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| <<<>>> |
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About Depression |
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| Created by Decius at
| [+ favourites]
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Depression in children, women, men.... Depression in everyone has become such a well known thing. In the early 90s, around the time Nirvana arose and a large swelling of alternative and grunge bands hit the scene, it became popular to dislike your life. People with depression were regarded as tainted souls, and they saw the world in a way that no one else did.
It was around this time that childhood depression became more well-known as well. Parents started exploring clinical reasons behind why their children might be failing in school or being antisocial.
The general solution was the use of antidepressants such as Effexor, Paxil, Zoloft, Elavil, Prozac, Ritalin, Pamelor, Wellbutrin, Tegretol and Desyrel, to name a few. Doctors prescribed these solutions at an alarming rate, increasing the use of these drugs by over 350% in the span of two decades. The total revenue earned from the sales of antidepressants grew from $31.4 million to $543.4 million, making mood drugs a very viable market.
The questions that arise in light of this are:
Are people more depressed?
Are they more aware of clinical depression?
Are they using depression as a scapegoat for other difficulties?
Well, I don't think anyone can argue that there must exist people on this planet that do in fact have chemical imbalances in their body that result in mood swings, and therefore, some form of depression.
The unknown, however, is how many of the people that claim to be the genuine article actually require outside stimulants to get on with their lives. The main problem is that depression is not just a sickness, it is also a state of mind.
Known symptoms of depression:
Persistent sadness or unhappiness: Unfortunately, this exists in everyone. This is not a reliable "symptom".
Lethargy: AKA, laziness. Also a very common trait that could have nothing to do with chronic depression.
Loss of interest in previously enjoyable activities: Yes, this could be depression... or it could be that you are growing up.
Irritability: Every person on the planet has irritable moments.
Sudden change in appetite: A more rare symptom, this could be a reliable indication of depression. However stress is also known to cause a change in appetite.
Disruption of normal sleep pattern: Similar to a change in appetite, this can be the direct result of stress.
Difficulty in thinking or concentrating: Could be stress, or just plain idiocy.
Thoughts of suicide or death: Sadness can result in this, as can a plethora of other things.
Severe mood swings: Many things cause mood swings, including your diet and sleep patterns.
The biggest problem with clinical depression is that its symptoms can vary between a large spectrum of completely normal human emotions and states of mind.
And now we get to the grit of it.
Depression can be grounded down to one specific thing: A crippling loss of hope. This can result from a lost loved one, a negative career change, rain, and prolonged unhappiness (abuse, loneliness, poverty) amongst others. It can also result from the mind having chemical imbalances resulting in an uncontrollable and completely unfounded loss of hope.
The problem is that the specific nature of depression is to make the victim believe, and feel that there is no escape. People in the middle of depression do not want to move, let alone seek ways to remedy the situation productively.
In fact, the one and only thing on a person's mind when they are depressed is figuring out a way to escape it as painlessly as possible. Escape is the word of god for someone who is depressed.
Hence we explore the nature of escapism: To fill the mind with thoughts that distract as effectively as possible the awareness of the current situation.
Quite a horrid situation, given the fact that only a deep awareness of the current situation will lead the person to permanently escaping it. And the nature of depression is to prevent the inflicted from being aware... and to in fact punish them for trying.
Here you are, sitting at home in the darkness at 3:47 AM on a Sunday night. You have to return to work filling out insurance forms on Monday in a white office that is so small you have to hug the wall to get around the file cabinets. You have one window and have a beautiful view of the empty parking lot in the back.
You don't have anyone special in your life except for your can opener, and your favorite songs are getting so repetitive you would rather listen to silence. You are watching television and have every channel in the world but end up watching a cooking show with the volume almost to zero. The glare of the screen flashes on your remote control and you become fixated on it for no apparent reason.
Then a commercial comes on.
It shows a man sitting on a beach, staring out at the vast ocean. There is no one else on the beach. It personifies how you feel. You increase the volume and all you can hear are the waves crashing on the shore, empty, like the random creaking of the floors of your dismal apartment.
They close in on his face as he looks down at the sand under his body, an emotionless look on his face. His hair flaps in the wind and he looks as though he is going to cry. You lean in, mesmerized.
Suddenly the man smiles, and you almost cry, because he almost cries. He leans back and lies in the sand, smiling gleefully, staring at the sun. A woman with flowing brown hair rolls over, placing her head on his chest, hugging him. He hugs her tightly and we zoom out, staring at this effervescent smile.
You stare, wide eyed at the television, lusting for more. A word fades into the screen soothingly in blue:
"Prozac"
Followed by:
"Visit SafeMeds.com to be free today."
You shrug it off, realizing it is an advertisement. However you watch television for a maximum of two minutes, upon which you go to your computer and "visit" the website for "information".
$29.95.
Damn.
Freedom, for thirty bucks. Freedom.
You take a deep breath.
Freedom.
Unfortunately, there is no such drug. Not the way you saw it anyway. The truth is, you are giving control of your life to corporate America. You are asserting that you cannot fix it yourself, and so you ask them for assistance. But they won't assist you, they will pacify you, and only as long as you keep paying them.
Perhaps it is necessary to utilize antidepressants like Prozac to escape the stranglehold of depression, but no one should enter such a situation with a smile.
Antidepressants do not make ascension from depression easier... in fact they make it much more difficult because you will have to escape them eventually as well. The difference is, they could provide a means for you to gain the strength to desire awareness, and therefore, desire improvement in your life.
Depression is the result of everything but chemical imbalances. You can assume that because the number of people with chemical imbalances is so small, the chances are you'll never know one. It's about as common as insanity.
And so, the possibility of you being clinically depressed is about as possible as you taking a meat cleaver and chopping your dog's head off.
The goal of anyone considering that they are depressed should be to first analyze their life (personally or professionally) and figure out if they have eliminated negative aspects from their past and present. Cleaning up unresolved resentment and unhappyness will make the future much brighter, and therefore, hopeful.
And your deep blue funk will fade away... and you will breathe clean cool oxygen once again. |
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| Created by Decius at
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