Posted on 03/23/2008 4:01:49 PM PDT by BenLurkin
mysterio I will use that line (and credit you). You summed it up perfectly.
> Depression is self inflicted. Consumed with self.
Your viewpoint is, unfortunately, widely held in modern Society. Luckily, this is changing as we learn more and more about how the Mind works.
Until very recently it was quite unwise to acknowledge having Depression because of the stigma that doing so attracted.
It is very brave for people like JK Rowling and John Kirwan to step forward and acknowledge their condition as a mental illness — which is precisely what it is. It is a serious medical condition that requires medical treatment.
It is often fatal if left untreated.
I have had Depression for some 15 years. As medical conditions go, it is quite unpleasant, but it is one of those things that is well-managed by a combination of good medicine, careful personal habits, and regular monitoring by my doctor.
Earlier posters have drawn comparisons between having Depression and having Insulin-dependent Diabetes: it is an excellent analogy. The body’s production and use of required chemicals is not working correctly.
Depression also often accompanies PTSD (Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder) but it is *not* the same thing. It also often accompanies other disorders like OCD (Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder), Bulimia and Anorexia — but again it is not the same thing.
*DieHard the Hunter*
Nor am I. She's always impressed me as being a little nutty, but that's true of most great writers and artists. Her writing strength is her ability to create deep characters that the reader cares about. No character is fully good, and only a couple are portrayed as fully evil (Voldemort, Umbridge, Barty Crouch Jr. spring to mind.)
As to the conversation going on on this thread, sometimes depression is a result of things and circumstances, other times it comes from within. Just as people are rich or poor for different reasons, they're depressed and consider suicide for different reasons. Contemplating one's own self-induced death is a very personal act, done for very personal reasons. Putting the reasons behind it into any cubby hole is, IMHO, not wise. The only thing that fits in a cubby hole is a cubby.
I am grateful that she recovered and came forward with her story. Young people, particularly those who are EMOs, may find the romanticism of persevering greater than the romanticism of suicide, and those suffering from clinical depression may find the courage to seek help.
I’m glad Rowling came out with this. It may help some young people who have been struggling with depression to realize there really is help out there.
I’d also like to add that cognitive behavioral therapy (sometimes known just as behavioral therapy) is extremely effective for many mental issues. I struggled for years with extreme social anxiety, agoraphobia, and various other phobias. After various unsuccessful therapies, I took a course three years ago that was entirely behavioral therapy, and my life turned around completely. Even though I had extreme anxiety for over fifteen years, my anxiety went away in just a few weeks with the proper therapy. I would recommend behavioral therapy or cognitive behavioral therapy to anyone who struggles with depression, anxiety, OCD, or similar issues.
> I would recommend behavioral therapy or cognitive behavioral therapy to anyone who struggles with depression, anxiety, OCD, or similar issues.
Likewise. Depression often takes away your sense of Spirituality and, in my case, that was only restored by cognitive behavioral therapy.
Not to mention Winston Churchill. He coined the term “my black dog” for his depression, in fact. Heck, though - I’m sure it was just something he needed to “snap out of”, rather than a recurring thing he dealt with throughout his entire life.
Some people, eh?
My sincere apologies to Ms. Rowling as I was confusing her with another author. But based on some of her beliefs, she could be accused of attending the Scottish version of the Church of the Obamination.
Owl Post!
Thanks to Null and Void for the heads up!
As one who has been there, not one thing on that list matters to someone who is clinically depressed. If any one of those things mattered to the person, there would be hope and truly depressed people have no hope left.
Yet, when someone is so far gone and depressed that they are considering suicide they aren’t thinking how their suicide will effect others. They are thinking (a) that they have no one in the world and/or (b) that everyone they know would be better off without them in the world.
And one of life’s circumstances is a failure to produce certain chemicals in the body.
:-)
At least we are allowed to argue without getting called Godless monsters or banned as in the crevo threads.
Just curious--What would you have put on the list? Or is the very idea of a list not even relevant? To me those are all rock solid reasons.
But it doesn't really matter how many reasons there are, or even what they are. What matters is that they lead to one decision only: NEVER to commit suicide. This precept overrides all impulse, all despair, all the reasons why suicide may seem like the only way out. This is why medication is so dangerous. A mind under the influence of drugs, legal or illegal, may forget that promise in a rush of emotion. Rules and reasons can help us remember.
I think the idea of a list is irrelevant. Every person needs to find their reason to live, even if it’s just the fear of death itself or the act itself. What works for one person won’t work for another person. Unfortunately some people will never find that reason.
The only thing that kept me from it was the fact that my cousin had killed himself when I was young and I saw the impact on the family. His death saved my life. Had I not lived through that, I wouldn’t be alive today.
Treatment is similar. A treatment that works for one person won’t work for another. I’ve seen people have success with medication and/or counseling. Neither worked for me. My saving treatment was acupuncture. I was pretty skeptical but it worked wonders. I am a completely different person. I still struggle sometimes, but I can win the battles now.
It’s very hard for people who have never struggled with depression to understand it. Now that I am healthy, I can see how frustrating it was for my friends and family to watch me go through it. They didn’t know what I went through and I truly didn’t know that people could be happy and content with their lives. I thought everyone was miserable - just some people chose to hide it.
MUST you bring Obama into this????
*quietly tip-toeing away...*
Yeah?
Well, a “no soap radio” to you!
(re your tagline)
Good question. I don't know what would be good to put on the list beyond "Find a reason to live". Perhaps one needs to make their own personalized list, but someone who is truly depressed simply isn't capable of doing that, at least not by themselves.
To me those are all rock solid reasons.
Yes they are good reasons, to you.
But you aren't in the depths of depression.
After I had decided to kill myself, and was only waiting for the house to settle down for the night to poison myself, I was saved by my son who passed me in the hall on one of his little errands, and said as he went by "I love you daddy".
No canned list could have done it.
But it doesn't really matter how many reasons there are, or even what they are. What matters is that they lead to one decision only: NEVER to commit suicide.
Agreed.
This precept overrides all impulse, all despair, all the reasons why suicide may seem like the only way out.
Sadly, no it doesn't.
This is why medication is so dangerous. A mind under the influence of drugs, legal or illegal, may forget that promise in a rush of emotion.
Yes and no. A lot of stupid stuff happens under the influence. No question there. BUT the reason medications (as opposed to street drugs and alcohol) can be very dangerous is paradoxically, as the person climbs out of the pit, they can pass through a zone where they are feeling up enough to commit suicide.
I will leave you the exercise of contemplating just how deep the pit has to be to be quite literally too depressed to kill yourself. I've been there.
Rules and reasons can help us remember.
As long as we're not so depressed we can't remember the rules...
As someone who has suffered through both PTSD and depression, I can tell you that you don’t know what you’re talking about.
Yes, I’ve had it. Yes, it’s been hard to make it through some tough times. And yes, I’m still here.
And if you think for one second I don’t have reason to have gone through either, I can tell you that cancer, carjacking at gunpoint, an abusive spouse and a divorce can cause you to have some tough times coping.
But, for you to say it’s a “decision” is frankly, insulting.
Paul
Doesn’t anyone ever keep their mouth shut about private issues anymore? Good grief.
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