Birdsmgp

... I hate it when people stereotype Depression in a couple of ways, but are not of the kind that I like to describe for myself. These other two are:

1. One who feels Sorry For Themselves.
2. A Brain embalance with the lack of Seretonom (Sp)? or what ever...(???)

... Has Psychologist ever realized that another kind of Depression comes from the Provoketion, Antagonism, lack of real Hopes, lack of Success and Accomplishments, that in the real sense is taking its toll on one's self-esteem and personal reputation? This happens to me for being completely different and being in a minority with things. I have a Seasonal type of Depression that is opposite from the other kind. I am tired of Clear and Sunny Days all the time here in Sacramento, California. I am able to get out of this Depression with Gray Cloudy or Foggy Days that Shade the Sun instead. Being miss understood from Popular ideas is a pain in the Asss!!!

... When this happens there is a couple of ways a person deals with it:

1. Getting Angry and Fighting Back...
2. Tolerating it and just Dealing with it...

... Taking #2. Tolerating something and just Dealing with it..., can only go so far. This is the kind of Depression that comes from this with more stress with it all and what I have. When you have Culture trying to subjugate people like me and having to Tolerate a lot of somethings, (Especailly 90% of this One Way asss Sun Shining Weather... ) I have been in both moods and that doesn't solve anything. I'm not for the scheme of taking medication, cause that tries to alter a person of becoming Subjective and giving up one's better health for being controled by others as well. (For the hierarchy when all else fails... )

... Anyway I need to move up to Washington. If anyone would like to be of some help? Maybe like getting to know you?, and then if with others? As it is with this kind of helps for me in getting to knowing someone at a place to go to. And if you may know of Jobs and Living Places that I could find up there, so as I can manage to move to? I am thinking of actually going North of Seattle, like Bellingham or to the Everett area.

... If you think you can help or know some other people that I could get to know in this area? I would appreciate it.

Evangelion

A mixture of both. My own father's manic depression was partly a result of heredity, and partly a result of his hideous upbringing.

He was on a variety of anti-depressants for nearly two decades, and finally committed suicide at the age of 41.

Malcolm

There is no doubt that there is an imbalance of Serotonin in the brain during periods of depression. The still-unanswered question is which comes first?

I believe that either can be the main trigger. Depression clearly occurs in relation to specific life events as well as to long-term issues such as an abusive childhood. However there are also some people who seem to have had a loving childhood, no specific nasty life events, but end up seriously depressed anyway. These two used to be distinguished into the terms "reactive depression" and "endogenous depression", although that distinction is no longer widely used. Bipolar depression is probably a separate condition altogether.

Sorting out the relative lack of brain serotonin does work for either condition, but may not be enough on its own. In my experience, those tending toward the "reactive" depression need a lot of "talking" therapy and not so much medication, whereas the "endogenous" type clearly require often high-dose medication in addition to personal support. Sometimes medication needs to be life-long.

I am interested in the relationship between religion and depression. In the small amount of research I have done, there appears to be conflicting findings, depending on who does the research. Maybe the bottom line is that anything which gives purpose to life (such as conversion to an idealist lifestyle - whether religious or not) can help with depression, whereas anything which is "soul destroying" (as much religion can be) is likely to initiate or aggravate depression. I'd be interested if anyone can point me towards any more research in this area.

Evangelion

This small-scale study at Ohio State University suggests that religion can be helpful.

Thus:

You might also be interested in these results from the ICIHS.

Birdsmgp

... Having been a Theist ... ( 1969 - 1980 + 1995 - 2000 ), Is that I have found that the half truths is having this Mental Mind State of "Mind Over Matter". This is scheme of it saying have Faith and Hope. And Prayer is nothing more than getting one to focus their Minds into things. I found Religion is acting as a Placebo and when one puts Faith and Hope into something it is like getting Quixotic and acting on a Placebo that works only in the Minds of People, than it necessarily to be factual and real. Because I have found out when some of the factual and real stuff can not be reached, obtained or have them occure. Then you start hearing the excuses, sophistries and chauvinism for those things. I had to evalutate a lot of them, to realize how Religion is Deceptive in this Matter and Now I am an Atheist. In this since, when you find out that Religion isn't meeting one's unique and diverse needs, that I have found that Religion in my life has added to the Depressions that I do get among other things. I would have to say that my Depressions are much of a "Reactive" kind. I use to be Optimistic about life, until I realize that it is not all out to be Real stuff in this World. I suppose the let down adds to it, but anymay... Just as much as it is inconvenant for having to live in False Hopes in Religion, to some of the inconvenance of facing up to a factual and real world we live in. I think learning to accept the inconvenance of what is real, is better. This way if we learn how to deal with real things, we just might be able to solve them better, than getting more Depressed with Tolerating and accepting inconvenances, which in some ways are going to add on some unconscience Depressions in our lives and just become more subjugated in lacking with progress. So Religion to me will cause Depression under some of these circumstances. Especially when there is some Taboo from it as well.

GunnerJ

I think this subject would do better there.

-Rimstalker

Karyn

hi all - i'm new & this thread immediately caught my eye cuz i have bipolar disorder, Type I (the worst), rapid-cycling (also the worst) and obsessive-compulsive to boot....made for some interesting times the past several years. My mother also has bipolar disorder, and her mother was severely clinically depressed for 30+ years, and her grandfather was also bipolar. We have 4 generations' worth of evidence that it's hereditary, at least in some families.

Godless Dave

Yes

Jackalope

Patients with chronic pain or autoimmune diseases often also have depression. Some of the problem seems to be the underlying disorder throwing everything off. Then there's the issue of being in pain every single day. That would make anyone depressed. However, it can also mess with your sleep cycle and eventually cause a disorder called fibromyalgia. Which causes more pain, which means you sleep even less, which means...

One things get that far skewed, the only thing that seems to work is chemical intervention and physical therapy (to treat the muscle spasms and trigger points that are a distinguishing characteristic of fibromyalgia). However, there are other drugs besides antidepressants that can be used (tricyclics seem to work best for chronic pain and fibromyalgia). The muscle relaxant Flexeril is somewhat related to the tricyclics, but it's main effects seem to stem from resetting your sleep cycle.

The anticonvulsant drugs Depakote, Neurontin, and Topamax are also used with great success. Since these drugs are completely unrelated, it would appear the drugs work because they're shutting down errant nerve transmissions, not because they're tapping directly into a particular neurotransmitter system. All three are occasionally used to prevent migraines and to dull the pain caused by nerve damage or amputations. They're also used as mood stabilizers for bipolar disorder. So there's something going on there that we haven't fully characterized yet.

And in the case of chronic pain patients, simply providing sufficient pain control can help break depression. The constant pain seems to throw things offkilter after a while. Not suprising, since constant itching can eventually cause psychotic reactions. The nervous system doesn't handle constant stimulation of the alarm systems (pain, itching, irritation) very well. It's a biological stress that the victim cannot escape. Eventually, having the "Danger!" singals going all the time can completely skew the various neurotransmitter systems.

The reason I bring these syndromes up is that the tendency for autoimmune diseases, allergies, and migraines are all inherited. It usually takes a trigger event to set off the tendancy. Depression appears to have a similar etiology.

I know that I quit having horrible depression and bizarre mood swings when I went on Neurontin. In fact, when we were first adjusting my dose, I could get all hysterical, take my drug, and feel the mood swing turn off like a switch when the drug hit my bloodstream. As in, "holy shit, what was I crying about?" Now that I have a constant blood level, I just generally don't have those downswings or hysterical screaming fits anymore.

HelenM

I'm glad Neurontin is that effective for you.

I was reading about it a month or two ago and found out that two tests of it with Bipolar, not done by the manufacturer, showed it to be less effective than placebo. I also found that it's not recommended by psychiatrists in the way that Depakote is, for Bipolar. It's not been FDA approved for anything except seizures and the drug company who initially produced it is in trouble for the extent to which they pushed off-label use of it. Apparently 80% of the prescriptions of Neurontin are for off-label use.

I find all that disturbing although I'm not against the use of medication to treat mental illnesses when there is sufficient reason to think it could be effective.

Helen