This isn't funny, it's actually depressing.

[Shawn]

Looking back, I'd say that I started having issues with depression around age 12. I didn't actually get any treatment for it until my early 20's, after some chick dumped me, and I couldn't take it, and I realized that my life was a total mess. I was prescribed Celexa, but it didn't help much. Really, all Celexa did was make it difficult to jerk off. (Seriously.) What did work for me was therapy. I started going once a week, and eventually it was just a few times a year. But it took a long time to get to that point.

[I_Like_Kittens]

I'm on meds and in therapy, but I am still feeling a bit depressed. I guess what I might have been looking for are some examples of things you do just to get through the day when you are depressed. Even if it's the littlest things every suggestion helps. What gets you up and going to work, makes you get out, etc.

But still, continue telling your stories they are all interesting to hear.

[Shawn]

Originally Posted by I_Like_Kittens

I'm on meds and in therapy, but I am still feeling a bit depressed. I guess what I might have been looking for are some examples of things you do just to get through the day when you are depressed. Even if it's the littlest things every suggestion helps. What gets you up and going to work, makes you get out, etc.

But still, continue telling your stories they are all interesting to hear.

What I found is the best thing is to just keep busy. That helped me keep my mind off of the things causing my depression. It sounds cliche, but I took a lot of long walks, spent hours just listening to music or reading. I'm a musician, so I also spent a lot of time writing (mostly) bad songs about being depressed.

[stjoe]

Originally Posted by Shawn

What I found is the best thing is to just keep busy. That helped me keep my mind off of the things causing my depression. It sounds cliche, but I took a lot of long walks, spent hours just listening to music or reading. I'm a musician, so I also spent a lot of time writing (mostly) bad songs about being depressed.

All of that really does help. I'm sure it's not for everyone, but keeping busy keeps my mind off of it and helps me through the day.

[I_Like_Kittens]

Originally Posted by MichaelG

Does Uncle Miltie have any Depression jokes? We need a few.

I think I will go on the CafePress KATG store and purchase a KATG journal so that I can write my own "Auntie Kitty (TM)" jokes. Nothing like racism that's so offensive and unfunny that it is actually hilarious! Sure, it's like therapy. Some people might write about their feelings, but I choose to write about my life in the Uncle Miltian style. And those of you thinking of doing the same thing should know that your Uncle Miltian journal entries completely lose their meaning if they are not in a KATG journal. If you use some other journal you got on the sale rack at Barnes and Noble, you might as well consider it wasted therapy and in that case, you cannot be helped. At least not by Uncle Miltie or Auntie Kitty (TM) jokes.

[ooda]

Originally Posted by Sexy_Potatoe_with_an_E

I don't know if I made my situation clear, my mom doesn't rely on me nor does she try inflict her misery on me, for my sake and the rest of the family's she puts up a front, of a happy fulfilled woman, I'm the one who made the choice to be her support system at times, she has never cried woe is me and has never asked for my help in even the smallest way, however I know she can't handle the simplest of tasks because not only is she depressed, but shizophrenic as well. When I said I was too many people's support systems I was referring to my friends, not my mother.

Sorry about that. The schizophrenia I don't envy, though in a way I wasn't only talking about you being a support physically, but I assume it also takes a lot out of you emotionally. Luckily (and I know it's weird I'm saying this, I assumed she was more far gone than she actually is.

Are you co-dependant by nature, or over time did you just develop that way?

[ooda]

Originally Posted by cogy

hi ooda. it looks like are in the same field. where are you in your studies, and are you doing clinical, social, development, etc?

the verdict is still out on the link between anti-depressants and suicide, but i have to disagree with what you said. the most severe depression does cause apathy over life and death. people afflicted with this level of depression usually stay in bed all day every day. they dont even rise to use the restroom. as someone else mentioned walking through dangerous intersections, this sounds like an attempt at something else, to feel maybe, but isnt the same apathy.

depression is a graded condition, with the abyssmal despair and apathy (for your existence) on one end (pt A), up to suicidal ideation (pt B), and on the other end mere sadness or nothing at all (pt C). the most likely reason SSRIs contribute to suicide is because people at pt A who take them will improve enough until they get to pt B. yes, its a paradox. such is the illness. this differs from the issue of having enough energy to kill yourself.

so therapy is really important for people between A and B.

i had a psychiatrist and a psychologist in highschool (i saw them both every week). it was hell. most of the time we would have staring contests because they asked questions i couldnt or wouldnt answer. as 'the smart one' this was freaky in itself. i had no answers for the simplest questions about myself, a subject everyone ought to know.

however bad i felt the therapy was, it helped. therapy shouldnt feel like a massage. its medicine. or surgery. something uncomfortable. but there are bad therapists out there. like the one that kept talking about himself and the person said he felt like he had to keep 1-upping him. that isnt a good therapist. their only mentions of themselves should be brief and not as personal. i tried to get a new psychotherapist when i came to ny and i felt like i needed to give him therapy. i wound up relying on medication maintenance and that was just fine.

i never had the sexual side effects from SSRIs that other people report, but at some point i lost my drive. i was off the meds during most of that time though. but its back now (warning).

This is pretty much a rehash of what I said on the chat to you, but I figured it's not worth leaving a questions here unanswered. I'm studying clinical psych with the aim of specializing in sex-related issues, and some of the issues that offshoot from that, in particular pregnancy. I'm doing a minor in dev psych (also about half way towards a minor in substance dependance).

And you're right about the psychotherapy. While ideally you should be able to talk to them easily, what also should not happen is they talk a lot to you. Hmm, let me rephrase that. A good therapist is one who does not tell you what to do, but rather they guide you to form thoughts of your own. In a way, it's the process of getting to a particular point that is as important as the actual end-point.

The stuff I read about depression medications (not being a psychiatrist I'm not giving the issue too much attention), it looks like SSRIs are the ones with the most negative issues, but like you said, there still is the problem about giving someone medication with the risk that it will have serious negative side-effects. Luckily a lot of people function relatively well on the medication (there's a decent buzz about the tri-phasics), and the suicide is primarily and issue with younger people.

[I_Like_Kittens]

Hi everyone,
I thought I'd just update how I'm doing. I think my depression has been getting a bit better lately. I might even go to work part time tomorrow. This thread has been very helpful and it has been nice hearing how everyone else deals with their depression. I hope everyone else who posted is doing a bit better. Thanks!