Is it the fact that we're getting older and wiser, or is it that times are changing when it comes to accepting depression as a diagnosis.

Do you think there's a generational divide?

Our parent's generation still doesn't accept depression as a diagnosis as easily as the kids today.

I attended a Teen Scene Panel Discussion recently and one of the kids said it was "IN" to be depressed.

Between the education they get in school and the commercials on television, I think it's more widely accepted.

Any thoughts?

Dear Dotsie,

I was (lucky?) enough to have inherited depressed genes from both sets of parents. I wasn't raised by my Dad but when I got to know him at 40, it becaue apparent that he and Mom were too much alike. I remember her being on Valium, which was the drug of the day. I think she was manic depressive as she would be so up one day and so down the next. Fortunately for me, my Doctor started treating me for it and was very understanding. It is a disease, there is a chemical in the brain that is not working right. I probably will be on meds for the rest of my life, but guess what? I am so much better now then before. Also, menopause made it so much worse, like having PMS every day of the year. I don't mind if people know that I take medication for depression, if it helps someone else take heart and get help, I will have done my job. My neighbor across the street, finally has started getting help, but not before she almost ruined her 36 year marriage!

Good luck to everyone who deals with this problem.

Sherri

Depression is certainly a confusing and painful state of mind. We all seem to want to end it as quickly as possible. But there are situations in which the healthiest response is a time of depression. It allows the brain to rest and recover from trauma.
Of course if it is prolonged, it can also become an unhealthy state of being. Changes in brain chemistry can, in some cases, make it difficult to recover. But after a period of depression the same chemistry can induce enthusiasm and energy. So maybe ultimately, even though depression is painful, it is a part of life and has positive results. Enduring it, though painful, may be the key.
I am concerned about what the ads on TV for anti-depressants may be teaching our children. It seems that they are saying, “No matter what the problem, there is a pill." And "If you just take enough pills all will be fine all of the time.”
I'm even more concerned about the increase in the use of anti-depressants and other drugs that affect the developing brains of children and teenagers.
That problem is made more urgent by recent studies of increases in suicides among users of anti-depressants, especially the youngest users.
I took Paxil for a short period of time after a divorce and though it gave immediate relief from the pain, for a while after I stopped taking it, I was much more emotionally volatile.
I think that painful emotions are like any other kind of pain. They tell us when something is wrong and if we can endure, they not only compel us to action, they build our tolerance for future discomfort.
If we avoid pain by drugging it away, our tolerance is actually decreased. The brain says, "Hey, this person is in a mess and she's not even hearing her emotions. Let's turn up the volume." Then when even the slightest sadness comes along, it screams in our brain.
Of course the screaming becomes more unbearable after our tolerance for pain has been lowered and the noise can only be quieted by taking more drugs. Then our brains turn up the volume again and more drugs are required to quiet the even louder noises and on and on. Then there are the drugs to combat the side effects and more drugs to combat the side effects of the drugs to combat the original side effects and on and on with no end in sight.
Surely there is a better way. There must be a way to endure emotional pain without drugging it into oblivion.
Avoidance of pain doesn't seem to be possible in a life lived to the fullest and the healthiest long term solution seems to be to endure. But from another perspective we only have the moment so do we lose the moment to depression in order to tolerate future pain or do we drug away the discomfort to seize the pleasure of the moment?
Maybe with prayer and faith that our God is a loving father who has given us a life abundant with both joy and sadness, we can find joy somewhere even in pain.
Just some rambling thought.
smile

My biological mother has some major mental health problems. She can explode with rage and become violent. I hope I never get like that but I have been on a couple different kinds of anti-depressants. I hate taking them because I worry that they screw up my brain's ability to ever produce brain chemicals on its own but I always end up back on them.

I don't feel very depressed, I just can't concentrate without taking something. Then, because I'm having so much trouble concentrating and my thoughts are jumping all over the place so I can't get anything done, I end up feeling like a complete loser and start getting depressed about it. So I take Wellbutrin. It doesn't completely eliminate my confusion, but it helps.

I hesitate to post on this one because I have a tendency to boo-hoo the cry babies that can't seem to handle their lives. Yes, I know, who do I think I am? I agree with Smile, we as a nation are over medicated. There are pills for this and pills for that and more pills to help handle the other pills. I probably went through the ugliest saddest thing on this earth at a very young age. I watched my handsome, fun loving, healthy husband fall ill and die a lingering and painful death while beging me to kill him. Sure I was as depressed as I could be because I was helpless to save or even comfort him. Did I take pills, NO. I went for long walks, I screamed into many pillows and I cherished my baby son. I am not a strong person but refuse to dope/drug myself up so I'm not sure if my thoughts are right or wrong. I get very lonely at times missing my son who walked away 9 years ago and sometimes when I look at the albums I cry. Then I get up and call my other son and we talk and laugh and I feel better. If you believe the drugs help heal, not so, they simply mask the problem. Look for the problem, seek Gods help, get more involved with things and maybe, just maybe you'll be too busy to feel sorry for yourself. Look up "depression" in the Thesaurus, then ask yourself do I want those words describing me? Love and good thought for you all....

I think there's a difference between situational depression and chemical imbalance. They may both feel equally bad, but the chemical imbalance often doesn't respond to non-drug solutions.

I know, I've seen my friends.

Thanks Merideth

I have a chemical imbalance and I can tell you that I have faith in God, but that didn't keep me from depression...good things were happening...I was still depressed...I married the man of my dreams...I was still depressed. There was nothing wrong in my life, but that fact didn't help. Thank God, I had a Dr that recognized the symptoms and has worked with me for 3 years to get me on the right combination so that I can function, and feel the best that I have in my entire life.

I was beginning to feel that I just didn't have enough faith and not a good enough Christian because I am on meds. I appreciate your understanding and support.

Sherri

I'm so glad this post got started. There are so many great thoughts in here.

There was a time when I thought people should stop the moaning and groaning, pull themselves up by their boot straps and get it together for gosh sakes. What was with these people who were depressed?

Then I was humbled in a very serious way. God had some work to do with me and it wasn't easy. I was in a car accident and suffered from post traumatic stress syndrome.

I lived in pain, didn't want to eat, cried, felt like I could't care for my children, couldn't sleep, and worried incessantly. What was wrong with me? I was happily married, had 3 healthy children, great friends, and until that time, loved life.

I pleaded with God to move the heavy, dark cloud and let the sun shine again.

Wasting away, in tears, pain, and total confusion, a dear friend came to the house picked me up and drove me to her therapist. I didn't want to get in the car because I thought I'd get sick on the way. My friend said that if I got sick, she'd pull over. Nothing ws stopping her.

Friends Heal Friends!

Long story short. I was clinically depressed, suffering from PTSS. Not only was I given an anti-depressant, before it was over, I was also given sleeping pills, and anti-anxiety pills.

Within a few days of starting the medication, the cloud started moving, I felt like eating, I had some hope that I could get my life back, and and perhaps an even better one.

Only had to take several sleeping pills, and a couple anti-anxiety pills, but I stayed on the anti-depressant for about 9 months. The doctor shared that you need to be on the medicine for at least as long as you were having bad feeling and thoughts. I had to train my brain to have healthier thoughts again.

It was amazing. It worked and I learned a huge lesson which I'm grateful for.

By the grace of God I've lived through several surgeries and my mom's death wondering if it was going to hit me again. Fortunately,it hasn't.

BUT, now I know there's help out there when it's needed. I also have been able to use my lesson to help others who've become depressed since. That's the best part.

Until that time in my life I wasn't a big believer in anti-depressants. Didn't understand mental health. I thought people were whiners, had to get a life, and any other judgmental thing you want to throw in.

I was taught compassion, and boy did I need to learn it in the mental health department!

Live and learn!

Thanks Dotsie,

My wonderful understanding Dr has told me, by the way he is a devout Christian, that I may need to be on anti depressants for the rest of my life, but never to feel bad about it. The secret is that I recognized the problem and got help for it before I did something to myself or someone I love. I am eternally grateful to him, and I wish my Mom had been given the same advice,she may have been spared a lot of pain.

Sherri

This post has been eating away at me since the first day I saw it. Maybe I am wrong in my assesment and a chemical imbalance is different and harder to endure than other forms of depression. I am certainly no doctor or profit. I think with my gut emotions and my way is apparently my way and not for everyone. We are after all different. Whatever it takes to heal ones self is what is right for them. I back away from my earlier estimation, as I see from these posts, not all depression is the same. Whatever the cause I hope whatever the cure, it works and all your days are sunny and bright and nights are peaceful and full of contentment.....