Is depression a big con?

And I think that overload is possibly a real trigger for the increase in depression. Instant informatipon, instant response expected… whether at work trhough email, and now through social media- I worry about folks who already get anxiety when they dont ahev tehir phone on them - kids especially - just need leave it at home an go on holiday.

My (self-inflicted) nickname in my “pre-smiler” days was Marvin…

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A concession I think you’ll find made in the original post.

I’m glad that the thread generated so much heat and genuine light. I stand by, and think I have a great deal of agreement with the notion that we’re over-prescribing, nothing that study does to dispel.

The thread title is provocative, but also tapped into a big reason I asked the question, which I’ve gone through on several posts. Is a starving kid stealing a loaf of bread genuinely a thief?

Is a person living with all kinds of expectations in a fucked up world, where you have to ignore or endure a lot every single day, genuinely depressed, and is it drugs, or societal change, that is the real remedy?

Don’t know…please enlighten us, yoda.

Pap is an expert. There’s depression and genuine depression

I think … which I feel is something we should all do more of …the challenges is that: there is diagnosed clinical depression, other general depression and also various other things that induce more frequent low mood.

Medication ideally in combination with psychological therapy is really for clinical depression only yet is often prescribed for other depression either through misdiagnosis or because the psychological therapy that would help in these cases is not available and pills are cheaper…

the study correctly looked only at clinical depression given that it was a review of multiple clinical trials.

The provision of mental health services in this country limited by resource allocation and this prevents many who suffer from both clinical and non clinical depression from benefitting from such therapy.

the increase in clinical and non clinical depression is likely imho to be due to more folks seeking help and the pace of life - as soggy said earlier, our brains literally struggle to cope with the rapidity of information and expectation

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It might be useful to broaden this discussion to include something called Depersonalization Disorder (DPD). There has been an increasing awareness of DPD over recent years, and a growing acceptance within the medical profession that this is a disorder in its own right, as opposed to a symptom, or subset of symptoms, of other illnesses such as clinical depression. DPD can, though, be the catalyst for depression and anxiety illnesses … and vice versa.

It seems that DPD has its origins in what, in evolutionary terms, is a useful adaptive trait, namely, the ability of the regions of the brain responsible for emotions to shut down during times of acute stress or trauma. This protective mechanism is advantageous when it is activated over a short term; but, sometimes, this shut-down lasts for much longer than is necessary or is good for us. The useful adaptive trait now becomes a chronic disorder, and its sufferers find themselves living in a world without emotions. Sunsets, starry nights, Saints, favourite pastimes, anything that previously elicited an emotional response, now render a blank. Loved-ones, friends and family take on the same emotional status as strangers. Life seems flat, foggy and colourless; reality and sense-of-self become distant and detached.

As I said above, the usual trigger for DPD is acute stress or trauma; but, there is evidence that it can also arise from drug abuse, with cannabis, ecstasy and ketamine cited as the main culprits. Alarmingly, some cases have been reported following once-only drug use.

Whilst most people will experience temporary depersonalization at some point in their lives, it is estimated that about 2 percent of the population suffer from chronic (i.e ongoing) DPD.

If anyone is interested to learn more about DPD there are plenty of online sources and a few books on the subject, including two that I read last year by a former DPD sufferer, Jeffrey Agubel, titled Stranger to Myself and Depersonalization Disorder and the Loss of the Self.

By the way, I noticed a typo in my previous post on this thread, which I’m unable to edit due to the editing expiry function. The last word was meant to be medication, not mediation!

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A comment piece from someone who takes medication.

on-study-that-anti-depressants-are-effective

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Not sure where this interview with Mertesaker should go…he seems to have completely lost it. He sounds like he’s got some mental health issues

http://www.skysports.com/share/11285515

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That’s an interesting article Fatso, thank you for posting it.

There’s one bit that resonates with me:

“…In the moments before a game starts, my stomach turns around as if I had to vomit. Then I have to choke so violently until my eyes water.”…

I regularly have to do presentations and talks and whether its 10 people or 100+ people I still get really bad nerves immediately beforehand and have been in the above state. 99.9% of times it all goes well and you wonder at the waste of stress, but when you drop a bollock you feel like hell.

I can see why he doesn’t want to play anymore - I understand where he’s coming from.

Its strange how that works, you speak to all the lads in the pub and its great, the same amount in a room and its totally different, I think he has nerves though that from into something else, a fear maybe of failure not depression.

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I think you’re probably right there @barry-sanchez . The fear of failure - my Achilles heel & happy to let people know. Still haven’t figured how to conquer it - have had plenty of advice, all of which hasn’t worked. Still, I carry on with the day job as it’s only a very tiny part of what I do.

I have had many tips about the mechanics of public speaking and each of them probably made me feel marginally more comfortable, but the only thing that worked was when I became happy to show who I am and stopped trying to make everybody I was speaking to think I was someone else.

If you spend your time on your feet looking at the faces of your audience trying to gauge whether they’ve rumbled you or if you’ve been able to pretend to be someone else, then you’re fucked.

Like yourself. Be yourself.

Fuck me that sounds trite but it’s true.

On audience size, I’ve spoken bollocks to audiences of up to 700 people and they were far easier than pitching something believed in to audiences of 4 or 5.

Bletch public speaking anecdote #12318

I once addressed a software developer conference in Oslo. They were all geeks and spoke perfect English and I had a technical presentation on some great technology that I knew they’d like so I was feeling quite confident.

The guy I was following was an American and he was doing a great job and I was starting to wonder if I would suffer by comparison. It seems to me that all Americans come out of the womb carrying a presentation remote and confidence to spare. Bastards.

He ended his presentation by saying that he’d lived in Sweden for 5 years and, apologised for his accent, before telling a joke in fucking Norwegian!

The audience laughed heartily, he thanked them, winked at me and left the stage.

Cunt.

I’d lost all faith in my presentation content, my mouth was now dry and my cock had shrunk. I was leaving fight mode and entering flight mode.

I dug deep and said “Well, who’d have thought it. An American that speaks Norwegian? Well, I too would like to say a few words in Norwegian before we start.”

I took a breath and said “Egil Ostenstad, Claus Lundekvam and Ole Gunnar Solksjaer”

They cracked up and I knew I’d be OK.

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Are you saying that you had an erection but the American chaps success made it wilt? I think it’s probably for the best… doing a presentation with a boner wouldn’t have gone down well, probably.

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If I don’t lose my job after following your advice at my next presentation I will hunt you down and your whole family and give you all a big sloppy wet kiss :lou_is_a_flirt:

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There was a lectern and the lights were turned down.

https://youtu.be/_rZCofcCbc0

It’s good advice Cob. You’ve done alright being you.

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Cheers mate :blush:

No problem.

Although, you should know this. Decent job, kids doing ok and a wife that regularly takes the bookies money without doing favours in return.

You must be more than just ok at something, stupendously lucky, or possibly born rich and entitled, but never happy(amazingly common). Take your pick.

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Get a fucking room

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