Posted by Penny on October 21, 2003, at 12:07:05
In reply to Re: Depression is a created illness and ...... » stjames, posted by Hanks on October 21, 2003, at 1:08:47
How do you think herbs such as Kava Kava and St. John's Wort became so popular? Because they were used in a time before medication was available. Because people have always suffered from depression.
>Wouldn't it be better to fight depression without the aid of chemicals as our ancestors did? Like turning those negative symptoms into productivity ? (For example if you wake very early in the morning, you will have a great deal of time left to do something more than what you usually do)
Great - use that time productively. IF that is possible. But when you are suffering from extreme lack of sleep b/c you've been sleeping only 3 hours a night due to insomnia as a result of depression, and your brain isn't functioning clearly enough to allow you to do anything, and you can't stop thinking about ways to kill yourself, then what?
People in all walks of life suffer from depression and other mental illnesses. There are just different ways of dealing with it - some choose suicide. Some self-medicate with drugs and/or alcohol. Some are fortunate enough to be able to seek help from a health care provider.
I certainly WISH depression was something I could just 'get over.' Wow. Because I wish this on myself. I LIKE trying every medication on the market and pouring money into therapy and meds, and I LIKED ending up in the hospital for a week to keep me safe. Oh - and I remember not being on meds. I remember the depression BEFORE I started taking antidepressants, before my brain was tainted by all of these chemicals I keep pumping into myself. And I remember coming out of the depression as a result of taking Effexor, after trying to treat myself with St. John's Wort, which didn't work for me. I remember coming home before I started antidepressants and wishing I had a gun so I could kill myself. And the Effexor mellowed me out. I got better, for a while. Then I made the mistake of stopping the medication - thinking I didn't need it anymore - and the depression came back.
What I know is that denying the problem doesn't fix matters. And telling people to 'get over it' or 'just do something' doesn't work either. If people REALLY had a choice - do you seriously think they would CHOOSE to be depressed? If it was as easy as making the most of waking up early and other negative symptoms, do you think people would be depressed? I know I, for one, would not.
I tell people who do not understand depression and the seriousness of it one thing: I hope they never really understand, b/c if they did, it would mean they had been there. And I wouldn't wish depression on my worst enemy. There is nothing worse than your brain turning against you.
P
poster:Penny
thread:270386
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20031021/msgs/271495.html