So F#cking Depressed

[The Masked Tulip]

I enjoyed that motorbike video. Thanks. Looks lots of fun.

[DTMark]

I stopped taking my depression (mirtazapine high dose) medication two months ago - haven't told the doc, just stopped...

I feel so low, but then again I felt low on them

I know coming off them is ill advised, but it's been a very conscious decision, as I've come to realise that the issue is that my life is making me unhappy, and I refuse to take a pill to mask that.

my best friend thinks I'm in the middle of a breakdown and it does feel like that somedays

I fear for my future

I really do

Rhetorical questions. Not for answers, unless you want to be open, but just some private thinking points for you.

1. Why did you get put on the drug in the first place?

2. Is this a "new feeling", or has it gone on for a long time? In fact, if you think back, is this "you"? If not, can you see the "you" before?

3. Is it real clinical depression and uncontrollable or is it actually stress, which you don't cope with very well? ("my life is making me unhappy") Think back. Is there a pattern? Have you felt like this before? Why? How did you get past it?

4. Have you stopped taking the drug in frustration, as a sense of unease in you continues: well, that isn't working, so bugger it. Consider that actually, even if ill-advised, you made a conscious decision to make a change. Can you now follow through and attack whatever it is that's making you miserable?

5. Is there anything to be said for confiding further in the best friend that you mention, or someone else? If you're honest, do you willingly accept input from others? Might it help if you did?

6. Or, for viewing your depression not as a defect, an inadequacy, but giving yourself a break and accepting that how you feel is a product of circumstance and it doesn't mean that you are "fatally flawed".

Hope things look up soon.

[19 year mortgage 8itch]

But hpc is my social life! ?

There's your problem.

Lots of good stuff on this thread and most of it saying stay away as Misery loves company.

[crashmonitor]

No way. I'm pretty sure I suffer from Seasonal Affective Disorder (not officially diagnosed), I feel like topping myself every winter as it's so bloody cold, wet, dark, depressing. Conversely May is the best month for me, everything comes to life, it's warm, yet still we have the summer to look forward to.

You would have thought so, but no. Every study peaks suicides in May and the least in winter. one theory is it is because of relative happiness...if everybody seems happy and full of the joys of spring then the unhappy become really unhappy.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seasonal_effects_on_suicide_rates

I guess the secret to happiness is to have shit weather and everybody to be poor...in the 1950s happiness peaked.

[spunko2010]

That's interesting, although I'm not sure the reasoning is correct. Misery loves company etc.

[Riedquat]

I guess the secret to happiness is to have shit weather and everybody to be poor...in the 1950s happiness peaked.

One reason for my continual questioning of the sanity of people who seem to think life is so great now is that people just don't seem to have got happier, which really makes me question the point of a lot of the supposed improvements. That said perhaps by the 1950s a lot of the wartime damage had been repaired and the losses had faded enough but the "thank god we're not being bombed" feeling hadn't gone.

[winkie]

Re the days when people had a lot less in material things but far more in the way of community and support....people were happier....today IMO our expectations are much higher, we see people with what looks like having more, when in many cases they don't, we think we are worth as much as them or more..... we think the wrong things will make us happier when they will not......

Would you rather be the poorest person in the rich street or the richest person on the poor street?......less can and very often is more.

[Guest]

Well the depressive bout has ended as quick as it started. I think the change in dosage triggered side affects (depression) which coincided with a sh&t day for bad news.

I would seriously consider avoiding this website for a while....

Easier said than done.... you guys are the sane ones! (mostly!)

I would advise avoiding news websites in general, and TV news. By all means watch films and series and read some books, just avoid everyday news.

I do try .... but when I'm depressed I struggle to concentrate on films/books ... so ended up trawling news sites and HPC!!!

Sounds like you are carrying the weight of the world on your shoulders..

[...]

Be selfish for a change an focus on yourself.. do some things you enjoy and see if the mood passes

It does feel like that sometimes .... but yes, once I stop wallowing and enjoy the sunshine it starts to feel better.

It's ok to be frustrated by the crap going on in the world. For a short while anyway.

As others have said get some fresh air and don't listen to the news. You can't do anything about it anyway so no point worrying about it.

Agree that News is a downer on your mood - my mother and in-laws are obsessed with news, got to get the daily paper, must check BBC24 just before going to bed,etc. No idea why, but the news is full of depressing stuff that you can't do anything about.

Didn't you just get a new bike? I've always found going for a ride to be a good general 'lift'.

Yep went out on the bike a couple of times ... deffo helps.

My wife works for the local council; the impression I get is that it's a pretty depressing place, well maybe not the place but the makeup of the workforce.

Yeah sad places ... dwindling budgets, but still have ti provide core services.

Wise words!

Top tip. Find someone who is more miserable than you.

Humans have this curious habit when in groups, couples, or whatever, of adopting an appropriate role for the group and exaggerating this aspect of one's personality.

So, find someone more miserable then you so you can take the other role.

I find it very easy to talk sense to other miserable people .... but not myself!