and something to focus on

uprising

I suffered with depression for a few years, I believe anti depressants are designed to keep you depressed and dependant on them, they are definately highly over prescribed and can send you into a rage in a split second, they are dangerous, and I blame one particular brand on a mates suicide.
I also believe the causes of such high levels of depression is down to the food we eat, all these E numbers and and a society that has to be sucessfull and competitive, we should get back to basics really, we are building our personal towers of bable, without realising the closer we are trying to climb to our personal utopia, the weaker the foundations and base of our tower is actually getting, till it crumbles and falls.
I have always held an instinctive thought "It's not supposed to be like this", I think thats basically the closest I can describe simply how I feel about the world in general, it had the potential to be something much better that what its turned out to be, and its sad.
Imagine people actually got along and helped each other all through our existance, the feeling of anger or cruelty were something mankind couldnt try to comprehend. Imagine....
Something that made me think was while on a holiday to thailand, the poor peasents always seemed to be smiling and happy, genuinely.
I think we were the doves of love who got lost somewhere along the way.

Lia_lia

Apparently.