Depression check-list

[Harry]

What gets you in, and what helps you out?
For me, sinister to most people probably, it is operetta music, in all forms.
In the last 6 months whenever something like a depression came up, this music did wonders.

[springrite]

What gets you in, and what helps you out?
For me, sinister to most people probably, it is operetta music, in all forms.
In the last 6 months whenever something like a depression came up, this music did wonders.

I had depression once, which lasted a few months. I decided to get into charity work and that took me out of it. I have never left charity work field ever since.



PS: IF Kimi decides to become an operetta composer, I know where to look for a patron!

[Harry]

I had depression once, which lasted a few months. I decided to get into charity work and that took me out of it. I have never left charity work field ever since.



PS: IF Kimi decides to become an operetta composer, I know where to look for a patron!

Absolutely!

[greg]

What gets you in, and what helps you out?

in: having to deal with other people too much
out: spending a ton of time at home w/o having to deal with ANYONE! (while knowing you have income, car/whatever)... And yes, I'm HAAAAAAAPPPPPYYYYYYYYYYYY  right now  0:) 0:) 0:) 0:) 0:) 0:) 0:)

[Brian]

What gets you in, and what helps you out?
For me, sinister to most people probably, it is operetta music, in all forms.
In the last 6 months whenever something like a depression came up, this music did wonders.

Oddly, it's sometimes sad music that gets me out of bad times. When I lost my best friend due to the friend's sudden mental/emotional problems, it was Tchaikovsky' Sixth Symphony and Simon and Garfunkel's "I Am a Rock" which got me feeling better.

[Mozart]

It's only me. I haven't learned how to control it, but I am the one who decides how I feel. I can feel happy under the worst of situations or depressed when I should feel happy. Alot of the time I don't feel sad, just bored. I can't seem to hold on to 1 emotion for longer than a few hours. If I want to stay mad at someone, I eventually begin to think about anything, puppies, and it completely distracts me from what I was feeling.

[ChamberNut]

You know you are depressed if you are experiencing all of the following:

Increase in tension
Wanting to cry for no reason
Cannot concentrate
Very itchy eyes, even though you have zero known allergies
Zero sex drive
Dizziness
Severe increase in irritability
Feeling someone watching you always
Feeling someone is laughing at you on the bus every time you hear someone whispering or laughing
Each little noise completely distracts you and affects your focus
Cannot stand any human being
Fatigue

Hmmm, guess I better make an appointment soon. 

[Frumaster]

You know you are depressed if you are experiencing all of the following:

Increase in tension
Wanting to cry for no reason
Cannot concentrate
Very itchy eyes, even though you have zero known allergies
Zero sex drive
Dizziness
Severe increase in irritability
Feeling someone watching you always
Feeling someone is laughing at you on the bus every time you hear someone whispering or laughing
Each little noise completely distracts you and affects your focus
Cannot stand any human being
Fatigue

Hmmm, guess I better make an appointment soon. 

Experiencing ALL of those?  I experience several of them on a regular basis, but I figure some depression is a natural part of life.  I could be drugged out of my mind and probably solve many of the problems, but I'd rather not.  Some of them may just be symptoms of mild anxiety and not full blown depression.  Anxiety can actually be constructive, from my experience.

[Bulldog]

You know you are depressed if you are experiencing all of the following:

Feeling someone is laughing at you on the bus every time you hear someone whispering or laughing

What are you doing on a bus?

[Josquin des Prez]

I experience those on a regular basis, often for days:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Panic_attack

The worst symptom of all is the fear of dying. I've suffered from depression for years, and i've had my share of moments where i pondered suicide, but this is different. It actually feels like you are about to die. It's the worst feeling in the world, and it stays with you for days, and nothing i do seem to help. I usually just wait, trying constantly to convince myself the world isn't falling apart, then i'm ok again.

[c#minor]

Yeah, that would be a good idea to make and appointment. It sounds like a mix of depression with some other mental health issues. It is always best to get to the doc sooner than later. Antidepressants work well if you can find the right med and dosage but usually it will take about a month or two before they get working, that is if they prescribe you an SSRI which is probable. While you are waiting to go to the doctor and waiting for the meds to kick in EXERCISE. Get about 30 to 45 mins. of fairly intense aerobic exercise in a day. This has been reported to be as effective or more effective than meds in cases of depression. The only symptom that does not sound like depression is "Feeling someone is laughing at you on the bus every time you hear someone whispering or laughing". This sound like more along the lines a mild schizophrenic paranoia (not the kind you hear about in the mental institution, don't worry ). Now i know that sounds really bad and "scary" but it is common in those who have social anxiety mixed with untreated depression. With the treatment of depression the "paranoia" will go away. It might also be wise to look into psychotherapy if you haven't already considered it. A mix of meds and therapy tend to be the best solution for depression.


I know i gave you a mouthful but the symptoms you have given sound almost identical to those i have experienced while in a serious bout of depression. I have been depressed all of my life (it runs in my family) and i will most likely never be "cured" but even with that knowledge i still moments where i have a "gratifying life". If this feeling of depression is not "who you are", then with treatment you most likely will be "cured". I wish you the best because i know how much of a bitch it is to feel that down, but it will get better with time.

I'll finish this all with a list of four things my doc tells me all the time that will help with recovery.

(in no particular order)
1. Exercise
2. Therapy
3. Meds
4. Add pleasure to your life


Good Luck,
c#

[Florestan]

I experience those on a regular basis, often for days:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Panic_attack

The worst symptom of all is the fear of dying. I've suffered from depression for years, and i've had my share of moments where i pondered suicide, but this is different. It actually feels like you are about to die. It's the worst feeling in the world, and it stays with you for days, and nothing i do seem to help. I usually just wait, trying constantly to convince myself the world isn't falling apart, then i'm ok again.

A few years ago I had persistent panic attacks during which I had the (completely imaginary) feeling that I was going to suffer a heart failure instantly. After proper medication, I was cured, but it took time and those moments were truly awful.

[Frumaster]

A few years ago I had persistent panic attacks during which I had the (completely imaginary) feeling that I was going to suffer a heart failure instantly. After proper medication, I was cured, but it took time and those moments were truly awful.

Interesting.  My brother once had exactly what you and Josquin were describing, but no one knew what the hell it was.  He would have physiological manifestations of psychological things...thankfully it was not the other way around.

[Bulldog]

Is anyone on this board mentally healthy or are all classical music fans off-center?

[c#minor]

Is anyone on this board mentally healthy or are all classical music fans off-center?

haha no kidding

[Lethevich]

Is anyone on this board mentally healthy or are all classical music fans off-center?

I was pleased to find that I almost never experience even a single trait described in the OP - so I guess count me in. Hurrah for the norms!

[snyprrr]

I do not recommend ANY of Uncle Sam's psychotropic anti depressant happy pills. I am currently taking Chantix to help stop smoking, and they TOLD me it wasn't a psychotropic, but I am suffering from a lot of the same side effects, including a nice case of the "f*** its."

If you're really depressed it may be because you are laboring under a false paradigm, or it may be because you know the truth and are surrounded by idiots. There is no cure for the latter other than constant eye-rolling exercises.

Though I have been known to live my life like Max von Sydow in Bergman's "Hour of the Wolf", I always try to anchor my depression in something concrete: family loss, government lies, lack of cd money.

I TRY to stay away from existential angst. If you are afraid of your last breath, well, then you might have quite a task ahead of you. I'm always available for those at their wit's end, to talk or listen.

I hope you have enough humor left for me to recommend you taking the pig nose off. I know I'm being cheeky, but one MUST have some humor towards one's plight. You MUST be able to laugh at yourself and the ridiculousness of the world; the other options are just, well, not good for anyone.

If you seek the truth you will probably hear stuff you don't like. When I felt like you did, people told me to help in a soup line and get out of my own head. "Love" is the only cure to life that I know.

[greg]

Is anyone on this board mentally healthy or are all classical music fans off-center?

You have to be crazy to like crazy music, my friend. 

Hm, I can relate a bit, but it seems to me like I'm experiencing much less of that than before... for one, the only time I EVER feel bad during the weekdays is when I come home and sometimes take a nap. It's weird.... I try to avoid doing this, because when I wake up, I always feel like I'm going to explode with anger even though I'm not thinking of anything bad. It's like puke that's trying to come out or something  ... but it goes away very easily if I chill for a few minutes and think about something that I want to do, and do it, so it's not really a problem at all.

As for the weekends, that's something I've had serious problems with- hardly a weekend has gone by for the last 6 or so months where I come home from work and wish I were dead. But, the last few weeks, it's gone by like nothing, which probably hasn't happened before. Basically, what helps for me is making the choice to not care, and do what you feel like first (though don't get TOO carried away with that). Just focus on whatever comes to mind and do it, don't think about things being inappropriate or about worrying if you hurt people's feelings- it's a bad tendency that nice people like us have for some reason, and it's best to ignore it. (Could this basically be explained as repression of the id?)

But yeah, you're cooler than any of those people on the bus, I bet, so you need to feel cool! Right now! (If you don't, you have to sacrifice all of your CDs to me) 

[c#minor]

I do not recommend ANY of Uncle Sam's psychotropic anti depressant happy pills.

Sometimes it really does help. I only take mine to pull me out of a slump. I would much rather be numbed out to the world for a few month than constantly contemplating suicide. Unfortunately sometimes i cannot get out the bed to save my life. If i get on the meds then i have the energy to start putting my life back together. Depression is not a state of being, it is an illness and illnesses need to be treated.

Even with saying all of this i do not like taking pills, in fact i do all that i can to not have to take them. They do have side effects and they so suck, but they have their purpose.

[ChamberNut]

What are you doing on a bus?

Is this a serious question, Don? 

If it is, I take public transit to and from work.  It takes the same amount of time as driving, saves me a lot of stress from driving in downtown rush hour traffic, and I don't have to pay exorbitant downtown traffic fees.

Even "normal" people take public transit to work.