h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

In my experience, I'm not trying to speak for anyone else, the occasional bout of depression can be quite beneficial. It's a time for intospection; a moment in time when you take stock of your life and discover what you need to change.

In my darkest moments, I've found the blinding light of truth always reveals itself. I may not like what it shows me, but at least I know what is truly bothering me. It helps to pinpoint the problems I am facing, and is a starting point for healing.

Absolutely - sometimes we all need a mental MOT or overhaul.

Yep. I does one good to clear out the cobwebs and start fresh.

It can be OK, as long as it doesn't get taken too far. I think many of us can handle a mild depression, and come out the other side unharmed, sometimes with greater strength or knowledge. I suppose that's a lot easier if the problem that kicks off a bout of negative feelings isn't anything horribly serious in the long term. As long as we are partially deluding ourselves that things are blacker than they really are, it's not too hard to step back to reality when we've finished poking around in the darker corners of our mind. (I think there's a great deal of truth in DNA's words - 'I've decided to go mad now, and save my sanity for later') However, if reality itself is seriously painful, I guess it would be harder to return to, but I really wouldn't know.

Unfortunately, some people can't handle depression, and I doubt they (or their friends) could always tell in advance that they were starting out on a dangerous course. By the time it gets too bad to cope with, it can be difficult to find an escape route.
There is an element of playing with fire, and the good servant / bad master anaolgy is very appropriate. Let's not forget, some of the people who really can't handle it end up killing themselves, and they aren't around to give warnings.

I have yet to meet someone who doesn't realise that something is going wrong when depression strikes. Especially if you have suffered from it before. I know myself I monitor my mental condition quite carefully - it is simply a matter of mental wellbeing. No one can take good mental health for granted and yet that is precisely what most people do.

After all it is really no different from diabetes - simply a matter of a chemical imbalance.

Pardon my choice of words here, but most "run of the mill" depressions are just that... it life's little trivialities that begin to wear you down.

I agree, many of my greatest thoughts, writtings, and readings, occured while I was depressed, which was quite often. Depression can be caused or deepened by too much thinking, so I took full advantage of it. It can be cyclical, or self-curing because of how thinking effects depression.

I agree, many of my greatest thoughts, writtings, and readings, occured while I was depressed, which was quite often. Depression can be caused or deepened by too much thinking, so I took full advantage of it. It can be cyclical, or self-curing because of how thinking effects depression.

I agree, many of my greatest thoughts, writtings, and readings, occured while I was depressed, which was quite often. Depression can be caused or deepened by too much thinking, so I took full advantage of it. It can be cyclical, or self-curing because of how thinking effects depression.

I'm glad to see you agree in triplicate. Some of my greatest thoughts occur whilst pineing away for the halcyon days as well.

Sorry about the trilogy, damn faulty internet connection! Heh, I really sould get that fixed.

hehe. Yeah, it could get to be quite embarassing when you try to order that inflatable sheep an end up getting three... uhh, nevermind

Depression is a lot more complicated than some near-mythical "chemical imbalance", but we as a society refuse to see it that way... mostly because we *do* define it as a pathological state.

All human emotions, thoughts, etc., are caused by chemicals in the brain... so who decides what constitutes malfunction?

There probably are depressed people who have something wrong with their brains, but the majority probably do not. Just thinking of depression as a disease does not help those who are depressed, teenagers or otherwise.

[bows respectfully]

--Caledonian

I suppose depression *does* stem from the "little things" that grind you down. Personally, my depression often stems from my cynicism when I take a look at the shocking state that adolescence is in...

It's become like some twisted Bosch depiction of Hell, complete with aesthetic monstrosities. Girls, like whores, grown up to young, shamelessly offer their bodies up to the boys, who compete in mindless trials of strength, while victimising those who are "queers" or "freaks". The best years of your life?

It may sound grandiose, but only outsiders, people like me, can step back and take a look at this whole sordid thing. Maybe that's why we're victimised - we know what's wrong, but no-one wants to listen.

I was depressed for 10 years, I'd say 13 to 23. I know exactly where it came from - my mother died when I was 13 and afterwards my home life was just ridiculous, a constant cause of depression and indifference to the world.

I was good in school, and then after this event I did nothing in school. Then I bummed around at college and failed. Then I got a very good job and ruined it...

But I was starting to come out of it at twenty, though it took three years. The problem is, when you get too far into depression, when it's a permanent feature of your personality, you're not functioning to anything like your real self.

You have to change something, and get out there and mix with people, don't be a loner, whatever you do. Continue to find time for yourself and your thoughts, but don't be alone all of the time.

It did the trick for me... I can go out and mix with anyone, and I've got a huge circle of very good friends now. And I haven't been depressed for a couple of years at all. I just don't go there anymore.

It was right what someone else said earlier in the thread - that as you get older, you have more 'history of surviving'. This is very true. You get to the point where everyday things, even previously very stressful things, just don't hold any weight anymore.

And that's terrific.

I'm now coming out of my almost 'forced' extrovert stage and going back to being introverted, but there's no depression, due to that armoury that I've built up. I'm just enjoying being able to spend more time by myself and having a feel of what's inside again.

And d'ya know what? I think my insides are throughly cleansed and are now pretty beautiful

That's so hard to feel when you're in a rut, but you really can get there if you try (and it doesn't have to take 10 years!).

Oh, about someone remembering that depression is a 'chemical imbalance' in the brain - sure it is, but there's a lot of feedback going on in the brain, chemically speaking.

For instance, you eat some chocolate, you feel better - some chemicals are buzzing around your brain. Someone smiles at you - same thing. You think back to some happy memories - same thing.

I really believe that the doctors don't understand the problem when they hand out drugs for this disorder. I've never taken any for depression in my life, and I never would.

My point is that every reaction in the brain is a chemical one, depression isn't, chemically speaking, stopping you from being happy. Circumstanstances are though, and they're affecting those chemicals in your brain.

You have to change those circumstances, change your life, bit by bit, and things will get better, doors will open, you'll feel happy in yourself.... and the depression will fade, and you really will see life in a very different light.

It's a world of opportunity out there... and despite some of the stuff that goes on in it, it's a very beautiful world.

We just need to be a bit more understanding of each other sometimes.

Anton

phew!

Wow!... Great post!

I'm afraid that I'd have to agree with you about the doctors -- they don't really understand what's going on. It's so hard for teenagers today; they're under so much pressure, and have so few means of support, that it's a wonder that most people end up getting through things alright. And, of course, it always seems like no-one understands...

We put far too much faith in drugs to solve our problems, physical and mental. There's a reason America has such a major problem with illegal drugs -- we don't see anything wrong with taking the legal ones for everything.

[sigh]

[bows respectfully]

--Caledonian

*Nods dumbly, as if to say, "I agree with everything you say".*

I myself went through a very black period on my life (2 years ago)when I first started high school. Many of my classmates just ignored me because of the way I look (I have unusual hair) and I would feel very frustrated by this. Looking back this was depression & there were many contributing factors but that one & all the ones relating to it affected me the most. I found myself picking up a sharp bread knive & thinking "Would anyone really care?". What stopped me was my family. They would have been very distraught & it would have been all my fault. By this time I was virtually a social outcast with my best friend - we were the only boys from my old school in my class. Then he started skipping school regularly (before missing even more with a serious chest infection). I decided that I was going to be myself not care what other people think except my friends. It was a slow climb but now I'm 13 & happier than I've ever been in my life.

Does that mean that you started high school when you were 11?

Wow... even if your district mixed high school and middle school, that's pretty impressive...

[bows respectfully]

--Caledonian

This past year, my best friend started to have some serious problems. He started halluncinating things, at least he told people that he was, and then he became suicidal. He would come to school often with large cuts on his arm, which after a while only began to annoy me. He just showed them off to people, when he should have been ashamed. He ruined my relationship with my girlfriend, as he was her best friend as well, and he would threaten to kill himself any time we wished to do something together, alone. He then got himself into drugs, which he then passed on to the rest of my circle of friends. They got into heavier and heavier things, while I started hanging out with them less and less, as I decided that I wanted no part of that. I mean, these have been my best friends since I was 5, and this entire summer I haven't seen a single one of them. I'm going to be a junior in high school this year, and ever since last year, I haven't shed a single tear. In that time, pets have died, family members have died, my father got cancer, my parents decided to get divorced, and then decided not to, which pissed me off even more, for some reason, and I haven't been able to cry, not even if I wanted to. Anyone have any ideas about this? I am not depressed, I love my life, and I like who I am.