Depression and the Lack Therof
Jun. 26th, 2006 04:26 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
I used to suffer from chronic depression (and a lifetime of wandering down the wrong neural pathways means I'll always be prone to it) so It's something that I always pay attention to. Athena and I got to talking about it today.
Some years ago, a buddy of mine was suffering from depression and he got treatment for it. He was so grateful for this that he told everyone of his experience. As he hung out with like-minded people (i.e. socially awkward geeks), he knew that there was a high incidence for depression and also a high incidence of being in complete denial about it. Certainly this was the case for me. I was firmly in the if you're depressed you should just suck it up school of thought. I am my Father's son after all.
Now my buddy's method was not to walk up to the most obvious candidates (myself and at least two other people he knows) and say "Hey, you're obviously depressed, get some treatment ferchissake". Instead, he simply described his own experiences. What the symptoms were, how it was affecting his life, what the treatment consisted of and the end results. He did this to anyone who would listen. I heard it and it planted a seed in my mind. Here was a guy I knew who was admitting to mental illness and how he was treating it so that he got better. In my mind it attached a real person to something for which there are still stigmas attached.
Later in my life, as the stress mounted and I hit a low point in my life, the seed sprouted and gave me a much needed option. I got into treatment and spent a year on anti-depressents. I also went into therapy and learned some much needed coping skills. It's like a muscle though - you've got to keep exercising it or it will atrophy.
Anyways, we (Athena and I) got to discussing anti-depressents and this all came out. We both agreed that they're a great idea, but disagreed on whether there was a class of people who needed to be on anti-depressents permanently. Now it's not that Athena is convinced one way or the other, she's just looking for evidence. Me, I think that this set of people exists, but it's smaller then the set that's diagnosed that way. Frankly, I think it's prima facia that anyone on anti-depressents should also be in therapy. That way you have some tools for when you're no longer on the anti-depressants. Sadly, North American attitudes are such that the quick-fix-pill is the default response to any illness or condition.
If you had to take a drug to correct a chemical imbalance in (say) your liver, you'd do so in a heartbeat. If it was a permanent condition, you'd still do so. But when the organ in question is not a liver, but your brain, we get all weird.
For me, a year on anti-depressants was a god-send. It rebooted my brain, helped me keep it together when my mother died and allowed me the time to get back up on my (mental) feet. It did have it's downsides though, namely some sexual side-effects that I'm happy to say went away when I went off the drugs. I know at least one person who is on the drugs permanently. I'm content to trust her judgement that she is in the class of people who need to be there permanently, even though that evidence (to me) is anecdotal and not scientific.
What's my point? I guess I don't really have one, I'm just pondering. Though you could say I'm paying back my buddy for his passive way of letting me know my options. I know plenty of other people who would be a lot happier in their lives if they sought treatment. I also know that I can't just tell them that, they have to get there on their own, like I did. If this post, or other similar posts, plants a seed, great. The world will be a better place.
Some years ago, a buddy of mine was suffering from depression and he got treatment for it. He was so grateful for this that he told everyone of his experience. As he hung out with like-minded people (i.e. socially awkward geeks), he knew that there was a high incidence for depression and also a high incidence of being in complete denial about it. Certainly this was the case for me. I was firmly in the if you're depressed you should just suck it up school of thought. I am my Father's son after all.
Now my buddy's method was not to walk up to the most obvious candidates (myself and at least two other people he knows) and say "Hey, you're obviously depressed, get some treatment ferchissake". Instead, he simply described his own experiences. What the symptoms were, how it was affecting his life, what the treatment consisted of and the end results. He did this to anyone who would listen. I heard it and it planted a seed in my mind. Here was a guy I knew who was admitting to mental illness and how he was treating it so that he got better. In my mind it attached a real person to something for which there are still stigmas attached.
Later in my life, as the stress mounted and I hit a low point in my life, the seed sprouted and gave me a much needed option. I got into treatment and spent a year on anti-depressents. I also went into therapy and learned some much needed coping skills. It's like a muscle though - you've got to keep exercising it or it will atrophy.
Anyways, we (Athena and I) got to discussing anti-depressents and this all came out. We both agreed that they're a great idea, but disagreed on whether there was a class of people who needed to be on anti-depressents permanently. Now it's not that Athena is convinced one way or the other, she's just looking for evidence. Me, I think that this set of people exists, but it's smaller then the set that's diagnosed that way. Frankly, I think it's prima facia that anyone on anti-depressents should also be in therapy. That way you have some tools for when you're no longer on the anti-depressants. Sadly, North American attitudes are such that the quick-fix-pill is the default response to any illness or condition.
If you had to take a drug to correct a chemical imbalance in (say) your liver, you'd do so in a heartbeat. If it was a permanent condition, you'd still do so. But when the organ in question is not a liver, but your brain, we get all weird.
For me, a year on anti-depressants was a god-send. It rebooted my brain, helped me keep it together when my mother died and allowed me the time to get back up on my (mental) feet. It did have it's downsides though, namely some sexual side-effects that I'm happy to say went away when I went off the drugs. I know at least one person who is on the drugs permanently. I'm content to trust her judgement that she is in the class of people who need to be there permanently, even though that evidence (to me) is anecdotal and not scientific.
What's my point? I guess I don't really have one, I'm just pondering. Though you could say I'm paying back my buddy for his passive way of letting me know my options. I know plenty of other people who would be a lot happier in their lives if they sought treatment. I also know that I can't just tell them that, they have to get there on their own, like I did. If this post, or other similar posts, plants a seed, great. The world will be a better place.
no subject
Date: 2006-06-27 10:51 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-06-28 09:05 pm (UTC)Of Therapy and Depression
Date: 2006-06-27 04:03 pm (UTC)The truly unfortunate thing is that the first hurdle that someone has to overcome is the fear of stigmatization that goes with mental health issues. (It's especially nasty for men, who are raised in the "suck it up" school of thought you alluded to)
There are so few accurate representations of the therapy process (and mental health issues in general) in 'pop culture' that most people have a deeply negative sense of the whole field - from Jack Nicholson playing a raving psychopath in The Shining, and gritty representations of Arkham to therapists on TV like "Dr. Phil" - none of which do anything for the reality. (even the "PsyCorps" in B5 was unsettlingly grim, and treated the telepaths as mentally ill) Our society values precision and "hard" answers - and mental health is so far from either it's not funny.
The other point (to me at least) is that therapy isn't about someone telling you "how to behave/act/whatever", but rather is closer to a coached/guided self-discovery process where the therapist is more of a facilitator than anything else. (Occasionally psychoactive medication is useful, but not always)
The point? Err - well - mostly that I agree with your observations, and similarly know all too well that too many people who would benefit don't - mostly out of fear.
Re: Of Therapy and Depression
Date: 2006-06-28 09:14 pm (UTC)As for coaching/guiding, I'm all for that. I can talk about my social-phobia all I want with my therapist, but it won't do a stitch of good if I don't try to apply her suggestions outside of the therapy.
As for pop-psychology, it's a dual-edged knife. It does get people talking about therapy in a non-threatening way. It also, by the very nature of pop-media, focuses on the sensational. Not a lot we can do about that.
Personally, the biggest obstacle I had to seeking therapy as an adult was the horrifically bad child psychologists/councilors I has in elementary school and junior high. I would love to go back in time and slap some of them in face.
no subject
Date: 2006-06-28 09:17 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-06-28 06:37 pm (UTC)Yay for the Q team!
I was on Remeron from Jan 2002 to early 2003.
Fall 2003 I fell into a depression which sorted itself out by spring of 2004.
Then I was good until the fall of 2005, this time I could not pull out by myself. I went onto Effexor in February (low dosage), upped the dosage near the end of March and upped it again in May (doctor supervised, of course). The reason it takes so long is that antidepressants take four to six weeks for full effect.
One of the problems with depression is that it can take so long to get things right.
I will see if I can find my post from 2002 and toss it unto my LJ.
Keep spreading the news!
?
Date: 2006-06-29 08:14 am (UTC)If you don't know what's wrong or where to turn, you can make all sorts of wrong decisions and incorrect assumptions (including thinking a therapist is what you need when the problem is far deeper)
Thanks for taking the time to post this. Consider another seed planted.
Re: ?
Date: 2006-06-29 01:28 pm (UTC)On the other hand, identifying that there is a problem - even if you can't articulate it - is a good first step.
including thinking a therapist is what you need when the problem is far deeper
I'm not sure what you mean by this - if you are referring to more serious biological problems (such as brain chemistry imbalances), then you are in the land of needing to combine psychoactive medication with therapy. If you don't "need" a therapist, most people - including the therapist - will figure that out pretty fast.
no subject
Date: 2006-07-07 07:30 pm (UTC)