Depression general

>>17806344
cont.

See, we change our perception of things on a daily basis. Of people, food, movies, music, politics, clothes, etc. The more trivial the object at matter, the easier we will be able to change our perception of it and the less energy it will cost us doing so. Someone we've just met - no problem fundamentally changing our views within minutes. Changing the perception of someone we've known for years is substantially harder and more draining. Realizing that someone you've loved more than anything has somehow become someone you don't even want to talk to, can be such a knock down that it can destroy us - even causing depression.

cont.

>>17806347
cont.

Now what will happen when the perception about your entire life - who you are, where you are, whom you with, what you are doing - starts shifting? In a world where continuity, plans, goals and overall order are absolute key traits in ones life, these thoughts become crippling, draining, un-thoughts. Especially if your self-view is extremely stable - or atleast appears to be. Without an extremely flexible mind, these changed thoughts will inevitably be suppressed and/or will lead to double-think which will then lead to the inevitable mental instability and dissatisfaction. If suppressed this instability and severe dissatisfaction with life will ofcourse appear to come out of the blue. And don't get me wrong, a life that appears to be super-fine can ofcourse be de facto not-so-super-fine for you individually. In fact, it might be especially draining to realize that super-fine life you're living is infact absolutely not what you're desiring.

So what is the typical reaction when we realize our perception of something has shifted and makes us feel no good? We change it or get rid of it. We stop listening to music we stopped liking, we wear clothes that we view differently only to different occassions or we stop socializing with people that are detrimental to our life.

cont.

>>17806351
cont.
How come our reaction to 'My life is miserable' isn't: I have to change or get rid of it. Instead we cry for pills and cure, for manipulation of our minds in desperate hope of changing our perception back to what used to be. When I stopped liking my ex, I didn't cry for a pill to be in love with her again, I cut her from my life. Ofcourse there's a possiblity that food doesn't taste so well as it used to because of an unnoticed cold, but isn't it more likely that we've simply become tired of it?
Why don't we get rid of this life we're living, that is making us this miserable - I'm not talking about suicide here btw - and see if that does the trick and cry for pills and mental manipulation only when this doesn't do the trick? I'm starting to think it's just the blatant fear of admitting that the life we've lived has lead us to a point of miserability and out of fear of the change this acknowledgement might bring.

Maybe this will get someone to start thinking differently, maybe some of you feel the same. Contribute, whatever.

>>17806344

>Why is depression even considered an illness?

Because it fits the medical definition of a disease and has a tangible, biological foundation.

>I don't want to believe something so substantial for our thinking process just changes without extrinsic influence.

It doesn't matter if you want to believe it or not, it happens all the time. Chemical imbalances happen at the drop of a dime. People die of aneurysms. People have strokes. People start hearing voices.

It happens. Accept it.

>My neurotransmitters didn't just start disappearing randomly even though I don't abuse drugs, do sports, had a gf, had a bright looking future and an overall decent life.

Obviously they did. Why is this such a strange concept for you to grasp?

For example, I was a perfectly happy, well adjusted kid in high school. One day when I was 18 I had a panic attack. It scared the shit out of me but I didn't think much of it. As the years progressed it happened more and more. Eventually I was suffering debilitating anxiety to the point that I couldn't even travel.

It took a lot of therapy and medication to fix the problem but my point is it just happened. Even though my life was going well it just happened. Its a disease, man. A dysfunction. Your lack of understanding doesnt change the circumstance.

Stop harping on the how and the wy and start figuring out how to fix this. You can't fight the chemical imbalance in your brain. You can make lifestyle changes but you need to see a doctor, dude. You're sick. Get help. Its the best thing I ever did.

>>17806355
>>17806351
>>17806347

Your existential analysis of depression is medically unfounded and little annoying. Depression is bigger than just perception. There is an entire institution of medically trained professionals who disagree with you. I think I'm gonna stick with them.

By the way, how is your "mind over matter" theory working for you?

I always figured it was just a bunch of wirings that your brain created throughout your life that make you feel negative emotions about most things. For instance, you see an animal in front of you and a chain of synapses go off, and for whatever reason your brain is been wired to just go "that animal is lonely" because your brain has been wired over and over again to have a negative response to most things?

>>17806371

I think knowing absolutely nothing about neurobiology is the achilles heel in your theory.

Its a little more complicated than "a bunch of wirings".

>>17806375
Fair enough. It does seem likely that a trained negative response to events plays a role in things.

>>17806370
There's no 'mind over matter' theory in this what so ever. Was quite the simple statement actually: What if the neurochemical imbalances result by changes of our perception of life that we don't want to acknowledge (hence the out of the blue) rather then completely random - leading us to pills instead of changing the environment that causes the imbalances in the first place.
Also I was mostly speculating about myself. Am I happy with my life in general? Is this the cause? Or is there no extrinsic cause? Do I just suppress my unhappiness with my life that appears to be fine? Is this suppression of the unthinkable causing my miserability?
I don't see what's upsetting or unrealistic about this.

>>17806360
>It doesn't matter if you want to believe it or not, it happens all the time. Chemical imbalances happen at the drop of a dime. People die of aneurysms. People have strokes. People start hearing voices.
I never claimed it couldn't happen. Therefore the food-analogy. I was talking about propability. Ofc completely fit, healthy, active, young people can randomly die of strokes. But most of the time it isn't random, which is why we search for the extrinsic factors - bad food, lifestyle, etc. Just with depression, most people - to me - appear to neglect this and just accept the randomness, asking for pills and mental manipulation (even the docs) instead of looking for a possible cause in the way they live their lifes.

>Obviously they did. Why is this such a strange concept for you to grasp?
Because that's just not the most probable thing. When having diarreah there's a possibilty that fibre simply disappeared. But it's more probable that simply to little fibre was eaten. Ofc it is possible that my neurotransmitters just disappeared, I don't know. I don't find that to be the most obvious explanation though. Also accepting it would put me in a quite fatalistic state of mind. Searching for the cause somewhere else leaves the possibilty of fighting it myself.

>>17806360
>Stop harping on the how and the wy and start figuring out how to fix this. You can't fight the chemical imbalance in your brain. You can make lifestyle changes but you need to see a doctor, dude. You're sick. Get help. Its the best thing I ever did.
See that's the fatalism I was talking about. Stoping the search for a possible cause is absolutely detrimental if there actually is one. I don't know. If I stop, however, I neglect this possibilty and therefore might neglect a way of bettering my miserability. Not something I find usefull.

Also, I'm actually seeing a doc. Just my regular doc weekly atm as appointments with psychs take ages (have one in about 2 weeks). Still, I feel like that's too easy. And I'd rather change my entire life than take some pills that fuck with my mind desu.