Cadey sweetie,

The meds don't cure anything...What they do is 'take the pressure off', 'ease the pain', 'soften the blow', 'mellow things out a little bit', so to speak.....If it weren't for medication, some people wouldn't be able to get out of bed some mornings....They require them to help them go about their daily lives.....Simple as that.......No one is saying you can cure depression.....The best we can hope for is to manage it, so as not to render someone incapacitated.......

Of course depression is real and is a medical condition and is treated medically.
Depression is actually a state of relative inactivity/slowdown of the central nervous system, mostly the brain that is. For instance, if somehow the neurotransmitter gets too little or the nerve cells get exhausted, depression occurs. If the opposite happens, we get convulsions, psychosis, and hallucination, as the CNS is highly activated, more than what's necessary.

Speaking from a medical point of view, there are 2 types of depression:

1. Reactive depression

- That is the most common type. As the name implies, it occurs as a reaction to certain stimuli or situations. Think of job loss, death of family member,...etc
- It's treated with drugs that enhance/stimulate the Central Nervous System (CNS) as MAOIs, TGAs, and SSRIs. Besides, psychological treatment is also highly effective.

2. Endogenous depression

- That is the rare type, and the most serious one. It happens without a specific reason. The word 'endogenous' implies something that spurts from inside. No external stimuli.
- Treated with the ever-popular Lithium Carbonate (Evanescence's Lithium.. anyone?) -- Here, psychological treatment is obsolete as there isn't a base to act on.

Sorry.. what am I thinking? .. This isn't a medical lecture here, is it?

Thanks Doc, I think it is interesting myself. Endogenous is something that can happen form brain damage? I know people with MS who have this type of depression, I didn't know the word for it. How is that diagnosed?
I think I have the Reactive Depression, at least that is what I am being treated for and it seem to be working.

<.< reactive is the depression you SHOULDN"T be treated for..

Endogenous depr. can happen from brain damage? Probably. The problem is that there isn't a known reason for this to happen. They haven't discovered one yet. And that's why it's a tricky medical situation.
The diagnosis is pretty easy if the patients are honest. Most probably, the patient or his/her family members say they have no history of traumatic events yet they feel depressed. Some patients cover up parts of their history for personal reasons leading to wrong diagnosis. Further investigation of the patient history is crucial too. There might be a traumatic event that had happened long ago and might have been 're-incarnated'. There are some drugs known to cause depression like Benzodiazepins and Barbiturates.

When no underlying factor - either a certain event or a drug - is found, endogenous depression certainly pops to mind.

To me depression only happens rarely,because I am in a situation that I can not control. Yet I have to be there. This too will pass! I believe as the Lama,your mind controls your life. I have seen patients that should die,bring themselves back to life. It is all mind control. I would never join the Prozac Nation!

generally, the way i see it is that if you have situational (reactive) depression, you should be able to overcome it with intense therapy. medication usually isn't needed, except in extreme cases. however, if you have the endogenous depression, medication is usually the best route.

Thank you. Meds aren't used as a crutch for everyone. Like I said before sometimes you cannot even function without them at times. I mean, how are you supposed to tell someone to get over it when they have a wonderful life full of sunshine and butterflies but still feel like absolute crap? It's not something you can get over. If there is no root of the problem there is no getting rid of it.



You shouldn't need pills for situational depression unless something really severe happens. Even then it should only be temporary.

Imagine someone close to you dying and feeling really bad about it. So bad that you are having trouble even getting up every morning and going on with your everyday life. Now, imagine that feeling everyday of your life, except noone close to you ever died. A matter of fact your life is pretty swell, yet you have to drag yourself out of bed every morning fighting to even make it through the day. No, it's not that you are ungreatful for your life, you just can't enjoy it. Perhaps you notice all the wonderful things in your life but you just can't enjoy any of it.

You understand that there are so many people worse off than you so you still can't understand why you just can't enjoy life. Everyday you wake up feeling like a part of you has died and you can't wait for the rest of you stop existing so you can finally rest. Well, I felt like this once a month, and I'll be d**ned if someone tells me that BC pills are a waste of time and I could just get over it myself Please, you've never been in my shoes and no one should speak for another persons situation. Unless you've been truely depressed (not situation depression) then you have no idea how it is. I'm pretty happy now that I don't spend nights sitting up from insomnia suffering from horrible anxiety attacks. I'm glad that I don't wake up every morning crying my eyes out because I have to go out into the world when all I want to do is sit at home and sleep life away. I like having a will to live. I also like not suffering from cramps bad enough to interfere with my day. I like my hormones not being out of wack and I am a much happier person for it.

If I was in a situation where I was suffering from clinical depression on that severe of a level, if I couldn't fix it any other way there is no way I would turn down pills. Really, for some they are the only chance they have to enjoy life.

Maybe cure wasn't the right word...but in some mental illnesses you take your meds and you don't feel the symptoms anymore. Of course if you don't take the meds then it comes back.

I know some mental illnesses work like this, not depression though.

I believe it's real and can be caused by a chemical imbalance. Some people are never going to be able to get that through their heads, though. I believe depression can be completely unrelated to psychology, too. By the way, there's a breathalyzer test for schizophrenics now that determines whether a person or not suffers from it. Something about more carbon sulfide in their breaths or something. I can't believe that kid that called everyone pu**ies said PLACENTA!!!

I believe in both types of depression. I also think it can be caused by your situation and by a chemical imbalance simultaneously... Like, say for instance, you are someone with a chemical imbalance and you don't know it, but one day the stress of losing someone or something (like a job) pushes it over the edge...

I've thought about that aswell, due to all the different misdiagnosises i've recieved. But there IS a scan used to detect the chemical imbalances of the brain because i've had one myself, it's called an EEG scan and it came out showing my brain had some malfunctions in it's way of signaling, but it is not detailed enough to make a diagnosis without a pshyciatrist helping to diagnose aswell.

http://www.pbs.org/wnet/brain/scanning/eeg.html

But my ex girlfriend for example just went to the doctor and cried abit and was then handed meds right away. So i agree to an extent that it's too easy to get the diagnosis.

Although I can't add anything new to the topic, I'd just like to say yes depression is real but I don't believe it to be purely biological. Complexity_Defined sums up my views perfectly

Depression is a serious issue and from reading some of the posts on here the thread is now closed.