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This is What Depression Feels Like
The Harvard Crimson ^ | 4/12/16 | Morris

Posted on 04/12/2016 11:23:11 AM PDT by pabianice

You eat, but you aren’t able to taste your food. You try to write your paper, or work on your p-set, but all you can do is think to yourself, “What is the point?” You try to get out of bed in the morning, but you just can’t escape its almost magnetic hold over you.

So you sleep. And you sleep. And you sleep. Sleep becomes your drug of choice, and you abuse it constantly. Your old hobbies and passions no longer have the same appeal. None of them match the sense of security you feel when you’re wrapped up tight in your bed sheets. You sleep to escape the thoughts, the fear, the overwhelming sense of hopelessness and dread that seems to seep from your pores.

But when you leave the house, you keep a smile spread on your face, because you know your friends won’t understand. You feel isolated, alone, like there is no one in the world who can possibly understand the darkness. God, you wish and you pray that the pain can go away.

But it doesn’t. It gets worse, and worse, and worse. And then you think to yourself: Should I end it all? Eventually, that’s all that you can think about, that question. And more questions follow. What does it mean to be alive? Why are you here? What’s the point? You drown in these thoughts—you’re drowning, and you feel like no one is there to save you.

(Excerpt) Read more at thecrimson.com ...


TOPICS: Chit/Chat; Health/Medicine; Miscellaneous
KEYWORDS: depression; mentalhealth
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To: steve86
I've been through deep debilitating depression. It took years to get out of it.

I am simply sharing what worked for me.

It was no mild mood disorder.

21 posted on 04/12/2016 12:05:58 PM PDT by RoosterRedux (When a man loves cats, I am his friend and comrade, without further introduction. - Mark Twain)
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To: AppyPappy
or you can get your azz up, eat breakfast and go to work.

Once again, you are describing a mild or moderate mood disorder if this is an option. A dysphoria subject to will power. I have seen patients at the other end of the severity scale, where ECT was the only remaining therapeutic option (worked, by the way).

22 posted on 04/12/2016 12:08:50 PM PDT by steve86 (Prophecies of Maelmhaedhoc OMorgair (Latin form: Malachy))
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To: steve86

I know some people with catastrophic depression but they are a very small fraction of the anti-depressant eaters that I know.


23 posted on 04/12/2016 12:11:39 PM PDT by AppyPappy (If you really want to irritate someone, point out something obvious they are trying hard to ignore.)
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To: E. Pluribus Unum

My son is battling it. He’s 21. It got bad after he witnessed his roommate tried to kill himself about a year ago.

He’s a nice kid too.

He got off his meds about a month ago, and he is doing terrible again. I’m 1000 miles away and really worried about him.

It’s hard seeing a once happy kud deep in the pits of despair.


24 posted on 04/12/2016 12:14:54 PM PDT by luckystarmom
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To: AppyPappy

Sure, you wouldn’t be acquainted with many persons with severe depressions because they aren’t out and about, employed, or sociable.


25 posted on 04/12/2016 12:15:04 PM PDT by steve86 (Prophecies of Maelmhaedhoc OMorgair (Latin form: Malachy))
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To: FateAmenableToChange

I’ve been through situational depression. Sucks. Miserable. Very real. Thanks for sharing.


26 posted on 04/12/2016 12:15:59 PM PDT by Wyatt's Torch
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To: Carpe Cerevisi

And by “toughguys” you mean uninformed morons right?


27 posted on 04/12/2016 12:17:11 PM PDT by Wyatt's Torch
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To: Wyatt's Torch
And by “toughguys” you mean uninformed morons right?

Roger that.
28 posted on 04/12/2016 12:19:56 PM PDT by Carpe Cerevisi
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To: Argus
I think they call this a First World problem.

Only if they do not know what they are talking about.

I have been all over the world and guess what? Depression strikes every race, creed, economic status and continent.

It is not just being sad, it goes much deeper. It has been part of the human condition for as long as we have written record in fact you can find depression mentioned in the Bible.

29 posted on 04/12/2016 12:22:07 PM PDT by Harmless Teddy Bear (Proud Infidel, Gun Nut, Religious Fanatic and Freedom Fiend)
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To: AppyPappy

That!


30 posted on 04/12/2016 12:26:04 PM PDT by glock rocks (TTTT !)
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To: steve86
Either you will get no movement at all (catatonic features), or the patient will walk himself right into the path of a truck.

I recently read that over two-thirds of suicides suffered from depression at some point in their lives.

31 posted on 04/12/2016 12:26:49 PM PDT by Canedawg (Make America Great Again)
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To: cornfedcowboy

I completely agree. But I’ll go one more and say that it really needs to be a psychiatrist. I had crippling anxiety that led to depression. I went to my GP and had a rough start because she wasn’t knowledgeable about the medication she prescribed and it’s side effects. It was a completely different experience with my psychiatrist who stayed with me until I was at the right dosage. I am completely changed in the two years I have been with her.


32 posted on 04/12/2016 12:26:50 PM PDT by TightyRighty
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To: Harmless Teddy Bear

Shakespeare called it melancholy.


33 posted on 04/12/2016 12:29:25 PM PDT by central_va (I won't be reconstructed and I do not give a damn.)
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To: Madame Dufarge

Hello there! :-)

I read it-—and was astonished .

A fantastic book.

(Of course I hated the part about the dogs.)

.


34 posted on 04/12/2016 12:31:19 PM PDT by Mears
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To: steve86

Yes I would. There was one in my Bible Study. He was released from the facility to go to the Bible Study with an escort. He was completely zombified except when he prayed. His prayers were like gifts from heaven. Even after 10 years, he remembers my kids’ names.


35 posted on 04/12/2016 12:31:51 PM PDT by AppyPappy (If you really want to irritate someone, point out something obvious they are trying hard to ignore.)
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To: FateAmenableToChange

That’s a powerful description. Thanks.

My heart aches for those who suffer depression such as that.


36 posted on 04/12/2016 12:33:48 PM PDT by Obadiah
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To: Madame Dufarge

Oops ! I just realized that I read Lansing’s book.

Also terrific.

.


37 posted on 04/12/2016 12:33:49 PM PDT by Mears
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To: Canedawg

People usually commit suicide because they lose hope. That’s why non-depressed people do it, like the stock broker jumping out of the window.


38 posted on 04/12/2016 12:34:37 PM PDT by AppyPappy (If you really want to irritate someone, point out something obvious they are trying hard to ignore.)
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To: AppyPappy

Hopelessness is a big part of clinical depression.


39 posted on 04/12/2016 12:35:37 PM PDT by Canedawg (Make America Great Again)
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To: steve86

Have you experienced deep depression yourself?


40 posted on 04/12/2016 12:36:24 PM PDT by RoosterRedux (When a man loves cats, I am his friend and comrade, without further introduction. - Mark Twain)
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