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

..if you're depressed.
I have always wondered at which point you can say 'I am depressed, I need some happy pills'
Are there criteria that the medical profession apply to people, or is it enough just to turn up and say you are depressed?
Just wondering if anyone has any experience along those lines.

Dear Banjowarrior I did not know that I was depressed but I felt that life was not worth living. I had had a serious motorcar accident and my hand had been badly fractured. I could not summon up the energgy to do anything. I sat on my bed all day feeling very sorry for myself and feeling a lot of pain. Eventually a friend said to me that I had to go and see a psychiatrist which I did. He gave me some pills and hey presto within the week I was better, Sadly he doubled the dose when I returned to see him!!But that is another story. I take brewers yeast tablets every day of my life and I have for the last fifteen years. If I miss out three or four days, I am slumped back into wondering what life is all about and is it really worth living!! Good luck a big AR1

I don't think anyone suffering depression wants "happy pills" I was ill-run down-felt as if I was dying and went to the doctor-who told me that this was due to depression-Id had some terrible things happen-but I didnt feel depressed, in the way most people think that means. Depression is NOT being unhappy or sad or Bored.

Very dear Primord-Queen, Well I wonder what depression is if it is not feeling unhappy, bored or sad? Is it a feeling or a state of health? Is one unhealthy and depressed or healthy and happy? I know that basically my "sell-by" date is long past but basically I am jolly happy and love life and all the things which go with loving life even if I am in a wheelchair, in a deal of pain and obliged to give up chocolates!!. An affectionate AR1 and my new role as DD of the great Australian Pine Forest of King CB

what I mean is, depression is not the feeling that people get when there is nothing good on TV or they have to wait a while for a bus---it's much more serious!
sorry about the etc
you sound like a nice warm, friendly human-kinda hard to come by-and Sell-by-dates?
don't believe they apply to humans!
best wishes
me

Very dear Primord Queen, Yes I totally agree with you. It is more serious. Thank you for your good wishes about the ies and the sell-by date!! A friend told me today that she thought I had nine lives!!I am now going to practise Freecell and see if I can get at least one word in Countdown. I am USELESS at crosswords, but not too bad at the sums!1 Have a good weekend and take care. an Affectionate AR1 aka the newly appointed DD of the Australian Pine Forest of King CB

good morning

ahhh- countdown!
I'm ok with words-but awful with numbers!
I always pray for the 100 to come up!

Also Ran 1: Depression can manifest itslef in so many ways it's not funny. It can show itself through apathy, saddness, fear... parania, a complete lack of self caring, a lack of self respect, random and many times out of place bursts of joy, boredom, feeling tired, deep and sometimes baseless sorrow, or just the need to revove yoruself from the world with no reason at all. Most people who are depressed, and deffinatly teens who are, don't even know it,either through denial, or just simply not knowing.

Then again, some people do know it, and do nothing about it.

-Marcus

Yep

It's very hard to diagnose it-

Dear Marcus
Thank you for your note on depression. I am sorry that I missed it. I was going through my correspondence this morning and saw it. I wonder if depression can also be a form of lack of hope - or hopelessness? Are they the same? I quite agree that it is incredibly difficult to get over it. Is it because a certain state of happiness is lacking or does not exist. Some people can be happy with very little - some people can have a lot and still be unhappy. I wonder if one can pin it down to having no hope and therefore no future. But there always is a future for everyone isn't there? Oh dear. It is complicated. Anyway. an affectionate for a fellow thinker. AR1

I think i've found in this site somewhere I can relate to people who are feeling or have felt the 'depression' that envelops my life right now. Seems like we can all try and describe what its like but we cant say 'I have a painful leg' so the doctor can x-ray it and tell us its broken. Depression is probably similar for most sufferers but we all have different ways of describing its effects.
My best wishes to all of you out there looking for something to take this away. Medical breakthroughs happen in this area all over the world by the day. Patience and hope are what is needed.
Many thanks for allowing me to air my view on this forum and good luck.

Mark xx

hopelessness is a classic trait of depression. I have suffered depression most of my life, from about age nine ( I am 26 now) The lack of hope I felt, as if the future was so bleak, was exactly what got me to seek treatment. Of course at first my symtoms manifested themselves in a physical way, I felt tired and sick all the time, and all the doctors tests showed I was perfectly heathy. Not one doctor actually thought I might have an emotional disorder...so it actually took a few years ( and alot of suffering) Before I got the help I needed. Depression can be alot of things though, there can be a complete lack of feelings, or you can be overcome with sadness and cry all the time. It can be the result of a personal tragidy, like the loss of a loved one, or it can be a chemical inbalance, that has more longevity.

greetings to the both of you

nice to meet you

h2g2 is a great place to 'get to know' people-and it's nice to feel a bit less alone-and always know that there's other people out there feeling the same as you.

hope you have a good day

Dear Mark
Sorry that I have not replied before but I have not been able to type due to my fingers being rather sore. Anyway, for the moment they feel better. It was good to get your note, but why don't you write up your "biography" and also give yourself a run-name. You will find h2g2 much more friendly if you let people know who you are!!.
You sound a good nice person so I hope that we can be friends. Where do you live? I live in Kent in a town 35 minutes from London and on Thursday I went by train to London (travelling in the guards van) and saw a very super specialist at a very super private clinic who informed me that I was 100% Not quite. but he did query every other diagnosis!!. which makes me wonder.
Take care and do write soon. AR1

Dear Bluegirl 42 <a big red ,(very fragrant)
How awful to be depressed at the age of 9. I wonder how and why it manifestd itself. Are you feeling better now and I notice that you say it can happen that one has a chemical imbalance. In many ways that is much easier to treat than when one is depressed for reasons which one does not understand. On the whole I have been a very happy person although occasionally things have become too much for me.
Do write and let me know how you are and what you are doing.
with much affection AR1

Hi Dr. Primord,
A big box of s for your birthday. I do hope that you had a happy day. What did you do.
I see that you have lost all your email addresses. How ghastly. Hope you have managed to find them again.
Go well and keep well. What are you doing for christmas. Do you live near Glasgow?
Very good wishes AR1

hello there again AR-very nice to hear from you! I hope that you are very well

many thanks for the birthday wishes (and )
ah! the nasty email business! a very vicious virus infected my emails more recently-and made the recieved emails unable to be read but everything is working well now! hurray! For my birthday I bought myself some wonderful videos/DVDs and have been entertaining myself with them since!

yes-I do live near Glasgow-and very icy it is today! for Christmas I hope to have a quiet dinner with my mother, and a nap in front of the telly. (I'd also like the Captain Scarlet calendar-but I may have to buy that for myself! )

I hope you have a great Christmas-and all the best of the season. god bless

Prims.

Very dear Prims

I hope that you had a super Christmas and got the calendar you wanted. Ours was very good but I got very tired doing all the cooking and making the goodies. I find that everything takes so much longer when one is in a wheelchair.

Anyway, here we are in 2003. I would like to offer you so many good things for this year and hope that your dreams come true. I am certainly hoping that this year will show some considerable improvement in my health. Wonderful.

Much affection

AR1

Hello - I'm new to h2g2 and whilst browsing felt I would like to add my own experiences to the postings.

Personally, I was only able to say that I was depressed and in need of 'happy' pills once I had begun the dosage and been to see the counsellor. And even a while after, it still felt like admitting a guilty secret to suggest it. I guess sometimes it takes another person's suggestion before you can begin to consider you are depressed, rather than simply feeling that its 'just who you are' and maybe you're just not happy like 'everyone else'. As far as being diagnosed, when asked by the doctor how he could help, I began to before I could form a sentence, and after establishing that I didnt know, he made a few suggestions and it went from there. Obviously no self-respecting doctor will prescribe any of these pills without having judged for themselves whether it would be beneficial for you - so it takes a little more than turning up and stating your situation. Nowadays, however, its more accepted or understood than before, and the thing to remember is that it can affect anyone at anytime. Ironic considering depression is more than often combined with a sense of loneliness or exclusion.

I would agree with all of the other entries on possible symptoms -'complete lack of feeling': I used to 'go blank' as a kid and still did occasionally until the last few years. I guess, with a similar possible result of self-harming - in bad times, it can seem easier to focus on something else, whether it be an alternate pain, or focusing on not thinking, not existing. Other symptoms may be lack of socialising - becoming withdrawn despite a need to interact with others, loss of appetite, feeling overly or intensely sad - even crying without warning for unknown reasons, lack of energy, oversleeping, unable to keep to a healthy routine of any kind, feeling worthless, general pessimistic......and the more I add to this list the more I am reminded how hard it is to put your finger on any one thing, as the specifics change from person to person.

I think the bit about chemical imbalances was a valid point and one that people are often unaware of. I am no medical or psychological expert by any means, but it was suggested to me that depression was something which could affect both mind and body(this is where the topic veers off towards the whole physiological/psychological debate, maybe?) Similar to how people suffer from butterflies before an exam, or head/stomach aches in stressful situations, I think its something to do with the levels of one of the brain chemicals in the body: serotonin, which can become depleted, and so whilst pills may act as a good top up to bring the body back to scratch, the mind is a much less understood thing and can take years of counselling, conditioning, discoveries and revelations before it can function more heathily again. Funnily enough serotonin is believed to regulate hunger/appetite and affect sleep and perception! There's also talk about increased levels of the hormone CRF, similar to the adrenaline rush you may get as a response to stress, but I'm sure there are a million people with websites that can explain it all better than I can!

Anyway, thats my bit finished for now. I happy to say that I now FINALLY feel there is a point to living, even though I didnt begin to find myself until long after I had completed counselling sessions and prescriptions, and I'd still like to do a bit more exploring! I feel a bit like a guest on a talk show now, but its always good to read about others having got through rough times. We all get through it in our own way - its called 'Life'!

Maria
PS: I prefer myself

Hi, I'm Peculiar Aunt (don't ask me why!). I am really depressed so I went to see a councellor and he said I was wasting his time because teenagers don't know what it's like to be depressed, especially 13 year olds. What would you do?