Depression does look like laziness.
That is a problem.
Do you see a therapist? Take any meds?
No, I don't see a therapist. I've started taking something for stress, because it's difficult for me to work.
I was joking about the "did you die?" You had said you were sure you were going to die, but you left out whether or not you actually did, so I decided to be cute, and ask.
OK. I was laughing, but didn't want anyone to think I'd seriously said I'd died several times....
I tried Effexor. It worked great for a while--but not long. It lost the effect.
They use anti-depressants for CFIDS, obviously.
Not taking anything now. Nothing really worked long-term--and I got sick of going on and off so many different meds. But, also sick of depression. The Effexor scare sort of put me off meds for a while....
What are you using for stress?
Admittedly, I didn't read all the posts. I am having a problem even comparing the two, vastly different emotions, of jealousy and depression. We are very complex beings. We can experience on or the other or both at the same time. The boy could start out feeling isolated and alone. He could feel jealousy seeing others with friends when he does not. He may feel no jealousy at all. Time passes. Sometimes the burden of life gets too heavy and depression can and does set in.
Is there really such a thing as clinical depression that is some brain abnormality, really? My guess is probably, but these people are very much in the minority. I strongly believe there are inherited tendencies and thought patterns that contribute to an individual being more prone to depression problems throughout life.
I have had depression problems for years. You could easily mistake me for clinically depressed with a brain abnormality. That isn't the truth. It is always aspects of my life that lead to depression. I don't always know what it is, using logic to figure out emotions. That never works. Emotions are illogical.
Depressed people are difficult to motivate. The thinking pattern and lack of motivation gets worse as time goes by. I think most depressed people are not reasonable with their own self expectations. They either expect way too much or way too little.
My mother and I are both depression prone. I am one who expects way too much. I can never meet my own standards. With multiple failure, emotions cascade to depression.
My mother expects too little. When others don't meet up to her expectations, she doesn't understand. She is very intelligent, but does very little. She is disappointed with life when she does too little, yet expecting too much out of others. She has a lot of self confidence problems that contribute to this type of depression.
Neither of us understand why we feel depression. It is our own unreasonable expectations.
"Brain abnormality" doesn't mean mentally handicapped. It just means the brain releases chemicals in incorrect proportions. You probably suffer from that, since everyone has problems, but not everyone gets depressed by them. It's really not a minority thing, I am very familiar with the disease (and it is accurately categorized as a disease) and it is VERY widespread, but not often recognized by the individual. They just don't feel as happy as others, or feel tired all the time. It can be somehting little like that.
What a great thread - thanking everyone for their openness - for letting me read.
Psychology is at an embryo stage. Little to nothing is really known. I believe serious depression does leave you mentally handicapped. It has with me!
I always envy those people that have to look up the word stress in the dictionary to know what it means. My father and son are both like this. One thing I have noticed about both of them, they have an entirely different way of viewing and thinking. There are so many things in life that aren't all to pleasant that we have to deal with. My father and son figure, if they can't control it, they see no point in even wasting their time thinking about it.
I never could grasp that idea. These two never get depressed or stressed for any prolonged period of time, days at best. I overly analyse things. I try to figure out ways to fix things that bother me and often can't. I'm creating my own stress, but that is my thinking pattern to problem solve everything. I am guilty of overly complicating and overlooking the obvious also.
Prolonged stress does lead to depression. I have had many problems with this. I have always found it to be situational. For example, you have a job you hate, but it pays too well to leave knowing you aren't going to make as much money if you do. You think you are trapped. The stress continues and depression sets in. Most of the time, we aren't as trapped in life as we think. We don't see any reasonable option but to stay in a good paying job we hate to pay the bills. Then we confuse ourselves by thinking we aren't supposed to like our job. That's why they pay us. We see nothing to gain by leaving a good job. Once depression sets in, we forgot why it even started. We often overlook the big picture and stick with bad things afraid of change.
That's just a simple example of why I think most people do suffer from depression and I don't believe the majority suffer any brain abnormality at all. Drugs can't fix our lives. Only we can.
