genuinely interested in your depression.

[morrocan roll]

not so much to help you but for you to educate ME.
there are way to many threads to trawl through.
i read that depression is reaching epidemic proportions ...why?
is it something to do with our modern world consumerism ...environment ...upbringing ...family or lack of ...divorce being so easy and 'normal' these days ...educational pressures ...
lack of self worth ...lack of vision or hope etc etc?
please tell me what you think.

[Kermit]

For me at least, a lot of it probably stems from 10 years of bullying at school.

I had a good family, though when I was very young we moved a lot, which isn't good for stability.

I don't know if depression is actually reaching epidemic levels, because it's only now that depression is recognised as an illness. In the past it was "pull yourself together", and only the truly nutty were ever thought of as mentally ill.

I think for me a lack of self worth is what's at the centre of it all, and I think that the bullying did it for me.

[FallenAngel84]

I cant believe how many people, especially young people on here suffer from depression. its shocking.

My answer is i dont know.

[morrocan roll]

Originally posted by Kermit

I don't know if depression is actually reaching epidemic levels, because it's only now that depression is recognised as an illness. In the past it was "pull yourself together", and only the truly nutty were ever thought of as mentally ill.

I think that the bullying did it for me. surely the research takes that into account ...and bullying has also been on the rise?

[BeckyBoo]

I think its a lot to do with peoples expectations these days. Take youngsters who are at school well, we expect them to do well, us as adults put a lot of pressure on them to sucseed and when they dont sucseed and maybe fail an exam then they feel like they have failed themselves and not made their parents proud of them.
Bullying has been mentioned and yes i reckon that plays a big part in depression for some people. If you can imagine getting picked on day in day out and then be afraid to go to school then obviously its gonna get you down. Bullying now aint just about nicking someones shoe and having a laugh like used to happen when we were younger, its a lot more violent and a lot more verbal than we used to have....so is it any wonder kids are shitting themselves at the thought of having that on a daily basis.

[morrocan roll]

i wonder you see if i would have suffered from depression if i hadn't accidently stumbled into a world of self medication and abuse.

[Jaloux]

My biggest problem is and always has been that I have problems socialising. By 4th grade I had changed schools twice, and after I changed again in 9th grade I didn't manage to make any new friends. If it weren't for a girl in that school that I had gotten to know from elsewhere the last two years would have been much harder for me.
When about 12 I started working for a riding school where after gaining my trust, the boss started telling me these horrid sexually related things (aimed at me most of the time). Didn't help matters at all.

Sometimes I've also felt it was hard to get my parents to listen. Just general stuff was hard enough so my problems were even worse to discuss. But I must add that my parents have been very helpful after they realised there was a problem.

Perhaps it's also a question about what makes people tough skinned enough to sail through life relatively unscarred. Perhaps something about the causes can be learned from those people.

[twisted_trinity]

i've never felt like i've fitted in. ever. i've been diagnosed with depression so many times though out my life its stupid. i've moved 24 times and been to 10 different schools. i had a really fucked up dad who would take out his fustration on me. and i took my fustratio out on myself from an early age by biting my hands till they bled. the past 7 months have been the only time i remember that i haven't done anything to harm myself in some form. i got the shit kicked out of me at school because i never fitted in, i was the hippy the goth, the smart kid, the dumb kid, the outsider. and still i remain.

though none of us have easy lives and we just have to get on with it.

[Maladjusted]

for me i was always pathologically shy, which really didn't help when making friends. neither did being sent to school to the primary school which was the dumping ground for every other school in the borough.

i was just too trusting for my own good and constantly got fucked over by "best friends" and stolen off fo by them as well.

I've always been bright, always expected to be the "straight A" student. the pressure to succeed being even worse in chinese families i have found. constant examinations every year, due to me going to a private school after primary, being sent to a tutor if i fell even slightly behind. god's sake, up til college i was expected by everyone to read medicne at oxford or cambridge! :lol:

also having little or no social life as i got older, as most weekends from 15 onwards i'd be working 6-11pm at my dad's restaurant.

parents getting divorced didn't help either and having to be help my mother through it all, working all the time when my sister never had to, etc.

think a lot of my self-worth was tied up in that i ahd to be the best, and when that went wrong and i fucked up i a-levels, things went even more downhill. first bout of depression nicely co-inciding with a nasty bout of glandular fever, the divorce, and starting to fail my a-levels :)

ah well, things are betetr now most oft he time, shoudl pass uni thsi time round and got myself a great group of mates that i can trust.

[chaos_insomniac]

My experience is many years of bullying. Being bullied for the way I am. Being bullied for being gay. Huge amounts of pressure on succeeding achedemically. And so on.

[Exess]

Growing up I think had problems with depression as a teenager but I don't think it was so severe that I wanted to kill myself or anything but the way I think I basically dealt with it was to shut myself down emotionally and cut myself off from people. I'm not going to go into all the details but my life was pretty messed up. Its only now that I guess I am becoming more open emotionally and trying to build friendships. I'm actually starting to act like a human being rather than some bloody machine

[Olive]

Originally posted by morrocan roll
i read that depression is reaching epidemic proportions ...why?


you don't want to know exactly what i think. but i think you should take that with a pinch of salt.

[Miffy]

I wonder though how much of the depression you're talking about is actual clinical depression. There's a difference. Not to say that feeling depressed can't turn into clinical depression.

I don't have the answers but there is one interesting piece of information I picked up somewhere along the way. There is a doctor somewhere, New Zealand if my memory serves me correctly, who has a very high success rate at treating depression in women. It was in the high 90's percentage, and we're talking about treating it so it doesn't recurr. There was one stipulation he made to every patient before he started treating them - they HAD to stop watching soaps.

Make of that what you will.

[morrocan roll]

Originally posted by chaos_insomniac
My experience is many years of bullying. Being bullied for the way I am. Being bullied for being gay. Huge amounts of pressure on succeeding achedemically. And so on. i may be wrong but you seem to have moved on a long way from 18 months ago ...if so how?
what are the barriers to moving on?

[morrocan roll]

Originally posted by kaffrin
you don't want to know exactly what i think. but i do ...i'm after some insight here.

[xmizzcattyx]

if you want to learn more, click the link in my signature. i'm sure theres lots of people on DA who'd be more than willing to answer your questions

[Kermit]

The lines between depression and teenage angst have been blurred something shocking in the last ten years, IMHO. Much of what used to be termed angst is now seen as depression- maybe it is depression, maybe it isn't, but being depressed is seen as "cool" when it never ever used to.

As for the "epidemic", I do strongly believe that it is because depression is seen as an illness now, as opposed to being weak or lazy. Twenty years ago only the terminally loopy were diagnosed with depression- I'm talking fruitcakes like Plath or Sexton- and most people didn't believe that it existed in milder forms.

Not believing in the existence of an illness hampers diagnosis, and the figures used to illustrate an "epidemic" do NOT reflect this.

[xmizzcattyx]

plath and sexton we'rent fruit cakes. they were intelligent women who struggled with their mental health.

plath's suicide wasnt ever meant to be suicide. it was a cry for help. she stuck her head in that gas oven thinking her freind would save her but he never came

[Kermit]

Originally posted by xmizzcattyx
plath and sexton we'rent fruit cakes. they were intelligent women who struggled with their mental health.

Oh, come on, even Elizabeth Wurtzel says they were nutty.

And she'd know.

[morrocan roll]

shoot me down in flames if you so wish but ...
if people had to work hard physicaly as in the past ...would they have time to get depressed?
if your fighting in fajullah ...would you have the time?
does knowing more contribute ...as in information overlaod?

[Olive]

Originally posted by morrocan roll
shoot me down in flames if you so wish but ...
if people had to work hard physicaly as in the past ...would they have time to get depressed?
if your fighting in fajullah ...would you have the time?

i agree with the sentiment, but i think it's less to do with having the time, and more to do with having more pressing things to worry about.

[Kermit]

I think the idea is right, MR, it's something I've said before. If you didn't get out of bed then you'd starve, so people damn well got out of bed.

I doubt people were happier, but they had to drag themselves along because they couldn't afford not to.

I suppose the price we pay for comfort is now having the comfort to be sad without starving to death.

[xmizzcattyx]

Originally posted by Kermit
Oh, come on, even Elizabeth Wurtzel says they were nutty.

And she'd know.

elizabeth wurtzel was a whole lot more fucked up than those two put together

[Kermit]

Originally posted by xmizzcattyx
elizabeth wurtzel was a whole lot more fucked up than those two put together

Undoubtedly.

But they were still nutcases, especially Plath. I don't buy into the whole "it was all Ted Hughes' fault!" rubbish to be honest.

[xmizzcattyx]

Originally posted by Kermit
I don't buy into the whole "it was all Ted Hughes' fault!" rubbish to be honest.

i think he contributed a lot, but no - it wasnt his fault

[morrocan roll]

Originally posted by kaffrin
i more to do with having more pressing things to worry about. care to explain that?

[Olive]

Originally posted by morrocan roll
care to explain that?

i just think we take survival for granted. we forget that it's a priviledge to even be here, and get hung up on the little things.

if we were living in a time when survival was something we had to fight for, i don't think we'd be so quick to throw it away.

[twisted_trinity]

Originally posted by Kermit
I suppose the price we pay for comfort is now having the comfort to be sad without starving to death.

"i miss the comfort of being sad"-farmer francis will have her revenge on seattle, nirvana.

look at it that way.....

i think it's also so much down to the way people are so nasty and dismisive of other people.

like beckyboo was saying......bullying used to be a few names flying around and throwing your school jumper round the playground. these days it's escalated to having a knife to your head and having the shit kicked out of you- and i'm sure there is worse, this is just the worst i've ever experianced.

people have no respect for each other anymore. none what so ever. and this can go to anger or fear....

[BeckyBoo]

I also think people get more depressive in winter months. Dark nights are in, its freezing cold you have no where to go, you dont see many people so when you have a problem you sit at home and make the problem bigger by keep going over it in your head....hence making you feel worse.
When summer comes everyone seems so much more cheerful, people laughing and joking..........I think so anyhow.

[xmizzcattyx]

Originally posted by BeckyBoo
I also think people get more depressive in winter months. Dark nights are in, its freezing cold you have no where to go, you dont see many people so when you have a problem you sit at home and make the problem bigger by keep going over it in your head....hence making you feel worse.
When summer comes everyone seems so much more cheerful, people laughing and joking..........I think so anyhow.

yea SAD is a big problem in this country. damn the winter

[FallenAngel84]

yes as mizzcatty said- Seasonal Affective Disorder is a whole new, well disorder, in itself.

Going back to someone mentioned people didnt have time to stop and get down over things years ago- something my therapist said was that when we go through a stressful period, its often after that time ha passed we slow down and reflect on it and thats when depression can get you(which could be a contribution to my own depression)

And i also very much agree with Kermit about the depression and teenage angst.
I do think doctors are far to quick to hand out the anti depressants at the sight of a tear, and quite often not even that, which could then lead to so many people with 'clinical depression'.

I dont believe these 'epidemic' number of depressed people, more so young people, are because of genuine clinical depression.

[Namaste]

Originally posted by kaffrin
i just think we take survival for granted. we forget that it's a priviledge to even be here, and get hung up on the little things.

if we were living in a time when survival was something we had to fight for, i don't think we'd be so quick to throw it away.

I kinda agree...

But on the side of psychology... Perhaps society is evolving faster than our brains are. For example, we'd be put in fight or flight (y'know... stressed) when we were primative man if wewere being chased by a sabretooth tiger... Perhaps on the hunt, perhaps in battle. Our instincts existed to serve the human race as spear chuckers, not as business men.

And these days from the age of eleven you're under stress from exams... You enter high school and there's peer pressure, sexuality issues and the need to do well... Then you leave school and need a job, or college... more reasons to succeed... a lot of stressors. Traffic, dangerous streets... always stress (depending maybe on your attitude or personality type) and then eventually your brain goes 'bollocks to this' and shuts down.

Maybe we're encouraged to aim too high and aren't reaching self-actualisation...

Or maybe we're overcrowded as a species.

[stargalaxy]

Originally posted by morrocan roll
i read that depression is reaching epidemic proportions ...why?
is it something to do with our modern world, consumerism ...environment ...upbringing ...family or lack of ...divorce being so easy and 'normal' these days ...educational pressures ... lack of self worth ...lack of vision or hope etc etc? A very interesting topic, Rolly. I would say that depression isn't really reaching epidemic levels, though it does seem to be more prevalent. Perhaps it is because of the more emotionally open environment we live in these days. However, this does not explain everything. I believe that stability is essential in a person's life, especially when they are children. The breakdown of the family unit, and the way that government after government have attempted to undermine the family has been immensely damaging.

[dolly dagger]

There are many factors, but i think the media is a big reason.

The media sets up these unrealistic ideals, look this way, have this job, be this person, and people can't meet this. Ideals have been around since the dawn of time, so many things have expectations of us, parents, friends, church society, but never before has one institution been able to infiltrate so many except for the church, but even then it wasn't everywhere you looked, whereas the media is, on the streets, internet, tele, magazines.

Obviously the breaking of the family unit, not good, and the isolation are in this society, something like 15% live alone, it's awful, no-one wants this, we need to talk, we need each other.....

[Yerascrote]

haven't read this thread or many other threads on depression so this quesiton might have been answered, i know that depression is an illness and i know if there's a history in the family you may be more prone to it than others but does a person bring depression onto themselves, i just can't see how anyone can get depressed and i generally despise depressed people, i haven't had a good life, my dads an alcoholic and i've had loads of shit happen to me that i don't like talking about but i've never been happier, i value life so much, how can you be dpressed, ican't see it.

[Girl_gunner]

i agree with what everyones said. so much pressure is put on us now in such different ways than how it used to be.

[Yerascrote]

Originally posted by Girl_gunner
i agree with what everyones said. so much pressure is put on us now in such different ways than how it used to be.

we're all running around like headless chickens for some invisible aim that everyone thinks they need to achieve, calm the fuck down everyone, smoke a joint or something, take life as it comes and never get too stressed.

[Kermit]

Originally posted by turlough
calm the fuck down everyone...take life as it comes and never get too stressed.

Yeah, thanks for those words of wisdom.

Next time, don't say owt, yeah?

[Kermit]

Originally posted by dolly dagger
There are many factors, but i think the media is a big reason.

I think blaming the media is a bit obvious and a bit lazy, to be honest. Eating disorders, for instance, are not about the weight at all- they are about control, and about guilt. Both feeling guilty in yourself, and wanting to make others feel guilty.

Images of stick thin models don't help, but I don't think they are a root cause in depression. I think created ideals of 2.4 children and a nice house in the country are more of a problem, but, then again, that's all anybody has ever aimed for.

[Randomgirl]

I don't know much about causes or statistics about if it is on the increase etc. I just know how it affects me. And that it sucks.

[BeckyBoo]

Originally posted by Kermit
Yeah, thanks for those words of wisdom.

Next time, don't say owt, yeah?

In all honesty I dont think he meant that in a nasty way.....I could be wrong though.......but im normally right every time :p

[Kermit]

Originally posted by BeckyBoo
In all honesty I dont think he meant that in a nasty way

I think you're confusing me with someone who cares.

[morrocan roll]

i find all the replies interesting and turloughs is valid as well. valid cos it shows clearly how difficult it is for those of us who don't suffer from depression to understand why so many do.
i lean toward moonrats words.
we seem to have built a fantastic world that is pretty alien to the human spirit.
it has been built so fast. 2.3 children and a nice house haven't always been the goal in life. for most people staying alive and safe ...looking after their offspring ...working physicaly hard toward that goal has been the lot of most humans. apart of course from the elite who could sit back in their comfort and ...suffer gout ...headaches ...mood swings and ...depression.
we seem to have built a pointless world. a world that serves something other than those who inhabit it. it's as if we are all chasing the wind.
i answered the call to turn on tune in and drop out ...i do believe it kept me sane in a mad world.
obviously not everyone can do that.
the world we have built seems to have taken the fun and joy out of living.
there is nothing special anymore. there is nothing much to look forward to.
even the seasonal no longer exists. tomatoes all yrear round. it may sound silly but when spring started to aproach we would look forward to tomatoes and salads ...you can have that 365 days a year now. it used to be a case of there being a time and a season ...not any longer ...we have built the bland with our over stocked over available glut of everything from food to entertainment.
there is nothing special anymore.

[dolly dagger]

Originally posted by Kermit
I think blaming the media is a bit obvious and a bit lazy, to be honest. Eating disorders, for instance, are not about the weight at all- they are about control, and about guilt. Both feeling guilty in yourself, and wanting to make others feel guilty.


But isn't the truth always obvious? 'Time is a great healer,' 'Opposites attract' all fucking annoying cliches, but we know they are so true, that's why we state them time and time again when the circumstances fit them.

I just think media has marketed happiness, and it's something that can't be bought (again another cliches), i think it's been stolen it from us sometimes, we are searching for it in the wrong place because of it.

And your comment about anorexia, yes it's about control, not the weight really, that is why i think the media is so dangerous, because it appears to have that control that we want, so much more now with air-brushing etc. they can control things which we can't in real life, and they manipulate that, and seduce us. They also create lacks, to make their money, with the things they offer to fill the lack. You can never seduce a happy person, it's profitable for us to be unhappy.

[morrocan roll]

Originally posted by dolly dagger


You can never seduce a happy person, it's profitable for us to be unhappy. i like that!

[swank]

*gone&*

[FallenAngel84]

agreed

[junker]

Family drastically changed and keeps changing, not being born in my own idealized persona, the greed and hypocricy of the people around me, mainly my peers.

Lack of self-worth is obvious. Empathy is also another issue, moreover, pure empathy to all or most of human-kind. Hard to explain.

Depression is not the biggest thing to worry about. It's not a damned terminal illness or anything. People tend to overreact.

I deal with it by myself. I don't nessisarily think I'm depressed, 'course I'm no doctor, but I believe I have a different view on the world than the majority of people do. Of course, so does everyone.

[Olive]

Originally posted by swank
No I don' t think its on the rise, I think its just easier to be diagnosed with it.

that's definitely true.

my cousin was feeling low, and went to her GP for help. 5 minutes later walked out with a prescription for ADs, and his opinion that she was depressed.

he hadn't even asked if she had anything going on in her life that she was finding had to deal with. if he had, he would know that she was going through a traumatic break-up, and had just found out her mother had terminal cancer. she wasn't depressed at all - she was reacting normally to her world falling apart.

[Carolina]

I agree with several points, mainly kaffrins admittedly. I think depression is always prevelant in people who have too much time to analyse/think about feelings and situations. When you're round friends, busy with something, basically doing something that engages your brain, depression always takes a back seat. The only times i find myself low are when i'm on my own left stewing about something. Okay chillout time on your own is good, but on a whole i like being busy. I like engaging my brain and my main low points are always when life is boring/staid and i feel like i should be doing something better with my life.

I think it comes from going to a school where grades and etiquette were the name of the game. I was an a/b student but made to feel thick because i got b's and not a's all the time. Unfortunately the teaching methods didn't help as not picking up things straight away in class was seen as thick and bad. I think it made me grow up thinking that to be thought of as a proper person i had to have a great career or stunning materialistic belongings. It's only now i'm learning that i'm not thick but fairly intelligent, it just takes me a normal amount of time to pick things up. In short i suppose you could say i've always felt so bloody useless at things :)

[chan-chan]

Well....i don't know if im depressed, but there has been major changes in how I deal with things. I have been crying a lot, which never used to happen and just feeling generally down. I am a person who worries and looks into everything, finding deeper meaning into things and I think it may have something to do with it. Also the pill.

But I don't know. Some days im as happy as a butterfly, other times I feel shit and worthless. I havn't been bullied or anything but had a nutty ex who pushed my self esteem down. Having said that it may be just hormones.

Who knows!

[littlemissy]

This is an extremely interesting thread ...

There is alot of teen angst around at the moment, aided by groups like Marilyn Manson. However, just now it seems to be "cool" to be depressed and just the in thing to go and cut yourself to shreds. However, IMHO, this is not proper depression. Depression is deeper than that. An "epidemic" is happening because more and more people aren't able to tell the difference between teen angst and depression and it isn't helped when alot of doctors either shy away from mental health issues or just diagnose ADs when someone comes into their surgery saying that they are "feeling down" or whatever.

For me, accepting I was depressed took an awful lot. I didn't want to be depressed and I refused to be prescribed anything until I had been to counselling and tried other methods to try and get me out of the hole I thought I was in. However, the crux came for me when I realised that I actually had nothing to be sad about but still felt extremely low and talking to my counsellor he advised me to seek medical help for depression.

My depression stemmed from alot of various things, low self confidence, extreme shyness and years of being bullied at school.

Most of what has been said on here, by Kermit and Kaffrin in particular, is spot on. It's attitudes like Turlough's that really pisses me off.

[morrocan roll]

Originally posted by chan-chan
Well....i don't know if im depressed,

then surely the odds are you aint?

[stargalaxy]

The whole problem is that the definition of "depression" is very vague and can be taken to mean all kinds of things.

[Kermit]

Originally posted by stargalaxy
The whole problem is that the definition of "depression" is very vague and can be taken to mean all kinds of things.

Taxi for Mr. Obvious.

[stargalaxy]

Originally posted by Kermit
Taxi for Mr. Obvious. If that's your attitude, then I feel sorry for you.

[Fiend_85]

Originally posted by stargalaxy
If that's your attitude, then I feel sorry for you.

:lol: He does NOT need your sympathy.

[stargalaxy]

Originally posted by Fiend_85
:lol: He does NOT need your sympathy. And was I talking to you? Trust you to want to have your say on everything.

[Fiend_85]

Originally posted by stargalaxy
And was I talking to you? Trust you to want to have your say on everything.

:lol:

[stargalaxy]

Originally posted by Fiend_85
:lol: Mockery IS truly the greatest form of flattery.

[morrocan roll]

Originally posted by Kermit
Taxi for Mr. Obvious. http://img90.exs.cx/img90/3527/bitchslapped.gif

[stargalaxy]

Originally posted by morrocan roll
http://img90.exs.cx/img90/3527/bitchslapped.gif :lol:

[morrocan roll]

Originally posted by stargalaxy
:lol: http://img119.exs.cx/img119/7804/150_forpresident.jpg

[spanner]

shall we get back to the point peeps...>>>

[stargalaxy]

(1) There's no question that depression is a public health problem. In Australia, for example, it's the second-biggest contributor to the total burden of disease. Only diabetes is more significant, and for women, depression tops diabetes.

(2) The World Health Organization says that while the past century has seen dramatic improvements worldwide in physical health, mental health in both developed and developing countries has not improved, and in some cases has deteriorated. In one survey, 10 per cent of schoolchildren in Alexandria, Egypt, had depression; in another, 44 per cent of the adults in a rural village in Pakistan were affected.

(3) It seems difficult to deny there are more prescriptions than ever being issued out for anti-depressants in the UK. Some say higher prescription rates are just a sign that more people are recognising depression and having it treated. Others see it as evidence in itself that we're all too willing to pop a pill instead of dealing with underlying psychological or social problems.

(4) Do drug companies contribute to this? Top psychiatrist Dr Petros Markou says "Those who do not have some level of mood disturbance already do not respond to Prozac. Antidepressants do not make you artificially happy. However, it is certainly true that drug companies are there to make money."