I'm depressed too but it's been a lot worse a year ago and while I have my bad days I can also smile and enjoy again.
But all the psychologist talk, mindfulness sessions, many more stuff like that. All well meant but nothing helped. Actually things started to go better when I ended it all, work, shrink, even some friendships and locked me up in my flat for 3 months, didn't see anyone and eventually arose from the ashes. (in all fairness, the mindfulness part of where I had to write down when I got depressed and what caused it helped a bit in knowing myself better and avoiding it, but all the meditation stuff etc was not for me) In the end the talking and thinking about it on a weekly base did more harm than good for me personally, of course I know many people who benifit from it. I just don't think it can help everyone.
Thinkers like you Nony have to take very great care of themself not to overthink too much. There are people who never think about anything like this, they just go to work, watch tv in the evening, talk about not much more than football, women and cars and are perfectly happy. An intelligent pondering mind is not always a bonus.
I once saw you post something like good and bad parts of yourself. One was about if I remember correctly "spirituality" being one of your bad sides. My advise to you: avoid anything related to that like the plague and focus on your good sides.
Weird thing, this short clip somehow helped me. It made me realise that I was overthinking, pondering, worrying way too much and should start to care less about some things. When I ever die, not anytime soon I hope, I want it to be on my funeral:
Depression is born of feeling guilt about the past or uncertainty concerning the future. People are not naturally depressed. The state of the world, and the state of your conscience weighs heavily into whether you experience depression. You speak of the natural state of man as though depression (which you confuse with the repression of emotion; or absence of emotion) is the natural state of even a state to be aspired to.
Most humans are born and experience childhood joyously. People take pride in their abilities and in the creation of works. Not all works are creations in the sense that some works are also deeds. Nonetheless, it's natural to be healthy, and to labor to create art that is an expression of oneself. The opinion that life is pointless neglects the possibility that people are reflected in the world, and so they seek to shape the world according to their being (if not their will).
When you look at a man in isolation, one stranded on an island of sorts then perhaps life could seem pointless. However, people are naturally drawn to interact with one another and to create things in the world. Relationships, if they are healthy, provide motivation and also satisfaction. In a properly functioning human being, you will see that humans derive joy from relationships with others who are like an expansion of ourselves. In an absence of learning and productivity, there develops a sort of despondence followed by lethargy and depression.
I disagree that life is pointless, and I don't know that bringing human reason or rationality to bear will benefit you. If your intuition is dead, and you are unable to act productively, then this as much a symptom of depression or some similar state of mind as it is a possible cause of depression. Without waxing philosophical, I'd say that motivation and positive feeling are largely innate. A rational cause for happiness is almost a contradiction in terms when you posit that motivations and positive feelings are not derived from rational causes. Instead, view yourself as a closed system. One from which your motivations and positive feelings should spring in tandem with the works you should produce.
When you abandon a path of productivity and learning, and allow a certain despondence to interfere with your behavior, then gradually your natural inclination toward happiness will also dissolve. Your environment also makes a difference? How clean is it? What do you eat, and do you sleep with correctness? You should also evaluate your contacts. Perhaps uplifting music and creative activity don't arrive naturally to someone suffering from depression. The right environment is essential.
In the star trek universe Vulcans doesn't discredit suicides in some cases as it fit the "noble suicide" whereby a vulcan commits a ritual suicide. This does in no means that it's related to suicide bombers or other acts seen as going down in flames. I wonder if humans will at some point in the future come to the same conclusion as the brilliant vulcans or even as he spiritual Klingons? There are several episodes in both VOY and TNG that covers suicides and morality which has progressed my understanding of suicides. If you are lacking a role model Jean-Luc Picard has inspired by to always strive for new horizons, friends and knowledge (both theoretical and practical like crafts, music and sport).
Seems to me that if you believe in any kind of goodness, even if that goodness is just to feel good, then you have your point to life right there.
But I sometimes wonder if feeling happy is really as important as people say it is. I don't suffer from clinical depression although some in my family do but I do know that even when your emotions are beating you to a pulp you can still choose to move forward. And maybe that's more important than feeling happy anyway.
Sorry to hear you've been struggling, Nony. Keep fighting.
Depression is physical. It is the combination of bad diet plus a lack of getting outside and lack of exercise. You should be sweating at least three times a week. You should be pushing your body ideally in the outdoors multiple times a week. If you can't get outside then do it in a gym. My depression went away when I signed up for my first running race. That was a two miler. Now I'm running half-marathons and crushing my old times.
On October 12 2012 08:35 HowitZer wrote: Depression is physical. It is the combination of bad diet plus a lack of getting outside and lack of exercise. You should be sweating at least three times a week. You should be pushing your body ideally in the outdoors multiple times a week. If you can't get outside then do it in a gym. My depression went away when I signed up for my first running race. That was a two miler. Now I'm running half-marathons and crushing my old times.
I sweat every day, doesn't really make a difference.
That said, my depression is far less severe then it was a year ago, I'm not even entirely sure if I could still be classified as someone who's depressed since I stopped showing up at the psych and all that.. Actually turned out to be a good move altough I still don't really know why, sweating sure as hell never had anything to do with it though, if anything the one time where the thought creeped into me that I wasn't "Pushing it" enough is what drove me into depression in the first place..Technically.
I'm just a naturally lazy guy ^_^ This whole "pushing it to the limit" thing never made any sense to me tbh
Sorry I don't mean to bash on people, but think about all the people living under poverty, and how happy they are if they can eat something to fill their stomach. They're not even sad or depressed about their state of poverty.. They're living happily and having fun going through life! You should not feel depressed and say there's no point in life and all that jazz, coz even other people of lesser economic standing than you never wanna throw away their lives.
The point of life is to pass on your genes. Women have orgasms to motivate them to have sex. The orgasm itself helps the guy orgasm, and after he does, the orgasm acts as a vacuum for the sperm, sucking it up to the eggs. Everything in nature is designed to survive/kill and pass on the genes.
Do you have kids, NonY? If not, I think you would see a lot of reasons for living. Not for yourself, but for your genes that you passed on.
On October 12 2012 10:14 vpatrickd wrote: Sorry I don't mean to bash on people, but think about all the people living under poverty, and how happy they are if they can eat something to fill their stomach. They're not even sad or depressed about their state of poverty.. They're living happily and having fun going through life! You should not feel depressed and say there's no point in life and all that jazz, coz even other people of lesser economic standing than you never wanna throw away their lives.
I think this highlights a common misunderstanding about depression. Many people seem to assume that depression somehow coheres to a set of rational rules, and that therefore by applying reason to the problem the depression will go away. But as far as I know, this isn't how it works. Depression comes on whenever it darned well pleases, without any regard to reason. True, by comparison to others, many people with depression are in a better socioeconomic position than others, but that's totally irrelevant to the arrival of symptoms.
On October 12 2012 07:31 CecilSunkure wrote: Take niacin. Poor nutrition is probably your main cause of depression.
I've thought of this MANY times. But it seems like Tyler is a smart enough guy to have taken this into consideration many times over.
But to be redundant, ya, make sure you're getting all your trace minerals too, like magnesium and manganese... seems pretty silly but we would be amiss not to mention it.
For what it's worth, you're one of my hero's Tyler. TSL2 was just a sight to behold. I'll never do anything that awesome with my life and I'm totally okay with that.
Although I'm completely knowledge-less in this field, I've never met a depressed person who had kids. I don't mean it solves everything, but I guess its natural, when we fulfill all our needs the only thing to carry on is to dedicate ourselves to next generation. Otherwise life seems pointless.
On October 11 2012 02:15 tehemperorer wrote: Dealt with this my whole life, depression isn't about being "sad" it's about how a chemical imbalance in your brain makes you unable to function as you normally would. Some people are predisposed to this condition, while other factors like education and religion (lack there-of) can augment it. Honestly Tyler, the reason to live is truly about being happy, though for those who can't find what makes them happy the reason is moot. The cure to all of this is, surprisingly, having kids. So go through life, do what you like, but when time comes when you start talking family and the "what now?" question in your relationship, just know that whatever your conception of family life is now, it's going to be completely inaccurate compared to the real thing no matter how well developed you think your concept is. Hang in there!
People often say that depression is a chemical imbalance, but there's really very little evidence that that's the case. It's an unfortunate piece of misinformation perpetuated by drug companies with a vested interested in promoting that idea.
The cause of it is still pretty much uncertain, although I suspect that there are accurate theories on its cause which just haven't had the accompanying research to make them 'truth'. Personally I think most common forms of depression are caused almost purely by lifestyle. If you aren't busy enough you will probably get depressed. If you are too busy then you will probably get depressed. If you aren't eating properly, exercising enough, getting enough sun, etc etc etc, then there's a chance you'll get depressed. There is a minimum amount of things that you have to be doing in order to maintain a consistent level of contentedness, and not doing one or more of those things increases your chances of being depressed.
Somebody wrote a post that some people are just more 'naturally inclined' towards being happy. Though that may be true to a certain extent, I think the stronger argument is that those people have either purposefully or unwittingly ended up with a lifestyle that meets the minimum requirements for being happy. I've been through several episodes of depression, but since then I have modified my lifestyle and mentality to be more conducive to happiness. These days I probably appear to be a person who is 'naturally inclined' towards being happy, but I'm not. I just worked on the right things. I learned to identify the signs of an incoming episode of depression and act preemptively.
Of course, the problem with depression is that once you are depressed this information becomes much less useful since it's an affliction which reduces your very capacity for making the required changes. I don't have a solution for that, but if you've been depressed in the past then don't just wait for the next episode! There's shit that you can be doing now which will significantly reduce your chances of getting depressed again: Start exercising. Cut down the 'relaxation time' you don't actually need and fill it with activities you're passionate about. Work on improving your general every day mentality. Lie if you have to: I told people I was good at drums so that I had to be good at drums if I didn't want to look like a fool. There's plenty more you can do, too. Find happy people and see what they do with their days, then imitate them.
Whatever you do, don't let yourself believe that depression is a chemical imbalance, or any other incurable physical characteristic. It's the perfect excuse to let depression effect you for the rest of your life.
Hey, Nony. There isn't a reason for life other than living. You are not here to do anything other than exist - that's all any of us are here to do.
YOU DO NOT NEED TO REASON ANYTHING. You can, at a moment's notice, drop off the grid and go and be a hermit and the sum total of no one can stop you. Or you can trudge along, miserable, trying to make sense of 6 billion people's selfish desires and trying to reason why things happen.
Instead, appreciate who you are. Appreciate the world around you. Immerse your mind in the marvellous complexity through simplicity of the universe and all the systems within it. Go to the window on a sunny day and look into the sky. Watch the shifting complexity of the clouds. Witness and marvel at the rippling waves of water when you drop a stone into a puddle. Take heart in the little things, the big things, the discoveries, the victories and the defeats.
You are the physical manifestation of the sum of your thoughts, bound in a thin layer of carbon based clingfilm. You get exactly one opportunity to explore the world around you. Fucking do it, man. Stop moping about it, it is worth neither your time nor your considerable intelligence. You don't need to feel happy every day of your life - people who say they do are talking shit. Most people go through their lives in a permanent stress, bouncing from one catastrophe to the next wondering when the hell they get a break.
All you ever need to be is fulfilled, regardless of what that level of fulfilment is.
On October 12 2012 10:37 DigiGnar wrote: The point of life is to pass on your genes. Women have orgasms to motivate them to have sex. The orgasm itself helps the guy orgasm, and after he does, the orgasm acts as a vacuum for the sperm, sucking it up to the eggs. Everything in nature is designed to survive/kill and pass on the genes.
Do you have kids, NonY? If not, I think you would see a lot of reasons for living. Not for yourself, but for your genes that you passed on.
No, this is a reason for having a reproductive system. Plenty of animals are born which are incapable of reproduction and they more often than not make up the numbers of a herd.
We are the sum of a series of chemical reactions, but that does not mean that this is our defining purpose for being. Life locally decreases entropy - that is, I think, its ultimate reason for being.
EPT
