For sure, and I'm sure many of us here , including myself would volunteer to chat via pm or phone if you needed to hear a kind voice.
Let's not be too hard on ourselves, "the great depression" was a real part of history and growing up, there were stories told to them by grandparents. Know we are natural creatures at birth and civilisation gets the better of our minds and mental chemistry from that point on. Change the environment or keep your mind busy doing something you like.. *wink* CGTI
I saw on TV once that alistair campbell (the politician) suffers quite badly with depression. He apparently uses exercise to tackle his. i've read this in a few places that daily exercise can help.
Depression is a very broad term used to cover a whole range of both physical and mental symptoms attributable to the condition. I suffer from mild depression and there can be many things that trigger an episode, but mine is controlled in the main by medication...in my case Sertraline as I didn't get on with Fluoxetine. If I ever forget or don't take my medication for a couple of days my other half is the first to recognize a shift in my mood, I am normally totally oblivious until it is too late! Mind you she is a mental health nurse, so I guess it is second nature to her and she is in tune with that sort of thing! Everyone's triggers are different, but nonetheless the effect can be equally catastrophic. My personal experience is that mine is triggered by so called 'life events'....splitting up with my ex-wife......losing my job of 10 years etc etc. What many people don't realise however is that sometimes it can be the smallest thing that can tip you in to the abyss that is depression, my last time I had been dealing with a lot of issues at home, but was able to keep my head above water until some lowlife poisoned our cat with anti-freeze and that just tipped me and I don't really remember the next two days at all....it is a very strange feeling and can relate to what Mart said above.....I was off work for two months as a result! I have tried all sorts and while exercise certainly helps with your overall well being and how you feel in yourself, in my experience it can not fix or repair the chemical imbalance in your brain that is the cause of dpression and other mental health issues.....for me my happy pills are what keeps me on the straight and narrow.
Interesting reading and upmost respect to all of those who have shared. I don't have a great deal to add other than the fact there's some very valid points in this thread. Having been around friends and family who suffer its a really hard thing to understand. I've been diagnosed with clinical depression for about a year but realistically it's a problem I've had for around 4 years and one life event in particular meant I just couldn't keep my head above water anymore. It's only really now I understand how encompassing it can become. All I can really add to anyone reading this is get help sooner rather than later if you think you may need it. I had to be dragged to the docs kicking and screaming and looking back I was complete idiot not to get help sooner. Once you open up about it you realise just how common it really is and there's a vast array of support out there should you need it. Nothing is more important than the company you keep around you. It's a long road but wishing you well with your recovery
Isn't it bizarre how there's a percieved stigma around mental illness? People will openly admit to having physical conditions, even quite personal ones, yet the same isn't true of psychological conditions. Why is it more embarassing to say you have depression than piles? It's wrong.
Like Tim I find that the meds, plus beer, of course, work work for me. CBT did not. Like Tim 'life-events' trigger my 'moods'. Cos. I am bi-polar the swings can be massive. I had coped for years, just by having a week or so in bed, but my parents' deaths, in very quick succession, destroyed my mind. I had to stop work even though Butterleys were very good to me and tried hard to make it easy for me to continue to work. My biggest problem is going anywhere because I have massive anxiety attacks. Without Elaine to support me and run me about I probably would never get past the end of the drive.
It's not easy living in a world of stress, we're supposed to be lazing under a tree waiting for the next herd of animals to call breakfast and looking to the skies in case there's fruiting trees. I find nature is the best thing for a depressed state of mind, there's something grounding about camping, I think that's why so many of us do it and in Europe, heck you have to be keen. I can totally understand that the winters also contribute heavily with the environment closing in on you as well. Don't be too hard on yourself either, if you can accept it natural to react to your surroundings, then accepting the effect there of. People turn to pets and it's also my belief that it brings us closer to nature and helps escape the madness we call modern civilisation. Find good people (LIKE US) to surround yourself with, the simple pleasure of having good company to share life with can change your day!
That's what I'm getting at, Dave has openly said he suffers from bipolar & anxiety, now I bet nobody on here thinks any the worse of him for it. Its such a shame that people don't feel they talk about things like that.
That's the self perpetuating nature of depression though unfortunately, the sufferer often perceives it as weakness while all around them appear to be thriving, at least that's how I felt for a year or two. Never deemed it anything serious enough to seek help with, never really told anybody, pretty much just locked myself away and filled my time with sleep (at the wrong time so as to avoid human interaction) and alcohol. With hindsight it probably wasn't the best course of action... Eventually I had to just force myself to become a functioning human being again which was hard as ****. I have close friends and family who have and still do suffer from depression, I've never been sure how best to deal with them, obviously always there to lend an ear and help as much as I can but I'm considered to be one of the ones thriving to them so I find myself in a position where nothing I say really seems to help or maybe makes it worse.
Jolfa, just being there is good enough and well done for sticking with it. People may not show it but I'm sure they appreciate your company. There has been massive funding in the NHS recently to promote therapy for certain types of depression. My Wife is a CBT therapist and I have the up most respect for the work she does. She says it can be difficult because the person involved needs to take the steps to wanting to be helped. Like others have said, people will easily admit to a physical issue but talking about mental issues seems to be a taboo. I have helped my Wife promote the NHS CBT therapy on stands at a fair and its shocking how many people just walk off as soon as you mention depression or mental illness. Kudos to all the people that openly admit to suffering from depression, its not easy but is a step in the right direction. There are services out there that can help, either through your GP or self referral
I don't know what it is like in the UK now, but in the 1990s there was little done to help. My GPs treated me and I was never referred to any clinics, psychiatrists, etc. Once, at a new practice, (I had moved to live with my daughter cos. my wife was already in Ireland and I was fighting to get a company pension), I was interviewed by what I thought was a medical practitioner only to find she was a part-time untrained clerical assistant. When I eventually got home to Ireland I joined a local practice and went for a repeat prescription. No way. Doreen immediately referred me to the North West Regional Mental Health Unit. I was seen by the boss psychiatrist within two days. First thing was to put me on proper meds. He advised that the stuff I was on in the UK was 'cheap' and pretty basic. (National Health Service control GP budgets. Can't have over worked-and under-paid (that's a laugh) GPs doing their job properly and giving plebs like me expensive drugs that might work!) I was put on the best drugs and gradually the dosage was increased until I was on maximum which was costing 80 per month. (The drugs actually cost more, but there is a system where low income patients pay a max of 80 prescription fee per monad. I eventually got free health treatment, GP, Hospital, Optician, Prescriptions, Escorted Travel, etc, when our savings had disappeared, and we fell below the poverty line.) I was seen every month and a Mental Health Nurse visited me once a week. After a few months I felt so much better and only now suffer from irregular, short term, relapses. Hence I go missing for here now and again. The only thing that the drugs don't seem to help are the Anxiety Attacks.
I had a moto-X accident 9 years back and amongst other things had a head injury. Long story short lost 13 year relationship, 14 year job, house etc, and a year later after the anxiety got too much I had a breakdown. Post that I'm more depressed than anxious, I'll go months fine and then the brain chemistry throws a wobbly and down I go. CBT and happy pills got me going again, and generally I toddle along ok with the occasional bad patch. Certainly better than when I spent time researching the 'best' way to top myself and started to get the relevant kit together... These days I don't hide it from people and if they ask why I was off work for a bit (self employed handyman) I'll tell them - never had a bad reaction from anyone and mostly they want to talk about someone close to them that they are worried about. Feel free to pm if you need a sympathetic ear
I think i am depressed, and i think i know why. Because the world we live in is full of corruption, governments playing us all agaist eachother for profit, violence etc etc. there is nothing we can do about it and it makes me ****ing angry. i think about this All the time, hearing bull**** propaganda from the media constantly making people believe that what they are doing is right. We are all living in a system that is designed to keep us under their control, through religion and slavery. Believing as i do, how am i supposed to be happy that i am a human being?
2 weeks ago was one of my worst time, struggled to get on with daily life routines, getting to work, and also braking down I front of the team work mates, it was imbaressing, I could not cope. I've been to GP and up my dose on medication, which is what I didn't won't, I don't won't to rely on medication. Learning to cope is really hard, all I need to do is plod along and don't think about doing things. Is this how people cope?
Mike. Can you ask your GP to refer you to a Mental Health Clinic? If such things exist in the UK. You obviously need expert advise, and this the average GP is incapable of giving you. Dave.
Have you tried co tacting MIND? If they can't offer direct help they should be able to tell you whereto get it
I Hi dave, GP with us are not that help full, the only way they help if I was self harming. I said I walked out in front of a car, but my mind was else where and feeling numb. But nothing.
Hi Gaz, My wife was involved with mind, I did go with her to see what they could do for me. It's learning to cope I'm struggling.
