Does Therapy Help?

There's no such illness as depression. You're just weak ass cunt, with nothing but self pitty thinking the world owes you something. You either get tough or you die or you continue living whining and shitposting. There's so much opportunity today.

>>18031436
I know the world doesn't owe me anything. I feel like I have the life I deserve, even if I hate it. I just seem to have lost the ability to pretend I don't.

>>18031506
Some more of that self pitty, man. Baw, my life sucks, I deserve this kind of life. What the hell are you doing? You don't deserve anything. You only get what you negotiate for. Stop whining and start taking care of yourself.

>>18031527
What this mindset doesn't account for is the misery of not giving a fuck about anything. Not enjoying anything. How difficult it is to take the steps toward fighting depression when nothing sounds worth it.

OP, there are different approaches to therapy. In the end, there isn't one that objectively works best. It's all about which method works for you. So you have to find a therapist who clicks with you. That can be pretty challenging.

I CAN tell you that no matter the method, and regardless if you get prescribed meds or not, the top things they are going to tell you to work on are exercising regularly and sleeping on a healthy schedule. Depression treatment in general is a lot of "fake it till you make it." Basically, building back up inertia to DO things. It depends on you and your situation if that is as simple as getting some exercise, or as complicated as years of meds and therapy. Depression ranges from people who are 100% functional but kinda sad to people who sit around catatonic shitting themselves. Point being, I don't know if it's worth it for you. I'd say probably, if you're considering it.

In the end, mental illness isn't about a diagnosis or a specific pathology. It's about finding what works. Deciding to get treatment might go like this: Is this interfering with my ability to get what I want? If I don't want anything, is it interfering with my ability to live up to my own values/standards?

Only the privileged people can afford to be depressed and loathe in self pity.

>>18031558

Inaccurate. There are plenty of "crazy relatives" in poor families and underdeveloped countries with untreated mood disorders.

It will probably help, at least to some small extent. It greatly depends on the therapist, some can figure out the issues from a few words with you and then tell you why it happens and tell you what to do about it while others will just give you cliche advice. Still, simply talking to someone about your life helps a little bit.

The thing is, your problem is internal, you're the only one who can really do something about it. A psychologist can't solve your mental problem like a surgeon could solve a physical problem, best he can do is guide you. But yeah, you should definitely do it if you have no other options. A few hundreds/thousand dollars is a small price to pay for a chance to get rid of depression.

I would also suggest you look into meditation. In the long run it's the most effective way of dealing with depression, anxiety etc (as long as you manage to stick with it). Read "Happiness" by Matthieu Ricard and "10% Happier" by Dan Harris.

>>18031405
You should probably do it, especially since depression typically comes with an unwillingness to change and subtle self-sabotage. You need a reliable outsider perspective and a good shrink is still the best option.

>Does it actually help
Depends. You don't get rid of depression in a day, so any positive results would be long term anyway.

>do they just tell you the same kind of "You're worth it!" garbage everyone throws around here when people say they're depressed?
Yes and no. Part of the therapy is getting to break from specific thought patterns like "I'm worthless", but they're not just gonna tell you platitudes - rather, they'll try to see where you're coming from, work with you to see what you can do to feel better, maybe prescribe med if they think there's a chemical balance. It's not magic, but ultimately you and your problems aren't so unique that what has worked on lot of people can't possibly work on you.

>>18031577
Oh, and of course meds can only be prescribed from a psychiatrist, psychologists can only talk with you about your problems. See what work best for you.

Yes, you definitely need a therapist. Depression is a chemical disorder and it can only be treated by professional help and medication. The professionals know what they're talking about, and are infinitely better to talk to than anyone else.

Also
>>18031436
Listening to shit like this is what causes suicides via dumbasses never getting help out of pride, so ignore that.

>>18031588
This is not entirely false, but really misleading. The truth is that we don't understand the brain well enough to say what, exactly causes depression, but what we do know is that it's a whole lot more than a chemical disorder. The brain activity is regulated by different chemicals and neurological patterns. These things can change because of diseases, but they're mainly modeled by your nutrition, habits and experiences. For instance, addicted gamblers have a chemical imbalance. This imbalance is usually the result of years of consistent gambling, although it can also be caused by certain drugs or genetic conditions.

Usually (almost always) the chemical imbalance in your brain is not the cause of depression, but a symptom. So the downside of depression medication (other than the side effects) is that you're most likely treating the symptom, not the cause. But that's better than doing nothing about it. Keeping the symptoms in check will give you a better chance at dealing with the cause.

http://www.clinical-depression.co.uk/dlp/depression-information/medical-causes-of-depression/