My take on depression

[theslowesthand]

I've suffered on & off from acute (serious) depression for last 15 odd years
(before that, the depression was just low-grade (chronic))

Its been a very very tricky thing to understand

But i've finally got some reliable "data" on it (which "works" 100% consistency for me, but quite possible not "universal laws" for every person)

1) Depression is ALWAYS precluded by anxiety . . (what i term "anxiety" is for me major generalised anxiety (GAD))

2) Anxiety is ALWAYS precluded by change/loss/shock/upset (change of lifestyle, taking on new beliefs, a people-event "upsetting the apple cart", stopping sth, starting sth,..)

So those are my 2 "ABSOLUTES" .. #3 is more of a proven-from-experience hunch..

3) When you've been down enough times, to rock-bottom pit of depression, each time gleaming a tiny bit of understanding what it is that's actually there .. and you've "fully come to terms with" (as i think i have), then you will no longer reach such depths of depression (as mind doesn't have NEED to anymore??)

#4 is a straight hunch, backed up by logic..

4) Anxiety is fear, so depression is fear (as anxiety is a major part of depression)
. . Major anxiety is fear of life, so major depression is fear of life
. . Fear of life is fearing everything
. . Fearing everything is feeling threatened by everything
. . Fealing threatened by everything is feeling nothing is "on your side"
. . Feeling nothing is "on your side" is feeling lonely
. . Feeling lonely is feeling separate from everything else
And so, if you CAN manage to overcome your dread/terror of feeling separate from everything else (which is what the "fear" basically comes down to, at the end of it all) then no longer will depression be a problem for you

#5 is a hunch, backed by experience..

5) To gain the best from depression (learn about properly), one ideally needs to rid all distaractions/diversions/entertainments/etc
(at least say for a few hours, for each episode)

 

[flowers2]

Wow, you and I have completely different experiences with depression. Depression is more of an insidious snake with me that develops when I don't take care of myself. Anxiety has nothing to do with depression; the two are seperate issues for myself.

OTOH, your mileage might vary.

 

[Hellhound]

Sorry, but I'm not that strong.

 

[nicola_maire]

when i have been depressed in the past there has not been an anxiety indicator at all. infact the most painful part of depression is that you push away the people around you, rather than starting out lonely, you make yourself lonely because you cant interact properly and it comes of to others that you dont care anymore. depression is deep within sufferer and it is so hard to pull out of it because your completely unaware of everything except whats going on internally.

 

[theslowesthand]

Wow, you and I have completely different experiences with depression

Quite possibly, but i'd like to find out how our 2 depressions differ exactly .. to get down to the fundamental core similarities with depression

Depression is more of an insidious snake with me that develops when I don't take care of myself

Same here also. When not looking after myself, there is more chance of me developing the svere anxiety & depression


NOT LOOKING AFTER SELF
. . . . . . . |
. . . . CHANGE/ETC
. . . . . . . |
. . . . DEPRESSION

Anxiety has nothing to do with depression; the two are seperate issues for myself

I beleive (what i term) "anxiety" (see my prev post) is a separate thing to depression, but is VERY SIMILAR in its "nature", and that (for me anyway) anxiety ALWAYS precludes deprssion

 

[theslowesthand]

when i have been depressed in the past there has not been an anxiety indicator at all. infact the most painful part of depression is that you push away the people around you, rather than starting out lonely, you make yourself lonely because you cant interact properly and it comes of to others that you dont care anymore. depression is deep within sufferer and it is so hard to pull out of it because your completely unaware of everything except whats going on internally.

I suggest how it goes for you, is something like this:

"cant interact properly and it comes of to others that you dont care anymore" (can't "connect" anymore) + frsustration + pain (bit of) + low-level depression (chronic) + low-level anxiety (below awareness) + low self-esteem + ..
. . . |
starting to "push away the people around you" + pain (more) + low-level anxiety (below awareness) + depression (gradually increasing) + low self-esteem (maybe self-hatred) + ..
. . . |
continuing to push people away + pain (sig) + lonely (sig) + anxiety (sig; but still unaware of) + depression (almost at acute level) + ..
. . . |
depression (acute) ("depression is deep within sufferer and it is so hard to pull out of it because your completely unaware of everything except whats going on internally")


* I'm not yet sure exactly about how depression relates to loneliness. But i know that for me they occur together on most occasions, so there definately is some link there

 

[theslowesthand]

Anybody else got their own theories on depression?

 

[Mikefly]

I like the parts about anxiety is part of depression and after you hit rockbottom your depression isn't as bad for future events because you've been through the experience before and learn to "shake" things off better.

 

[cosmosis]

Hi thesmallestloser,

Great post and I think you are definately on the right track. I always like to simplify them as much as possible to see the purpose and reasoning behind anxiety and depression.

By my thinking, anxiety is action-oriented distress or pain. When we are anxious, we are at a heightened alert and we are trying to fix something or stop something from happening. Social anxiety can't really be fixed though because a large part of what we are anxious about is the anxiety itself (e.g. angry at ourselves for not being able to say or do what we want because we are scared). So we become more 'heightened' and anxious, which only makes it worse.

Depression is somewhat the opposite in that its purpose is non-action and to give up or stop trying. Basically its purpose is to try to adapt to a loss or failure by letting go or giving up. That's why I think you are right that anxiety and depression go in tandem. When your anxiety gets too high and something bad happens and you feel like you can no longer keep fighting, your depression kicks in and you start giving up. After awhile when that stabalizes, your anxiety picks up in response because your old perceptions are still there and you start trying to fight it all again.

 

[theslowesthand]

Referring back to the previous post..

I like the parts about anxiety is part of depression

Either a) anxiety is part of depression, or b) anxiety occurs often alongside depression
Whichever of the above 2 (or sth else) is true, i believe that both GAD-anxiety & depression involve the same parts of the brain

and after you hit rockbottom your depression isn't as bad for future events because you've been through the experience before and learn to "shake" things off better

I have to emphasise that simply going through the events/depressions isn't enough by itself .. as unless you are changed at a deep fundamental level by these experiences, the exact same pattern of depression will repeat
(this is from much personal experience with deep depression, over many years)