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Depression and Anxiety Support


Ufo_Guy

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This time of year generally brings about symptoms of S.A.D. or Seasonal Affective Disorder, which is winter depression. The weather, holiday stresses, and troubles in general can bring about this and make ones life very very difficult. Whether you're struggling with S.A.D., chronic depression, or anxiety, i just wanted yall to know that there are those of us who do also understand and struggle with it. Feel free to message me if you are struggling, or post on here in the discussion. I just felt like mental illness is something just as strange and unexplained as some of the things we discuss, though this we can actually do something about. Stay safe my friends.

 

Peace,

Anxiety Potato

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This is an incredibly important subject, especially at this time of year ( Christmas through to New Year). it's also one of the reasons giving health advice on the forums is frowned  upon.

Support is all good and well but never forget the people who are trained to deal with these conditions. it's hard to tell if we non professionals are making things better or worse. 

So please remember the professional agencies like The Samaritans, or Life line.

Stay safe and take care everyone.

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Well I feel  young people don`nt need it.  they are strong enough to defeat it, but as one gets really old and has experienced  so  much lost and the pending of  their own death,  it is  needed .

Edited by docyabut2
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1 hour ago, Anxiety_Potato said:

This time of year generally brings about symptoms of S.A.D. or Seasonal Affective Disorder, which is winter depression. The weather, holiday stresses, and troubles in general can bring about this and make ones life very very difficult. Whether you're struggling with S.A.D., chronic depression, or anxiety, i just wanted yall to know that there are those of us who do also understand and struggle with it. Feel free to message me if you are struggling, or post on here in the discussion. I just felt like mental illness is something just as strange and unexplained as some of the things we discuss, though this we can actually do something about. Stay safe my friends.

 

Peace,

Anxiety Potato

 

When people come here, sometimes it's for learning, but like myself, some come for a sense of belonging.  Even if it's virtual.  My life is incredibly better today than it was just 5 years ago tomorrow when I first posted.  Today I come to enjoy.  Then, I came to survive.  This is a great topic!  Thank you.

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1 hour ago, Kismit said:

This is an incredibly important subject, especially at this time of year ( Christmas through to New Year). it's also one of the reasons giving health advice on the forums is frowned  upon.

Support is all good and well but never forget the people who are trained to deal with these conditions. it's hard to tell if we non professionals are making things better or worse. 

So please remember the professional agencies like The Samaritans, or Life line.

Stay safe and take care everyone.

 

Yeah I agree with you there. I guess what I wanted to put forth was this form of odd individuals that we are, are a close net family and as such, need not feel alone during this time of year, or in life in general. I did not mean to insinuate that we were to provide any actual health advice, just knowing that there are people that understand and are here for you.

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I doubt it has much to do with the weather, it is more the Christmas holiday season, here in the southern hemisphere it is summer, many people who are perhaps a little socially isolated, feel it more so this time of year, everyone should think of a neighbour who fits that description, and do something for them, even if only a token act.

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1 hour ago, docyabut2 said:

Well I feel  young people don`nt need it.  they are strong enough to defeat it, but as one gets really old and has experienced  so  much lost and the pending of  their own death,  it is  needed .

Sadly depression and anxiety disorders can strike at any age, and it can be just as isolating and frightening at any age. I was 17 the first time I had a full blown depressive episode. 

But Christmas can be hard on the elderly I agree.

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On 12/11/2016 at 0:54 AM, docyabut2 said:

Well I feel  young people don`nt need it.  they are strong enough to defeat it, but as one gets really old and has experienced  so  much lost and the pending of  their own death,  it is  needed .

 

Young people don't need it? They are more likely to be weak minded and easily driven to suicide because of depression or anxiety. Everybody needs support no matter what age and there are cases of young people that are now old that never really got to be free of depression. Some cases can last a lifetime and never be cured.

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On ‎12‎/‎10‎/‎2016 at 10:29 PM, Not Your Huckleberry said:

I'm not sure what makes you say that younger folks can just "snap out of it" and are somehow less prone to crippling depression. I lost my father at 17, by far the most devastating thing that's ever happened to me. I'm 32 now, but his death haunts me to this day. I understand that depression can effect older folks more harshly, but telling we kids to just "get over it" is a bit short sighted, imo. 

Then why does the medical profession say don't give it to kids its causing more suicides. In the old day of wars and lost,  children  excepted it better, then older people.  

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On 12/10/2016 at 5:54 PM, docyabut2 said:

Well I feel  young people don`nt need it.  they are strong enough to defeat it, but as one gets really old and has experienced  so  much lost and the pending of  their own death,  it is  needed .

Sentiments like this are part of the reason there is still such a huge stigma surrounding mental health. It's hard enough for people in a major depression to ask for help (speaking from experience) and getting the courage to ask only to be told to "snap out of it" can be devastating and lead to huge set backs in that person's mental state. Worldwide, someone commits suicide every 40 seconds. 40 SECONDS! While you were reading my post, someone died. What if that person had reached out and been rejected because "they are strong enough to defeat it"? We need to be expanding our resources for people, not making people feel more stigmatized.

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Maybe we are taught it, or maybe it's an intuitive thing, but we all think we have more control over our minds and emotions and so on than we really do.  Instincts are not recognized as such except when they hit us with two-by-fours, and then only when on the side of the head.

Our emotional state is closely connected with a chemical soup in our brains -- this has been verified over and over.  Now the question is whether we can control the makeup of that soup, and, while things like talk therapy and will power and so on do seem to help, only on the margins.  When people are really suicidal, medical interference (drugs) are often the way to go.  We are talking about human lives and human suffering here.

As with all medical treatment (and decisions to withhold it), there are risks.  So, there are risks.  We have to try to do what is best without approaching it with a bunch of rigid and scientifically unsupported presuppositions.

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9 hours ago, docyabut2 said:

Then why does the medical profession say don't give it to kids its causing more suicides. In the old day of wars and lost,  children  excepted it better, then older people.  

There wasn't a lot of discussion on the subject back then. people shut themselves in or locked away from society, but suicide was present.I don't think Shakspear was making up a random idea when he wrote the  final scenes of Romeo and Juliet.

Edited by Kismit
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On 12/10/2016 at 9:59 PM, Habitat said:

I doubt it has much to do with the weather, it is more the Christmas holiday season, here in the southern hemisphere it is summer, many people who are perhaps a little socially isolated, feel it more so this time of year, everyone should think of a neighbour who fits that description, and do something for them, even if only a token act.

Seasonal affected disorder is really a deficiency in sunlight. In AK it seems just about everyone suffers from it. Come March I used to have the realization almost annually "wow ive been a dick". 

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The ramifications of diet and gut health for maintaining healthy moods are profound when 90% of our serotonin is synthesized in the gut.  

The Catch 22 is people who are depressed and feel horrible about themselves are also among the least likely to want to help themselves in the first place.   It's easier to eat another candy bar or just take a pill.   Having support systems like NAMI or loved ones who care enough to help/coach can make a huge difference. 

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  • 2 weeks later...
On 11/12/2016 at 11:54 AM, docyabut2 said:

Well I feel  young people don`nt need it.  they are strong enough to defeat it, but as one gets really old and has experienced  so  much lost and the pending of  their own death,  it is  needed .

I'm sorry but I feel this is a very ignorant thing to say, Depression is not always brought on by traumas or death, anyone is prone to it, no matter circumstances. I'm young and if it weren't for medication and therapy I would either not be here or still be locked inside my house

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What silly views some people have over mental illness. It's an illness nothing more nothing less. You wouldn't tell someone with a broken leg or a chronic heart condition to just get over it would you? 

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Quote

I guess I`m old school ,they didn't have all these meds for people in the old days  and there were less suicides.  Like Judge Judy said people were to busy trying to put food on the table to be depressed.  Now days there's not one person or child  I know of  that are not on them. I only choose to go on them now  by the persistence of my kids  at my older age of after experiencing so  much lost and the pending of one`s own death. I just think its better to have emotion then no emotion at all, which they say causes more suicides

 

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I just want to say, what always helps me every time I feel anxious, is forcing myself to do something productive. Especially something I've been putting off doing like organizing my closet or something. It distracts me and makes me feel good when it's all done. 

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  • 3 weeks later...

I find no matter how many times I talk with counselors or my Dr the outcome feels the same

The only person who can really help me dealing with my depression is me

I have tablets to help but it's still me who has to deal with it

I know the only things I can control are my actions and my thoughts and as long as I try not to over think things I find that my greatest chance to carry on carrying on

Also Rinna makes a good point about sometimes forcing yourself to do something. It can help take your mind off things for a while and the distraction can help

Edited by nyuk
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19 minutes ago, nyuk said:

I find no matter how many times I talk with counselors or my Dr the outcome feels the same

The only person who can really help me dealing with my depression is me

I have tablets to help but it's still me who has to deal with it

I know the only things I can control are my actions and my thoughts and as long as I try not to over think things I find that my greatest chance to carry on carrying on

Also Rinna makes a good point about sometimes forcing yourself to do something. It can help take your mind off things for a while and the distraction can help

What kind of counselling do you have?  Cognitive behavioural therapy lends itself successfully to treat those with depression.

I also realised that the only person who could really help me was myself.  I had clinical/severe depression, i.e. I found it hard to put one foot in front of the other....to walk!   However, I never lost hope/belief that I could get myself out of it.

At the time I had moved away from my friends (to be nearer to college) so I didn't have their local support.  I didn't go to the GP either or have therapy.  As luck would have it, as part of my degree course in psychology, I was studying psychotherapy and came across this thing called freewill which was somewhat alien to my fatalistic mindset i.e. that this is how it is, nothing could be done about it etc.  As you have discovered, we can control our reactions and thoughts.  At the time this seemed incredible/far fetched to me but I had nothing to lose so took a leap of faith... It was a transforming experience!  So much so that I wrote a short story (which I posted here, in the writer's section called A Leap Of Faith) to detail the actual process.  Although it reads as fiction, what occurred is true - it sounds a simple process but it overturned such a colossal, established head space!

Fast forward over 3 decades now, I still have a positive mindset, now hard wired into me and have never looked back!  Of course I can still see the beginnings of what could turn into depression, from time to time, but I catch it before it gets a hold.  I have become adept at turning a negative into a positive now.   It's so important to get the balance right, i.e. to count our blessings rather than our problems. We really are how we chose to be!  color.gif

Edited by sees
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I've had CBT and counseling re problems in my childhood.  It wasn't a happy childhood by any means but I've boxed that away again now.  

I've been told I should forgive the person who IMO ruined my childhood. That's not going to happen 

I find people advise me how to deal with things they obviously haven't had to deal with because if they lived through it they would understand why I won't

I will have a read of your short story. I sometimes think writing stuff down might help but when I try I get the writers equivalent of tongue tied

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10 minutes ago, nyuk said:

I've had CBT and counseling re problems in my childhood.  It wasn't a happy childhood by any means but I've boxed that away again now.  

I've been told I should forgive the person who IMO ruined my childhood. That's not going to happen 

I find people advise me how to deal with things they obviously haven't had to deal with because if they lived through it they would understand why I won't

I will have a read of your short story. I sometimes think writing stuff down might help but when I try I get the writers equivalent of tongue tied

I really don't like people saying you should forgive someone who did such damage to you. In my case, I recognized it happened, I could not change it, but I overcame it. I realized that toxic people are toxic people, even family members.  I removed them from my life, it was so freeing!  I took strength from it.  And as I get older I find I recognize the signs and adjust things in my life to deal with my anxiety so that I don't get depressed. 

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