"We need new ways of treating depression"

["couldbecousin"]

I've noticed a tendency of peopke saying the're depressed when they may be sad.  Not sure what the magical timeline or intensity is between the two.

At least half of the young adults on Reddit seem to "have depression and anxiety," and I don't know
whether they all have clinical depression and frequent panic attacks, or are just generically sad and worried.
Which makes me sound like an old grouch putting down the younger generation, but still I question it.   

[Queen Victoria]

The differences between the two are probably probably duration, intensity and frequency. 

While I am sad about PA's death I don't feel depressed.  There are some things that I look back on and have deep regrets.

The best advice I gave myself after he died was that whatever I was feeling at that time was what I should be feeling.  Sadness, happiness, anger, whatever - it was where I needed to be.

[Icequeen]

I think a lot of people also just get stuck.

They know what they're lacking, they know the reason they're depressed, they mourn the life that they lost and they know what could make them feel better.

But there is no obtainable solution, either because they lack support, time, or the resources to pull themselves out of the corner they're in.

[Jack]

Exactly who is supposed to be responsible for metaphorically getting these people a cow?

[odeon]

Exactly who is supposed to be responsible for metaphorically getting these people a cow?

Metaphorically, society. The one that is currently prescribing pills.

[odeon]

I've noticed a tendency of peopke saying the're depressed when they may be sad.  Not sure what the magical timeline or intensity is between the two.

You can be sad without being depressed and you can be depressed without feeling sad about anything specific. People often misunderstand the difference between the two.

But as the article suggests, it might be difficult to actually draw the line.

[Minister Of Silly Walks]

There isn't necessarily a line as such.

Sadness is an emotion. You can be very sad without being depressed.

Depression is a state of mind. Or an illness. Often described as the common cold of mental illness.

It's a bit like how having bad hayfever/allergies feels similar to having a cold. But having a cold is not about intensity or duration of hayfever symptoms.

An example of depression could be SAD. Seasonal Affective Disorder. People with SAD aren't sad because they miss the sun, in fact they may not be sad about anything at all. The change in weather and light levels affects their state of mind.

I worked on a project once with a team of people who had been flown halfway around the world to a place where they had no friends or family, paid well, and stuck in a room with lots of work to do, 7 days a week for 10 or 12 hours per day.... oddly enough, everyone eventually got depressed, even though nobody had any particular reason to be sad. I remember at the time saying "this is a recipe for making people depressed".

This idea that depression is just being intensely sad for a long time is a common misconception that can make life more difficult for depressed people.

['andersom']

Exactly who is supposed to be responsible for metaphorically getting these people a cow?

The cow is back. Rejoice, all intensians.

[odeon]

There isn't necessarily a line as such.

I realise that.

[odeon]

Exactly who is supposed to be responsible for metaphorically getting these people a cow?

The cow is back. Rejoice, all intensians.

[El]

A very interesting article, and I can't find anything I disagree with.

But it does make me wonder about conditions like OCD, where sertraline is effective. Is OCD really about a chemical problem in the brain or just the one case where the meds actually do work?

I'm much more inclined to believe most (or many, anyway) cases of OCD are chemical (if they're correctly dx'ed, which it sounds like yours was), than most cases of depression.  That's just based on my own observation, though, so no science behind it.

[Jack]

Exactly who is supposed to be responsible for metaphorically getting these people a cow?

Metaphorically, society. The one that is currently prescribing pills.

So then doctors? Society isn't very exact; it does imply the general public should pick up the tab, which is all well and good.

[Jack]

Exactly who is supposed to be responsible for metaphorically getting these people a cow?

The cow is back. Rejoice, all intensians.

Jack feels better already.

[Minister Of Silly Walks]

The point is that we live in a society that is lousy at helping people to be less depressed.

So bad, in fact, that we have people who are supposed to be professionals at helping people to recover from or deal with depression. And, in most cases, the treatment is limited to drugging the depressed person with a substance that, in most cases, doesn't work very well at all.

The point isn't "who is going to pay for the free cows?".

The point is that we need to recognise that other cultures are way better at helping depressed members of their society than ours is. And that kind of sucks. And we need to get better, and to recognise that we aren't really fixing depression with pills anywhere near as effectively as we think we are.

[mdagli1]

Yup. Society wants you dead. The anxiety and depression is true, it's the truth. Quit fighting for a life that you can't have. Because let's face it, only you are to blame for yourself. Let the shame of being yourself rip you in half and maybe one day, just for once you actually achieve to do something about it. Being dead is one thing but pretending to be alive? Fuck off and fuck you for even trying.


Look after yourself, peeps. Because in the end, you can't and that's funny.