Depression, deteriorating mental health or similar?

[WildGoose]

Have you ever sought help for above?

This may be a completely inappropriate place to ask, but here we go anyway. I know there have been related threads on here over the years, but some current opinions would be good, hence the new one.

Would you be prepared to share any details of why you went. To whom you went, what the results were? Or the outcome, be it positive or negative.

It seems to be obvious to everyone bar maybe myself that there is some kind of problem, and that maybe I should attempt to tell someone about it with a move to sorting it out.

Up to now I have just labelled it life, but if there is a way to feel slightly better i'm beginning to warm to that idea, as 70 years is a long time to hate existing. I won't go into the details here; the narcissism is bad enough already.

I have been deeply skeptical about any outside help to this point as feel I can think through any possible outcome and the results are obvious. Experience shows that to this point my skepticism is usually well founded but I am always open to be proved wrong. I don't feel there is anything to be solved by "talking" and I have been strongly against chemicals, such that you might be prescribed up until now. Would certainly still refuse them, in fact.

My naive outlook is that you should be able to 'deal' with it, given that the human brain is quite a complex instrument, with lots of capability given the right training (or something), and that going for help is some kind of failure stamp.

There is also a paranoia about being labelled, diagnosed, put on some kind of list, published as a statistic, and various doors closed (certain public sector careers and FAC to give two obvious example, though why I would ever need one I don't know). Without any actual benefit to the 'patient' at the end.

Just to confirm, I don't need to be told to get more exercise, get a hobby, eat better, drink less, sleep less, be more productive, buck your ideas up, help my elderly neighbour get her shopping. Woolly thinking that doesn't help a jot in the long run, and we are talking about the grand scheme here.

Purely any experiences and results, within the health system, NHS or otherwise, conventional or alternative, gratefully recieved.

PM if you wish.

Though posted here, others might benefit too.
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So in other words, he stopped you for being flagrantly in posession of a motorcycle in direct contravention of the Hippies, Darkies and People Whose Face I Don't Like The Look of (Police Powers) Act. 1976

[Hetzer]

As best as I can make out there are two kinds of depression; one is psychological, based upon the way one thinks, the other is chemical, based upon a lack/imbalance of certain chemicals in the brain. The former can be addressed by cogitation, the latter with drugs (prozac etc), though when I tried that many years ago it turned me pretty much into a zombie.

"I have been deeply skeptical about any outside help to this point as feel I can think through any possible outcome and the results are obvious."

Ditto. I think the more intelligent one is the less likely therapy etc will help, as one can see through the various 'ruses'.

As to whether or not you should seek help, I guess that would be down to how badly your daily life is being affected. At what point on the scale of pain does one pull ones hand out of the pot of boiling water?
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"There's the horizon! Ride hard, ride fast and cut down all who stand in your way!"

[Tonka]

PM sent, but this is for public consumption so...........{deep breath}

I struggle like crazy in exactly the same way as you - meds are out, talking about it sends me lower than low (even typing this makes me feel dreadful) and I've tried all the CBT stuff and it hasn't worked for me. Trouble is that what works for one, doesn't necessarily work for another, so I'm happy that for some meds are the answer and for others talking helps, it's just I tried them and they didn't work for me. You must try them first though before just ruling them out - I really wanted something simple to work and take it all away, it just didn't!

I've found that being acutely aware of how I'm feeling has been the key to managing my condition. I'm always very alert to being over tired, not sleeping and eating, as these are always the precursors for a manic high or a bad low. I find that if I can make a point of dealing with them before they get out of hand it helps. How? I'm very strict if I find I'm not sleeping or eating well and make an extra effort to rest and shop for easy food, so that I eat something. I find that meditation and Tai Chi have helped enormously - they are not as airy fairy as you might think and you can do them by yourself and when you need them.

The most important thing to remember is 'it will pass' and now I find that I have learned to accept a certain degree of high and low mood, the passing is quicker and less painful. It doesn't stop that horrible feeling of knowing it's on it's way though - I just have to knuckle down and weather it just like a storm and there are some times that are more difficult than others, but each time I get through I do feel stronger.

I'd like to think that has helped a little bit - big hugs https://i498.photobucket.com/albums/rr344/Tonkatoo_2008/Emoticons/friends1-1.gif
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'The core of a man's spirit comes from new experiences'
Suzuki SV650S (Clean); Yamaha XT250 Serow (Dirty)

[silky666]

[Hetzer]

It all (depression) comes back to my contention that fear of death, the cultural indoctrination of it, is the biggest cancer with which we are infected by western civilisation. If you can somehow find a sure belief in the immortality of personal consciousness, boy, what a difference it makes. The safe port at the end of a rough voyage over stormy seas kind of gig.
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"There's the horizon! Ride hard, ride fast and cut down all who stand in your way!"

[Clanger]

The thing with counselling is there are different sorts. Now if you went along to your doctor and said I think I need counselling, it is likely they would send you along to the counsellor linked to the practice - and you would get the standard 6 sessions.
Which if you ask me is totally pointless.

If your problems stem from childhood, then it might be wise to seek Freud-based counselling, and go in it for the long haul. The trouble with Freud-based is it will drag you back to your basic emotions and you will end up feeling like shit before you will feel any benefit from it.

If your issues are more to do with the way you react to certain things, or you need to change your attitudes, then you might get more out of Humanistic approach or Cognitive Behaviour Therapy. This will tackle issues one at a time, and the idea is to help you sort yourself out, and rewire your train of thought towards things.

Taking anti-depressants might help level you out, replace serotonin levels lacking in the brain, but if you go this route you need to think 6 months minimum. And stick to it...and not stop after 3 weeks because you think nothing is happening / or worse, you think you're better.

It will take time. There are no short cuts.
Hope this helps.
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Be who you are and say what you feel, because those who mind don't matter, and those who matter won't mind - Dr. Seuss

[waffles]

Seeing as this was quite a few years ago, I don't really mind sharing it.... This was a temporary thing but I guess it still applies

When I started my job I struggled a lot, I didn't know anyone and found it mentally draining being told by kids that "you're s**t", "I hate you" and "why don't you f**k off you c**t" which normally doesn't bother me but day after day it started to cut deep. I wasn't coping and started to resent being there but was too bloody minded to hand in my notice. I felt sick, I wasn't sleeping, small things going wrong left me feeling anxious and I had panic attacks. There was a roundabout with the road to my workplace coming off of it, the day I realised I needed to talk to someone about what was going on was when I had to make myself take my turning rather than just going home again. I got to work, someone asked if I was OK and I burst into tears.

I went to see my GP, we had a long talk and he said that he could see I was in need of some help. We discussed different approaches to sorting out what was wrong from counselling, family support to medication. He said that because I hadn't been diagnosed with depression before it was more than likely a temporary one off thing so he wrote me out a prescription for anti-depressants and told me that there was no pressure to take them and they were there if I felt that I needed them.

A week or so later I picked up that prescription for six weeks worth, took them and after a week or so started to feel much more confident about my situation. Sure, they made me feel like I was going to hurl but I was relieved that the small things didn't bother me anymore. It was probably a placebo effect of taking something rather than the actual tablets but I don't care because it made me feel much more "even".

I know you said that "woolly thinking" doesn't help, but I took up wakeboarding after that and haven't felt down since.
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Theory test - 19/8/09, CBT - 11/10/09, MOD 1 - 16/8/10, MOD 2 - 27/10/10
Past rides Yamaha XT125X, Triumph TT600, Honda XR250
Current rides Suzuki GSXR 600, Honda MSX125

[MarJay]

I think if you disbelieve that the subconscious is a powerful tool, then you've already lost and there is no hope for you short of drugs...

I have seen first hand the effect that counseling, NLP and similar therapies can have on someone who has issues with depression and anxiety and I can say that they work. You don't know they are working until you see a result, and sometimes the result can be profound.

I'm not really a subscriber to the whole chemical angle either unless all other avenues have been exhausted, but I can say for certain that counseling does work, and I suspect it will work on anyone who is willing to put the effort in, and not to try to second guess the counselor. They don't have to believe it will work, but they have to open themselves up to the counseling if that makes sense...

I'm not going to go into details here, but if you want further info please send me a PM.
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British beauty: Triumph Street Triple R; Loony stroker: KR1S; Track fun: GSXR750 L1; Commuter Missile: GSX-S1000F; Cheap project: CBR900RR FireBlade
Remember kids, bikes aren't like lego. You can't easily take a part from one bike and then fit it to another.

[Kickstart]

[Hetzer]

[Kickstart]

[Hetzer]

[Kickstart]

[Parp]

[colin1]

I am a great believer that depression, is a reaction to personal circumstances. Often this is a result of the behaviour of others in relation to the sufferer, and the behaviour of the sufferer.

Of course drug companies, will have you believe in chemical imbalances, but it is kinda funny that people with problems in their personal circumstances get told they have chemical imbalances. It's not entirely bullshit, but the brain is a bio-chemical machine, so the way it functions, is through different levels of chemicals. Thats the way it's supposed to work.

When people start artificially messing with these chemicals, the subject can get fucked up worse than without the chemicals.

Drugs should be a crutch to be used to get someone to be able to function better to get into a more healthy situation in terms of their behaviour and being around people who don't stress them out. Then when this is done, the crutch should be thrown away.

In the same way that over the counter cold and flu remedies just mask the symptoms, depression medications do not fix the underlying problem. They just help you function better. As such they should only be used as a temporary measure.

People who end up on these mind altering medications for years rather than months, can get seriously fucked up.

Obviously changing your life, habitual thought processes and behaviours are more tricky than just taking a pill. Which is why people take pills.

I'd suggest trying lots of sensible small step life improvements, such as taking more exercise, doing more fun stuff, eating more healthily to have slow release energy rather than sugar rushes then energy crashes, which play a big part in mood lows.

If you refuse to believe that managing your life better could improve your mood, just go to the doctor and ask for some pills but make sure you manage the dosage carefully. They will probably put you on a dose which is higher than you need which can cause problems in the long term, so try just using a fraction of the dose initially, and increasing very gradually. They take a while to kick in anyway though. Be aware that although its claimed that anti-depressants arent addictive, they just describe the problems coming off them as another illness called something like anti-depressant withdrawal syndrome. I've lived with someone going through that, and hell is too nice a word. Before being on these things they had mild depression due to stress at work. After being on these things and trying to come off, they went proper nuts complete with suicide attempts.

Getting involved with mood altering prescription drugs, is not something to be taken lightly.

I also worked with someone who was prescribed an anti-depressant to help him quit smoking, and it sent him a bit loopy, and he had to come off them due to paranoia and generally feeling like he was going mad.
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colin1 is officially faster than god

[MarJay]

[colin1]

[Parp]

Drugs, counseling, exercise, CBT or whatever, you should look into all, go through your GP to avoid 'quack' remedies and if one does not work for you try another.

The slowness of turning serious depression around is one of the reasons why 'curing' it is so hard.

It also helps to establish a likely cause. Basically, is the depression situational and has an outside cause (love, work, bereavement etc) or are you in yourself a depressive person. Both can also happen at the same time.

[Hetzer]

"Have mercy lord, when here I cease to live,
and this last act of wretchedness forgive."
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"There's the horizon! Ride hard, ride fast and cut down all who stand in your way!"

[Hetzer]

[Tonka]

[Hetzer]

I have been to the very edge of the abyss, nay, been hung right over it. I have a little hut right next to it actually, where I while away the twilight years.

On a serious note though (not that the above isn't serious), I have confronted, and still occasionally do, the very real and tangible terror of sanity stretched to breaking-point. It's almost a taste in the mouth, utter despair and desperation, the realization that everything apparently real could well be, and probably is, a chimera.

But ho! And yay! Wheel in the big cannons of survival strategies, mental gambits and distraction techniques. Gonna die anyway, right? Garaun https://i499.photobucket.com/albums/rr356/Langnasen7/fcuking.jpg teed. So it's a simple choice...die now or die then. Life's shite? Painful? Die now or die then, simple choice. I've tasted the "die now", multiple times. Kicked it in the nuts and clawed my way back from the brink of that madness, multiple times. I will again, multiple times. I regard it as a disease. So I have the utmost sympathy for anyone who goes through the same thing. It's an altered state of consciousness, so unbelivably scary and painful that death can seem like the only escape. And until you've experienced it, Colin (and others) there can be no true comprehension of it. Words cannot, and never will, come within a trillion light-years of describing it.

I did it to meself of course, coz I is well 'ard. DMT, proper mens aftershave.
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"There's the horizon! Ride hard, ride fast and cut down all who stand in your way!"

[colin1]

[Hetzer]

[colin1]

You mean start believing in fairies ?

If you want to believe in fairies and imaginary friends that's up to you, but the world really isn't that complicated.

The land of fairies and imaginary friends is nice to visit. It's quite sweet but I wouldnt want to have to live there.

I managed about 5 minutes of a church service on the radio earlier today, with crap modern hymns.

Of course, in hetzers case, they are bad ass, hard, new-age-spirituality fairies.
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colin1 is officially faster than god