A question on depression

absolutebounder

Fern_Merkin wrote: »

I agree but in my experience Doctors do not really hammer home the need to avoid alcohol when on anti-depressants. I was dating an alcoholic when I was put on Prozac. If I had really known the effects of mixing the 2 I would not have done. Not only is the problem magnified but urges to self harm came to the fore. I have never before or since felt like that. Told Doc he said there is no documented evidence that this occurs. I said well write it down now!

Totally useless. Got myself off them, got rid of the alky and went to the gym. Still not always 'right' in myself but not a zombie very often either now.

Others I know in a similar position have experienced the same effects. Their Docs wouldn't listen either. Seems no one want to knock the helpful sweeties which let Doctors push their patients away for a month.

Heyho;)

Depression is a very subjective condition. Some people would be defined as depressed if they ever bothered to go to the doc but many people just accept things and get on with it.
Its a bit like a cold some people say oh its only a cold and carry on working whereas others are "dying" from flu (this applies commonly to men)
The concious mind is very easily diverted so some people get over depression by getting out there and making things happen. At the end of the day who is in control? You or someone else? if you take ADs or alchohol or both it aint going to be you.

trace_567

absolutebounder wrote: »

Depression is a very subjective condition. Some people would be defined as depressed if they ever bothered to go to the doc but many people just accept things and get on with it.
Its a bit like a cold some people say oh its only a cold and carry on working whereas others are "dying" from flu (this applies commonly to men)
The concious mind is very easily diverted so some people get over depression by getting out there and making things happen. At the end of the day who is in control? You or someone else? if you take ADs or alchohol or both it aint going to be you.

A very naive view. Since I think its 1 in 4 experience mental health issues at some point in their life, maybe when it hits you your change your mind.
There are various degree's of depression. Believe me when its bad its very very bad.

I am not against antidepressants, although have never found any to help me (several tried over the years). But that's not to say they don't help others.
Sadly even very bad depression is mostly only over dealt with by drugs, just not enough resources around the country for psychological therapies instead. Something that needs to change in a big way.

absolutebounder

trace_567 wrote: »

A very naive view. Since I think its 1 in 4 experience mental health issues at some point in their life, maybe when it hits you your change your mind.
There are various degree's of depression. Believe me when its bad its very very bad.

I am not against antidepressants, although have never found any to help me (several tried over the years). But that's not to say they don't help others.
Sadly even very bad depression is mostly only over dealt with by drugs, just not enough resources around the country for psychological therapies instead. Something that needs to change in a big way.

Which bit was naive. You say depression is over dealt by drugs I agree for reasons I gave earlier. you say they didnt work for you, There was a thread on DT about that and placebo effect. Now we come to the interesting bit about psychological therapies. there are those of us that use various forms of talking therapy in the private sector. Unfortunately because individuals are different there are no real standards in the NHS and by that some areas say support CBT others more traditional counselling. Now often all of these work and other times they fail. This leads me to believe that in reality if you can get the patient to make the right thoughts and brain chemicals you could say anything and it wouldnt matter. This is because at the end of the day all cure is self cure.
We in the private sector also probably get better results because we can refuse to work with someone that we dont think is ready whereas this is more difficult for the NHS.

Fern_Merkin

Trace you're absolutely right. I went to my Doc as I had problems knowing what was real and what was dreamt, thought I was going mad:o . The Prozac worked for me to a certain extent but I think it could have been a more positive experience if I didn't feel I was kept on hold and my concerns not being taken seriously by the Doc.

Even 4 years on the Black Dog will follow me about sometimes and it's more about learning to cope with those days than being free of it.

Talking therapies are helpful and a combination of drugs and counselling would probably have been more use.

trace_567

If I had the money to make use of the private sector I would. Pity money doesn't grow on tree's.

Comparing depression to colds and flu is rather misleading. Yes people get told they have depression because they've been a bit down, or say just had to go through something hard. Now I'm not saying they don't have depression, however clinical major depression is if you want to use the flu cold discription "the flu". Where quite frankly you cannot just change your life to get out of it. Lots of people think they have the flu when they have a cold, however the flu genuinely leaves people bed bound. Doctors will tell you if you can get out of bed and do anything, you don't have the flu.

Fern_Merkin

trace_567 wrote: »

If I had the money to make use of the private sector I would. Pity money doesn't grow on tree's.

Comparing depression to colds and flu is rather misleading. Yes people get told they have depression because they've been a bit down, or say just had to go through something hard. Now I'm not saying they don't have depression, however clinical major depression is if you want to use the flu cold discription "the flu". Where quite frankly you cannot just change your life to get out of it. Lots of people think they have the flu when they have a cold, however the flu genuinely leaves people bed bound. Doctors will tell you if you can get out of bed and do anything, you don't have the flu.

thanks, very neatly put.

absolutebounder

trace_567 wrote: »

If I had the money to make use of the private sector I would. Pity money doesn't grow on tree's.

Comparing depression to colds and flu is rather misleading. Yes people get told they have depression because they've been a bit down, or say just had to go through something hard. Now I'm not saying they don't have depression, however clinical major depression is if you want to use the flu cold discription "the flu". Where quite frankly you cannot just change your life to get out of it. Lots of people think they have the flu when they have a cold, however the flu genuinely leaves people bed bound. Doctors will tell you if you can get out of bed and do anything, you don't have the flu.

You misunderstood. I wasnt comparing depression to a cold or flu. I was pointing out the subjective nature of it.

Fern_Merkin

absolutebounder wrote: »

You misunderstood. I wasnt comparing depression to a cold or flu. I was pointing out the subjective nature of it.

There's not much subjective about flu

absolutebounder

Fern_Merkin wrote: »

There's not much subjective about flu

There is if you are a man. Cold = Flu and Flu = imminent death.:D

keelyjrs

BallandChain wrote: »

I'm starting this thread as I didn't want to hijack the Depression thread. I wonder if someone has the answer to this. For those that suffer with depression please do not take this as having a go, I am not. I am genuinely curious that a lot of people who suffer with depression are adults. My question is if anti-depressants are given because there is a chemical imbalance in the brain, why weren't anti-depressants given to those adults right from when they were children? I mean, a chemical imbalance would be there right from the beginning and not just because you reached adult hood and all that entails. Or can a chemical imbalance just happen later in adult hood anyway?

Thanks for your replies in advance as it is something I wondered about.

a person can be predisposed to having mental illness, be it depression, s mood disorder such as bipolar or a psychotic illness such as schizophrenia. They may live an asymptomatic life until one day a trigger happens, this could be a trauma, taking drugs or an excess amount of alcohol etc. Once that trigger occurs it kind of opens a door to the illness.

This is imo a big factor that needs to be looked at in the classification of drugs.. cannabis for wexample can be enjoyed by one person for years with no discernable effect whereas another may have a heavy smoke and end up hearing voices and believing people are out to get him