[Closed] Depression, or just MTFU?

Remember the pills aren't the cure - they're just painkillers for the mind that give you the opportunity to do the work you need to get better. Well done for getting this far and good luck with the rest of your recovery.

Sounds like you just need to find another bird. Or at least get yourself doing things.

I doubt meds to dumb your senses will help. Everybody goes through periods of feeling down. That's not depression though, just the natural order of things.

Saying that go and see the docs if you feel it is a problem. But it sounds like you just need to give yourself a shake and get on with it.

Well done, you've done the hardest bit. Remember that the meds won't start working for several weeks.
I've been on medication since last summer and so many things have improved now I can see life with a clear head. I don't know what would of happened if not as I was made redundant after first taking them and my confidence pre meds was rock bottom.

I've just started group CBT sessions on the NHS, it's all common sense when you think about it but the sessions are needed to make you really think about it. Having said that I would get private sessions if you can, the NHS waiting list is long and sessions timing are inflexible. Also group session do have some benefits in terms of seeing other people point of view and sharing issues but other group members can be hard to tolerate too.

meds to dumb your senses

You mean meds to restore normal brain chemistry?

Edited to delete rant because its not worth it.

Can people please tell me what the animosity is with medication for depression. So many comments of MTFU and shake yourself.
Depression is a chemical imbalance in your brain. Pills help with this.
Therapy and trying to live a normal life help but if you're not right these won't work alone.
Unless you've gone through it yourself please keep your medical opinions mental health drugs to your selves.
I need medication daily just to live a semi normal life. Without it I go a little bit crazy and go either hyper manic or really depresses but that's just my Bipolar.
EDIT: As Per thepurist. I was slow typing

.thepurist - Member
meds to dumb your senses
You mean meds to restore normal brain chemistry?

Edited to delete rant because its not worth it.

. Unless you've gone through it yourself

Personally I think a lot of you are a bit too eager to diagnose depression. Why? Well I've a few theories but I'll keep them to myself..

I think my advice is sound. Have a real look at yourself and see if you can find a way out yourself. If not, well the doctors are there if you need them.

[url= http://www.ted.com/talks/kevin_breel_confessions_of_a_depressed_comic.html ]Vid about depression[/url]

Real depression isn't being sad when something in your life goes wrong. Real depression is being sad when everything in your life is going right. That's real depression, and that's what I suffer from.

Lets hear these theories seosamh77.
We would love to hear your pearls of wisdom.
The failure to go to my gp when feeling low because people told me I'd get over it and pull myself together ended up in me taking far too many paracetamol that I ammased over several weeks. Luckily I was found before too much damage was done.
Go on. We're dying to hear.

Good luck with it all. I started on Citalopram, this helped me and gave me time to do the CBT, which helped loads. drop me an email if you need someone to talk to. Adam

OP as other have said well done in going to your GP about the problems you have been having and saying you might have depression. I, along with others on here have had or currently have depression. All my mates know i have had depression a couple of times and have been really supportive, don't be afraid to tell your family and friends.

Seosamh77 is right but he seems to think that depression is easy to get out of. The doctors and CBT especially are there to help you find your own way out (as he says) its just that (most) people need help to see the way out. Sometimes drugs help you see clearly sometimes they're not needed and its good to have someone support you in deciding. I'm enjoying my CBT exercises and can see it will help me work my way out. Get all the help you can.

Of course Seosamh77 is right. He has excellent theories.

TLDR.

Folks tired to get me to go to CBT a few years ago but I wasnt having any of it, even the thought about it makes me angry .. along the lines of "its my ****g head, keep out of it" ... etc, etc.

That said, I'd suggest anyone who isnt feeling themselves should see their doctor.

Winter is the worst, I get teh SAD which I hate. Five things have made things massively better this winter for me.
1, Cycling.
2, Plenty of SLEEP!.
3, Philips wakeup light.
4, Philips goLITE.
5, Vit D3 supp.

If I dont get enough of number 2 ... everything falls apart.

I went to the docs and I was perscribed some medication

My understanding from my experience from the visit to the 'deep winter funk hole' is that the treatment plan is:

1) Excercise - if this fails
2) Councelling - if this fails
3) Medicate

Of course if you're well past 1 and 2 then dig out.. but I cant see medication being a good long term solution.

Good luck

Good on you OP. Good luck with it, keep checking in if it helps with getting your head back in order. Face to face talking with friends was the best help I had.

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Seriously, everyone's said good things.
I would also suggest seeing a homeopath or some kind of holistic healer because they take into account everything about you as an individual.

OP

As part of your CBT research contact your local hospital psychology dept and ask if they're running any "Stress Control" courses. It's a sort of CBTlite course which looks a bit at depression but concentrates mainly on anxiety - a common feature of depression. It's a series of 6 'evening' lectures. West Lothian get 80-100 attendees and run them every couple of months.

I found it helpful as I did it just before my CBT group treatment and was able to hit the ground running as some of the techniques and info had helped me to start changing the way I was thinking/feeling which the CBT course then consolidated and built on.

Good luck and sending positive thoughts your way.

iolo - Member
Lets hear these theories seosamh77.
We would love to hear your pearls of wisdom.
The failure to go to my gp when feeling low because people told me I'd get over it and pull myself together ended up in me taking far too many paracetamol that I ammased over several weeks. Luckily I was found before too much damage was done.
Go on. We're dying to hear.

I see the ops been to the docs got some pills sure everything is alright now. Lot of bollocks depression is about your life direction more than anything else. Pills will just mask the issues not solve them.

[quote=iolo said]Can people please tell me what the animosity is with medication for depression.

From my own experience, the problem seems to be that a lot of folk don't actually accept that you are genuinely ill.

If you have a broken leg, there are generally outward signs that there's something wrong, and the treatment seems straightfoward and understandable. Being sad, and withdrawing from the world, and not gaining joy from the things you used to like is hard for outside people to accept.

A lot of people see being depressed as a weakness, an inability to cope with life, and because there's nothing obvious on the outside, a number of people don't think it needs treatment and you just need to mtfu.

It's fundamentally a lack of understanding, and ignorance on the matter.

Explaining to someone that you feel sad all the time doesn't fully describe the feelings of emptiness, the darkness running right into the core of your being. Unless someone's been there, they can't understand.

Unhelpfully I think,, explaining to people it's a chemical imbalance doesn't necessarily make it sound as serious as it can potentially be.

Good luck to the OP, and believe in the fact that things will get better with the right help! All the best to you.

BTW of course depression is a chemical imbalance. Emotions are just defferent balances of chemicals.

[quote=seosamh77 said] ... something fairly ignorant

People like you stop people with a genuine need from seeking the help that will make them better.

Please leave this thread alone now. The only positive contribution you could possibly make is by not posting any more.

. but he seems to think that depression is easy to get out of.

Glad the OP went to see his GP. I was petrified to admit that I have a mental health problem and at the thought of needing to take medication. However, once you understand that depression is a clinical illness and how SSRIs (e.g.Citalopram) work and that they're not addictive (although you should gradually ease the dose when coming off them) then things seem less scary somehow and you can focus on recovery.

The OP talked about OCD and I am curious as to whether this might have contributed to the depression. OCD is a term that is used all too casually but clinically diagnosed OCD can often lead to depression. OCD-UK offer excellent guidance on their web site.

Get well and keep pedalling.

Well said dan1980.
I'm glad a few here managed to get better without medical assistance.
Others though find the help of the NHS the only way forward.
This depends on the severity of how low you feel.
Again to the OP. Good luck. Things will get better.

. People like you stop people with a genuine need from seeking the help that will make them better.

Please leave this thread alone now. The only positive contribution you could possibly make is by not posting any more.

No one else find it a little too easy that after a post in the interweb and a visit to the docs the op now has a handy bottle of pills to solve his problems?

So have you had councellig,CBT,mindfullness therapy, any other therapy?
All given by a visit to the GP who then refers to the local mental health team who then give you the above,
All of the above are there to try and solve underlying issues.
The pills help you to a point where these treatments are effective.
What is the issue?
How would you suggest treatment was done? You seem to be an expert.

Nope not had any off it. The attempt for me turn out to be the solution, albeit unwittingly. Ie opening up to those close to me.

Neither am I saying that any of the things you mention aren't worthwhile.

I'm just saying I'm very suspicious of pills getting handed out so quickly.

Everybody here has said keep your friends and family close.
I'm glad it worked for you.
Others are not so fortunate and when it doesn't work medical intervention is required.
It really is that simple.

.medical intervention is required.

Where is your proof of this? You truly are repeating bullshit now.

. iolo - Member
Where is your proof of this? You truly are repeating bullshit now.

You saying doctors always get it right? While most are good they are not infallible.

I think the answer is "some of the above, maybe all, it depends". Personally I was handed the pills on the first visit to the doc, tried them, had an adverse reaction so bad that it shocked me into looking for other solutions. I hated the idea of having to take pills, having to rely on something to control my thoughts and I decided to deal with it differently. The very thought of having to hand over some of my mental control to something else was somehow worse, like some feeling of failure. Those other solutions were CBT and looking at my situation with a more logical eye, while relying on family and friends to help me through. I felt I'd worked to a solution that made sense and that I could repeat whenever/if ever needed. I still have issues at times but I feel my approach worked well and has better equipped me to deal with the issues. That said, if I'd got much lower I might have needed a more brutal helping hand out of the mire!

Sometimes the ceding of control to another outside agency is what an ailing brain requires. It allows a bit of relaxation before you take back the running of your life.
The hardest lesson for me was accepting that I couldn't do it all by myself, much to Mrs S relief. I find the doing it all by myself time is on the bike now.

The pills help you to a point where these treatments are effective

Not necessarily. Some therapists prefer to work with a patient/client without medication of any sort.

As far as 'pills' go - they worked very well for one friend, not so good for another (heightened anxiety, extreme sweating) and, for want of a better term, has totally deadened a recent prescribee...

Edit : Obviously I mean the patient on meds, not the therapist

Because I have a different opinion that maybe people should have a look at their life

Thing is though, as many people have pointed out to me my lifes not bad at all. Good job, good mates, financially well off, more nice looking bikes than I can shake a stick at...

I think there a bit more to it than feeling a bit down when life aint great IMO. Noones suggesting the pills will be the cure, but hopefully they will go some way to helping out.

A psychiatrist explained it best to me when I was arguing wanting to come off tablets.
Pills are to mental health are what crutches are to a broken leg.
They will never fix the problem but make it easier to cope.

There isn't a single 'normal' though. We're all somewhere on a normal distribution curve between 'Very depressed / anxious all the time', going through 'Normal' and up to 'Chirpy no matter what' at the other extreme. If you're born 2 or 3 sigma off the mean, no amount of CBT or chatting to relatives will normalise you. So there is a place for drugs and staying on them indefinitely.

A leg based analogy would be if you're born with one leg shorter than the other, no amount of hoping is going to fix it, so you may as well stick an extra insole in one shoe.....

i feel the OP's pain....having been in a similar situation myself many years ago. i knew there was something not quite right but i chose to ignore it until i couldnt any more...it was now starting to affect those around me and i couldnt hide it from them anymore.
i first went to see a counsellor at work for a few months to talk about what was going on and how i was feeling. she only confirmed after the first few sessions what i already knew. i then went to see my GP who asked the usual questions (self harm/suicide etc) before prescribing me with some happy pills. he didnt think i needed CBT yet as i was already having counselling through work and because i wasnt self harming or feeling suicidal.
i didnt want to go down that route so i left them in the bedside table and they're still there. the counselling sessions really helped as it helped my look at my life more perspectively and helped me identify some of my issues/trigger points and how best to deal with them.
that was 7 years ago and although you'll never really be cured of it, it becomes more about how you manage it and keep it under control.
i have my bad moments every now and then but i'm dealing with it better now than i did back then.
the hardest part i think is admitting to yourself that you have a problem with depression and then seeking professional help.
i'm not the only one on STW who has had this as there have been many more who have gone through the same thing. everyone has a different way of dealing with it so it will be hard to say what will work for you...but there are some old thread already on the forum covering this topic. read the comments in those posts to get the reassurance that you're not on your own here and that there is light at the end of that tunnel.

I don't take mental health lightly at all. I just believe too many are too keen not to solve the underlying issues.

If you know anyone who can fix my underlying issues instead of patching over it with anti-depressants and CBT, send 'em my way.

Unfortunately that's the standard course of treatment these days. Anti-depressants have kept me functional for years now, if I didn't have them I wouldn't be holding down a job, or anything else. Yes, I am dependent on them, I can't come off them, but what's the alternative? Living my life paralysed by depression and anxiety? At least I can live a relatively normal existence and I'm glad my doctor gave me them, because God knows I can't get any psychotherapy or whatever else to help me resolve the underlying stuff, despite wanting to. I had PTSD as a kid and have had multiple mental health episodes since.

I cannot get the help I need, because the NHS either puts you into the "easy to treat" box and sends you off for CBT (which isn't suitable for everyone despite being touted as the panacea for all ills, by the way) or, you are in the situation where you have tried to off yourself and are in danger of being sectioned, only then will you get help.

I may just be unlucky - the NHS is after all a postcode lottery and in no way do I suggest the OP shouldn't go to their GP - mine has been very helpful and is as frustrated as me that I cannot get any treatment beyond anti-depressants. There are also plenty of voluntary organisations around - I have found SANE very helpful, I use their forum, and my local MIND group is pretty active. But none of those things actually fix anything.

Anti-depressants have kept me functional for years now

Personally I don't see what's wrong with staying on them for ever if they work for you. You don't see diabetics trying to come off insulin as they don't like taking drugs....

footflaps, there is some evidence to suggest that some people who are mentally ill do just have a chemical imbalance and actually the anti-ds correct it.

Vitamin and mineral deficiencies can cause depression as well especially B12 and vit D so it's worth getting tested if you do see the GP with depression symptoms.