2033: Get Happy

[dannyhatch]

With Lenny Marcus – Preseason football explained and the NY Giants sell fake memorabilia; A porn star vs. an MMA fighter vs. Dog the Bounty Hunter; new facts on the death of Robin Williams and listener feedback; Lauren Bacall dies; Ashton Kutcher involved in massive plagiarism; Germans admit to changing Brooklyn Bridge's flags; weed arrests

Guest:
Lenny Marcus



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[Enunciated Piffle]

As dissmissively over-simplified and unaware as Lenny's commentary on depression, (get off the couch and go jogging) was; there is some wisdom there. It is important to remind depressed people to keep it moving. However. Depression is not to be confused with "having a bad day." It's not that.

So go ahead and remind someone to go run and get the blood and important brain drugs flowing, but know that it takes longer for a depressed brain to snap out of it and respond.

Depression is like a weird sadness dust that constantly collects on your brain. You try to sweep it away with exercise. Possibly take prescription drugs. Try like hell to avoid all those fun street drugs. It's a constant vigiliance to keep your brain functioning even remotely normal. It's the same kind of normal this Lenny Marcus seems to take for granted, or at the very least, factor into the equation.

Chemda A+++

Danny A+ on the assist

And Lenny..? Well. I hope while Lenny is waiting in that line Chemda mentioned, he can stop and pick up an air conditioner for Keith's balls. Sounds like they were particularly sweaty on this ep

[lalalemon]

I thought Keith and Lenny were both very callous and one-dimensional during the depression discussion. Get happy? It's not that bad? It's a chemical imbalance- not just a switch you can flip on/off. I know that Lenny has never had issues with depression, but if thousands upon thousands of people in the world identify with the "freedom" and "comfort" that the act of suicide offers, clearly it can be that bad.

Also, saying that you don't want to hear about it and that talking about it only makes YOU depressed, is part of the reason depressed people don't reach out.

[mollyfud]

Yeah, I am still listening to the discussion. Its entertaining but not that informed! Exercise is definitely useful to living with depression but isn't the be all and end all. If it was, no professional athlete would be clinically depressed and many are.

You say you know about depression, but you don't understand that its an illness and so not situational. You could be a billionaire, and still have depression. You could be a successful comedian and still have depression.

I think the other thing to start to understand, even if you can't cure, is that you can't use logical thinking to explain/question the actions of a clinically depressed person. When you think "Why can't they just..." or " why can't they understand that..." just remember that their brains think/work differently and perhaps they can't breakout of negitive thinking.

On how to help? Just be there for a friend. Encourage them to get help. If your really worried for there safety, seek out help. Don't tell them to just cheer up or get over it. If they are on medicines, support them on that don't try and talk themout of using it. Would you talk a diabetic out of using there needles to get there medicines? No. so while its good to look at other techniques, with depression being partially/mostly about chemical imbalances and medicines are meant to work with this.

JMTC

[JaimeGandarilla]

I find myself agreeing with Keith on the MMA situay...
I believe it takes a certain kind of person to make a career out of violence, be it MMA fighting, boxing, police, bull fighting, etc. I know I'm clumping too much together, but that what I've noticed.

About the depression conversation, as I read below: callous.
But at least Lenny acknowledges he is has a legitimate concern for his sisters, so he knows shit's real. And Keith, I reeeally think gets it.

It suuuper hard for ""healthy"" people to understand how a depressive thinks, the disease is thought of as a #FirstWorldProblem, to put it in a word. But most of the biggest minds in history, artists, creative people in general, tend to be more depressive, right? If they can't find a pragmatic approach to sadness and anxiety, who could? It's a chemical imbalance, it's lack of effort.

[WSEIII]

I was clinically depressed/anxious in November of 2009. As a result I was admitted to a psych hospital for one day short of five weeks. Missed Christmas . It was kinda a guessing game for the doctor as to what medicine I should be on but he finally figured it out. I now take one pill a day, when I remember it, and am back to my easy going self.

[Edward's Screen Name]

Not my favorite episode. Not your fault, Lenny, Keith.

[Scumhook]

Originally Posted by Edward's Screen Name

Not my favorite episode. Not your fault, Lenny, Keith.

Well if it wasn't Lenny or Keith's fault; who's was it?

[Dean from Australia]

Lenny's rant and attitude on the show today is the perfect example of why people keep their depression a secret.

Would you tell a person with cancer to just not have cancer?

You fucking turd.



People have their shatter points.

The illness becomes so overwhelming. You experience enough insults throughout your life, you become isolated because of opinion like Lenny's, you have no where to turn.

When you make the decision to follow through with ending it all, you enter a different state of mind where nothing and no-one else matters. I've been there twice. It is a really hard state of mind to describe.

[Thumbnail]

I had diagnosed depression twice in my life: in 2008, after I finished my masters and was in absolute self doubt about my abilities to move on in academic life (unsure about the future, yada yada); and in 2011 after I had a 23 week pregnancy termination due to malformations. Both came from very different places and both gave me this lethargic feeling. I felt nothing, nothing gave me joy.

Get up and be happy? Ok, sure, I understand the concept and it does help to go out and move and see people. But there's a stage there where nothing works and you either get on meds or you slowly come out of it. In both cases I took meds.

Earlier this year my dad died after a couple of weeks of respiratory illness (and probably stomach cancer but that was never confirmed). My depressive state came out in the form of pure anger and I found that apathy is not my only response, rage is also there. But I made the decision to not take meds and, instead, eat well, see people, go out in the sun. So Lenny and Keith's opinion is not dead wrong, it's just way too simple because it worked for me and it may work for a bunch of people but it may not work for severe cases.