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[TheChosen]

I have to write about depression as a school project, so I need some good material. Has anyone of you felt depressed? If so, then why, how badly, what did you do when you were depressed and how did you cured from it?

[wendymaree]

This is my hobby-horse a bit, and I've lots of theories. I've noticed that our emotions are influenced by our thoughts, regardless of our circumstances. Of course, our circumstances do influence our thoughts, but sometimes our thoughts don't accurately reflect those circumstances and we react emotionally to whatever we believe is true whether it is or not.

For example, some people (mainly younger females, I think) become convinced they're overweight and get very depressed over that. However many of them aren't overweight at all, and I've seen photos of some who are positively skeletal, and yet their thoughts tell them they're fat.

I've had the opportunity to ask people why they they've turned to addictive substances, and they've answered the same thing - to one degree or another. They want to stop the thoughts that tell them that they're not good enough, or that there's something wrong with them, or an array of other negative things.

From many books I've read on the subject, I've become convinced that our thoughts are not our friends and that the mind can't be trusted. We have to take charge of our thoughts and reject the negative thoughts that flood in, while at the same time input positive thoughts of how we'd like to be and what we'd like to achieve as if these things are definitely possible - now. All the books on positive thinking agree with this.

I was watching The Last Samurai last night and these warriors gained mastery of their weapons and war craft by by-passing the mind - shutting off the mind and the thoughts. I've read that this is often the case when people want to achieve the unachievable. The mind is no help. It has to be stilled before anything can be achieved.

I've noticed that thinking a bunch of angry thoughts about others always leads me to feeling depressed after a time. However positive thoughts - about ourselves and others - always uplift and strengthen as they evoke a joyful reaction. Happiness gives energy; depression takes energy away.

It's great to think that we're not at the mercy of our circumstances, that we can control our lives and our attitudes and our emotions through controlling our minds. By rejecting thoughts that bring us down, and thoughts that are critical of others, we can control our mood to a remarkable degree.

Movies like The Secret express it by what the 'teachers' from the movie call the Law of Attraction. Whatever energy you put out, you attract back into your life. That is, if you think negative, defeatist thoughts, then these are the emotions and circumstances you will manifest. However if you choose to think thoughts about how wonderful, wise, successful you are, you will become this. You will attract these qualities/energies into your self and manifest experiences where you are acting accordingly to the way you think.

[TheChosen]

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(wendymaree @ Apr 12 2007, 10:47 AM) [snapback]286729[/snapback]</div>

However if you choose to think thoughts about how wonderful, wise, successful you are, you will become this. You will attract these qualities/energies into your self and manifest experiences where you are acting accordingly to the way you think.[/b]

Hmm....that sounds a lot like me.

Anyway, thats some good text Wendy. I will mention those things in my report.

[Icewolf]

I once had a girlfried who had depressions.

Most significant was that when something didn't work for the first time, she instantly stopped trying and shouted about that. She lacked confidence and was quite lazy. People easily went on her nerves.
She would try to hurt herself (scratching) cause she felt that she did bad at some things. Self punishment.

The girlfried I now have learns occupational therapist and told me, depressive persons miss something in their brains that emitts endophines. So they are indeed less happy and need easy and cheerful tasks to manage.

The lack of endorphines can be balanced by drugs.

That's my semi-scientific / semi-experience - knowledge of depressions.

[wendymaree]

The amazing thing, Icewolf, is that people who are into self-mutiliation are in no way bad or crazy people. Two women of the calibre of the late Princess Diana and Angelina Jollie have admitted they had this problem because of the guilt and the self-loathing they felt. Where did all this guilt come from? It came from their thoughts telling them they were bad. We know they're no worse than the average person and perhaps have achieved more than most.

Often the ones who've tried to escape into substances that stop the thoughts are those who seem to have a lot going for them. The mind is actually a battle-ground, I think, that must be fought and tamed if we're to achieve what we're all capable of. Actually I've read from sources on Eastern and Western mysticism and philisophy that human potential is unlimited. But first we have to win that battle. Take that leap of faith.

[The Fifth Horseman]

From my own experience, the emotional state is heavily influenced by blood sugar levels (I'm a diabetic, so that has to be measured regularly).
Lower blood sugar for about a day calms me down, but if it's too low the result is more like a minor depression.
On the other hand, high blood sugar levels often results in hyperactivity and positive mood.

[Sebatianos]

I have moments when I fall in a depresion... it's a sort of an unpleasent funk.

Usually it involves situations when I have to completely change my lifestyle (moving). I've moved a few times now and I just hate having to adjust to a new surrounding. I get enxiety attacks. I'm good at hiding it in public, but I start throwing up privatley, I can't get enough sleep and I start to be very agressive (but it's hidden agression). At such points I seem to be really apathic (that's the fasade), start to give very philosophical advise to people, and I get phisically ill as well.

[Lulu_Jane]

I've undergone treatment for severe depressive disorder, I'm not particularly comfortable talking about it here openly though, so why don't you give me a PM The Chosen?

By the by, I'm happy and healthy today, and all is well in the land of Lulu

[Havell]

It's probably worth going a little into the biology behind depression (low seretonin levels and things) as well as the biological treatments (seretonin-reuptake-inhibitors like Prosac). Actually, Electric Shock Therpy has been found to be effective in treating severe chronic depression and is being prescribed more and more, even by public health bodies like the NHS.

I'm currently revising for A-Level Psychology, with a nice fat section being about psychological disorders and how to treat them. I know quite a lot about various explanations and treatments for depression and have really thick books with even more. If you need to know anything specific like theories or research studies, just ask.

[Lulu_Jane]

Prozac is an old, old drug Havell, circa 1950's - considering how little "we" knew about the way the brain and the ways that mental illness manifest back then compared to now is like comparing black and white. Prozac is being perscibed less and less nowadays, as there are much more effective and safe (i.e. no chance of overdose, sleepiness, side effects) S.R.I's these days.

Bear in mind that these days we use Valium (diazepam) as a low grade sleeping tablet, but in the heyday of prozac (1950's-60's) Valium was perscribed for depression. It's pretty easy to imagine that although Valium may be useful for anxiety, it's pretty negative for "black" depresion.

That said and done, just exactly how our brain works and why certain mental illness manifests is still very much uncharted territory for scientists today.