Understanding depression....TO BEAT IT ? *Warning, Contains Triggers*

[demonblaster]

We're here to learn, sure of it. Have to for survival.

Like so many have lived in hell a mammoth amount of times.

I firmly believe collectively we can in majority of cases get on top of depression. We have to, too many die & suffer in unimaginable pain. It's wrong.

We're intelligent, capaple of thought. It has & CAN be done including coming back from the bottom.

A psychiatrist said to me when I said I'm going to beat it..." It can't be done".

I say maybe it hasn't been, but that doesn't mean it can't!

I'm Bipolar type 1 & 2 (now moreso) & yes its taken yrs but condensed not so long, so far (details later) have achieved pulling the extreme type 1 manias down to more controlled type 2 & anyone that experiences or knows the euphoria & complete unadulterated bliss, NO BODY on this Earth wouldnt want it. Its what people take drugs for, Pure happiness/confidence the list goes on ...

Point being, mammoth to let it go but achieved reduction, still amazing though.

I like thinking, am DETERMINED to get this crap, worse scenario under complete control which'd be a WIN!

In shorter time frame thanks to mania that opens or wakes the brain starting to make huge headway breaking through extremely deep depression.

I'm more than a rapid cycler (4 or more a year) I have 8-10 major cycles a year. Gotta get on top else it'll take me too

BP has by far more suicide than any other mental illness I recently read.

4 attempts in teens, contemplated a few & until recently it was an option.

Learning Emotional control

Our brains are possibly the least understood organ but what we do know is they're VERY POWERFUL. If we can understand depression from understanding we can learn. Growth.

Believing creates hope & determination

Sincerely sorry for your pain people.

We can get this

[demonblaster]

Thankyou for posting and sharing that Grandy. Yes its very difficult but not impossible to get out of the strong holds, as you say we need to be controlling our thoughts before they get to that point. I like what you've said. Makes a lot of sense. Distractions useful.

[Ggrand]

Hello Deebi, and everyone...

Thank you for your kind words Deebi. I very much appreciate them

It is very difficult to stop our thoughts before it gets to be a stronghold, but we need to try to practice this by doing distraction as soon as a negative thought enters our mind. then hopefully we can stop the negatives before they take a stronghold and cause us to much trouble.

Kind thoughts and warm hugs.

Grandy..

[demonblaster]

Thanks Grandy I also need to work on this.

I realised recently I need to practice mindfulness. I became aware part way through down thoughts that to be able to stop the emotions of these, by being aware of it earlier helps to be able to distact from it.

I also challenged the thought by thinking why and looking for a positive in the same situation by then usually another thoughts come through. It also worked as distraction and avoided attaching the pain again.

Not allowing emotions of how it made/makes us feel helps it to be a memory and not reliving it.

[Unbeliever]

This is a hotchpotch of responses for things I read throughout the thread...

I worry about how it has become common acceptance to consider certain mental states as if they are "dragons to be slain". Like they are monsters inside of us that needs to be cut out at any cost. I believe this view has led to many people becoming far worse than they otherwise would have and it is likely not a coincidence that many people without any previous mental health issues working within the industry would prefer us to think this way.

Perspectives are like everything. You say "structure", I say "stability". You say "resilience", I say "stubborness". You say "belief", I say "determination".

In my personal experience, too much of anything (the extreme side of all things) is destructive. By far the worst thing for me personally, the thing that drives me crazy the fastest without fail is "routine" or "repetitiveness". I need the chaos, I need the unpredictability, I need the unexpected. I need life to be in a state of flux. Otherwise days just start to blend together in a formless mass of nothing. Without chaos... I struggle to find reasons to go on at all.

Even what we consider to be "the bottom" is not necessarily true (perspectively perhaps, but in reality... no). We are all perspectively restricted by our own limitations of life experience, thereby it is not possible for any of us to even see "the bottom" (or technically even be sure that there is even one at all). What an individual means by "the bottom" is... "the lowest point they can remember within the strict confines of their own limited life experience, by which they cannot imagine any point lower". Fortunately at least for me, my imagination is not that restricted... I am able to see far beyond just myself.

The theory that mental illnesses are due to a "chemical imbalance" was an unproven hypothesis that was never proven (but popularised because it was an "easy answer" that average people on the street could grasp) and now is not accepted by any modern day experts specialising in any the mental study fields.

While I have noticed that people look at their "darkness" as a wholly bad thing... I am aware that mine has also determined many of the best parts of me, in fact many things that are the parts of my character that people who love me like about me the most. Not all good of course, but not all bad either.

I have much more, but I have been warned to never double post back to back on other peoples threads.

[blondguy]

Hey DB 🙂

I havent been online as much as I used to be. I just wanted to say 'good on you' for saying "Not allowing emotions of how it made/makes us feel helps it to be a memory and not reliving it" I try to do the same

Im sorry to hijack your thread DB...if I can have a quick yarn with Unbeliever that would be good

Hey UB! ....You have brought up so many points in your post above (as you do) i really like what you said about people's darkness being able to determine the best parts of yourself. Ditto here Unbeliever 🙂

Its just my humble opinion after having 13 years of acute anxiety followed by 22 years of depression (under management) that this awful illness is partially chemically based...unfortunately. My big brother had schizophrenia in the late 1970's and early 1980's..This misunderstood physical/mental illness is chemically based as well as many others

You have so much to offer UB. I am surprised that you have been warned not to double post on other people's threads....unless you are off topic of course...which you arent (just from what I noticed)

Just to keep on topic DB I dont think that fighting a mental illness does anything except exacerbate the illness. Depressive symptoms can be the same as anxiety....once we use true and genuine acceptance of these awful symptoms we will find some peace

It takes determination, patience and a good counselor (or a GP with a dedicated mental health focus) to help us find our way

Thanks heaps for the latitude DB 🙂

Paul

[Unbeliever]

Blondguy,

As a perfect example of my post above. When I re-read what I posted initially, I realised that when I was "cutting" words back I took out some of the clarification I wrote about "chemical umbalances". I meant, that in the opinion of mental health experts by far the majority of people suffering from mental illnesses have no "chemical imbalance"... there are rarely a few that actually do (usually caused by genetic defects, tumors or cancers.

For example...

"I don't believe I have ever heard a knowledgeable, well-trained psychiatrist make such a preposterous claim (that patients have a chemical imbalance), except perhaps to mock it... In truth, the 'chemical imbalance' notion was always a kind of urban legend - never a theory seriously propounded by well-informed psychiatrists." Ronald W. Pies, M.D., Professor of Psychiatry, the State University of New York and Tufts University School of Medicine

Furthermore... Having practiced psychotherapy now for nearly a decade, I continue to be amazed by the number of patients who come in and claim to have a chemical imbalance in their brain. Not only is the chemical imbalance theory of mental disorder unsubstantiated by any empirical research, but it has also been widely and publicly refuted by a number of prominent psychiatrists, like Allen Frances and Ronald Pies above. In fact, I have found that the most militant proponents of the chemical imbalance idea to be nonpsychiatrists (like social workers and clinical psychologists who cling to the theory as a way of validating their status as "health professionals.)"

Why does the chemical imbalance theory live on despite the fact that it is well-established to be a myth? The idea of a chemical imbalance is a simple and succinct way for psychiatrists and other mental health professionals to communicate to patients and their families that psychiatric conditions are "real," regardless of whether they are medical or nonmedical.

The late psychiatrist Ron Leifer said it best: "There's no biological imbalance. When people come to me and they say, 'I have a biological imbalance,' I say, 'Show me your lab tests.' There are no lab tests. So what's the biochemical imbalance?" (Citizens Commission on Human Rights, n.d.).

With any kind of basic research, you will be hard pressed to find anyone of ant relevance in modern mental health professionals claiming anything else in the last decade. It is a bit like the supposed "anti-climate change scientists".

Yet the myth persists...

[demonblaster]

Hi thanks for your input.

I'm not sure what you mean by a hotchpotch. This is about trying to understand depression and work out how to deal with it. So along the way I'm throwing in what I've learnt/learning. Haven't got on top yet but aim to

To my understanding chemical imbalance is thought for MI. Depression they don't know for sure yet exactly what the cause is.

Whatever the reason, and there's a reason for everything there's an imbalance somewhere otherwise we'd be the same all the time? And that'd be by choice being happy for most. Virtually no one wants pain and misery

Talking from a Bipolar and some other MH perspective. During BP those that have mania go to extreme highs then plummet to extreme lows. That's not normal. Something causes this. Between episodes there's normal. That imo is imbalance

You spoke of being at the bottom and being able to see past that. Many times I've been there. There appears to be no way out, not to say there's not but depression is powerful it envelopes us in pain. It closes our minds and focuses only on the pain. Same as if we're in acute physical pain, our focus is on that alone. Very difficult to think of anything else. I realize we need to find ways to open our minds in these times to make room for new thought but at the lowest point it's extremely difficult.

What do you think are the causes?

Paul always good to see you and thank you too ☺ Yes I'm understanding fighting does add fuel. Learning how to live with it is achievable but quite a challenge.

Hope you're ok Paul.

Hugs