Is depression real?

My buddy told me that mediation was a placebo, once. I responded that, if all of your reality is experienced through your mind, what difference does that make?

Whether depression is """real""" or not has no bearing on if you're feeling depressed.

Anger isn't tangible, but nobody doubts that it exists.

We are only JUST beginning to understand the complexity of the human mind. Give yourself a break and stop being so hard on yourself. If we were meant to do everything ourselves, we wouldn't have two sexes.

It is real but also in your head and can be overcome with will.
It is very hard to overcome with will however if you are in too deep. You have to force yourself to do the things your meatsack will reject and not want to do.

>>18487778
Will power isn't real.

Depression is real. There is no such thing as "will power". Its a pure myth related to the nature of our self-existence and the concept of "free will".

Depressed person can be diagnosed at medical level. The symptoms are very clear in many cases. Not only is it in the "brain" but the physical body will be completely depressed as well.

There are studies that some depression could be caused by gut bacterias (healthy gut microbial may fix it in some situations).

However the main crux is, dopamine issue. Depressed person cannot process dopamine at normal level, thus their emotional level falls down the chart.

If you're depressed, seek professional help.

try this Mindful Way Through Depression program, give it an honest shot, audio + PDF:
http://www.mediafire.com/file/stl5ctg1ptogszt/MWTD.zip

and best of luck, anon.

>>18487799
Just realized it put "mediation" instead of "meditation"

>>18487852

so what would a doctor do? That is what I don't understand. What can a doctor do if anything at all?

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>>18488679
Traditional doctors don't help depression. A physiatrist (brain doc) will peddle you SSRIs which you should be very wary of taking so avoid them if you can. A therapist is different, you pay them to listen to you complain and they tell you how not to be sad. I've been through 3 physiatrists and they were all foreigners who didn't understand English who just wrote a prescription and told me to go away. I've been through 3 therapists and only one was good. Try to avoid either if you can, try exercise, vitamin D, St. John's wort, meditation, and other shit before you decide to see a therapist. If the therapist doesn't help, find another. If they still don't help, THEN find a physiatrist to get on meds

>>18488714

I don't want to be on meds.. I hate being dependent on shit like that.

I am not even sure what is really depressing me. The only thing severely bothering me is that I have severe oneitis for a woman and I am really bugged out by it.

I had been enthralled by her for 5 years and she was never my girlfriend. I was friend zoned and I recently cut contact but I still go to sleep thinking about her and wake up thinking about her.

I can't really find a way to forget her. I have never had another woman even remotely treat me kindly like she did.

>>18488790
Meds are a last resort. PLEASE only take then if nothing else works

>>18487778
>>18487778
It's not called willpower it's called introspection. Figure out why you feel like this. Solve the problem. Don't listen to Nazis who want everyone to be proles so they can rule over them with their macbooks and liberal arts degrees.

>>18487778
Given that I haven't felt like living for 4 years now I'd say it's real enough

>>18487778
It's in your head.

You know what you don't see a lot of? Homeless people who got on the street due to depression. That's because depressed people have a strange ability to do enough work to maintain a minimum standard of living, even when they crave death. I noticed this in myself too.

At one point I was depressed, suicidal, cutting, binge eating, even attempted suicide...but I was still able to rouse myself for work the next day. I'd used sick days and PTO time to stay home too, but when it all ran out I just kept going to work.

That doesn't mean meds won't help or shouldn't be used. I used them to pull out of that funk, was on them for about a year, then came off. Now I'm fine and living normally. Do whatever seems right to you.

>>18487778
>I just woke up one morning and couldn't will myself out of bed.
Serious question: what is your diet like dude?

I've lost jobs because of crippling depression. Now looking back I see a lot of that came from either not eating at all, or not eating well (e.g. a burger and fries is not a balanced meal that will give you what you need to fuel your brain and body [red meat isn't that great for you either]). If I don't eat something substantial for a day, the next day I will start to feel depressed. This has a snowball effect: not eating -> depressed -> not wanting to eat or do anything for myself because I'm depressed and tired -> more depression.

I've had some pretty serious depressed episodes. Suicidal depression. I've been in the hospital for depression. And now I'm wondering if it wasn't like, 75% diet.

Diet is key. Exercise is key. Get some sunlight on your skin, too.

I know I *will* fall into deep depression eventually at some point. I'm not immune, I'm not above it all. But living right and trying to keep your head above water by treating your body right is still crucial to not letting it consume you.

I know it's not easy when your mood is already in the shitter "just go outside bro just cook yourself a balanced meal bro". You want it so you get not-depressed and build your life up so you stay not-depressed.

I'm in my 30s and I'm JUST figuring this out.

Antidepressants are ass. All they do is constrict your range of emotions. They don't make you feel happy. The reason why there's a statistically significant correlation with suicide is probably because they can't make life worth living for you, and they can make you give so few fucks that ending it won't even seem that extreme.

Fix your body and your mind will start to fix itself.

>>18488887
>coming this close to quints
shit

>>18487778
Maybe you're not depressed, or maybe just slightly, 'cause nigga, when I hit my rock bottom there was no fucking way out of it. Had to be thrown in a clinic for three months and start taking a light cocktail of meds just to feel apathetic and barely want to do something with my life other than eating, shitting, sleeping and listening to Kendrick Lamar.

>>18488887
What food do you need exactly for a healthy brain?

>>18488679
Have you 5 years degree in the medical professions?

They can make quite a bit more educated calls than what your average you (you) can make. You may think you know more about the body than your doctor does, but that is never true unless you have an equivalent or greater experience.

Protip: the brain is part of the body. The "mental" aspect are within the body, not some etherial religious experience that doctors are clueless about.

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>>18487778

>I feel depression is one of those "diseases" that should be conquerable by sheer will power alone

>>18488887
This is good advice, but I have to give it a caveat.

There's two types of depression. Situational and clinical. Situational is caused by events in your life or a lack of things you need. Enough healthy food, exercise, enough sleep, sunlight, a social life, personal fulfillment, all of these things improve mood. A lack of one or more of these things can cause/contribute to situational depression. If you have situational depression, then getting enough of the above will cure it.

However, there is also clinical depression. Clinical depression is caused by your brain lacking the chemicals to allow it to be happy because it doesn't produce enough. You can't willpower through clinical depression any more than you can willpower through type 1 diabetes. While the stuff above can help, it will never cure it. This is the type of depression that absolutely needs medication, because a good life won't fix the absence of vital neurotransmitters.

Medication is also sometimes prescribed for people with situational depression to help them get the motivation to start fixing their life so they won't need it anymore.

A good medication will not cause you to stop feeling or caring about things. If your antidepressant is causing that, you need a new one.

>>18489063
This is the best written advice on here.
I get sick and tired of these ppl on here telling others not to do meds, suck it up, improve your diet, blah blah blah. I spent years doing all that shit and nothing worked. I went to therapist doing behavioral modification. Finally, I am doing the meds after being diagnosed with clinical depression. It took awhile to find the right dosage and level things out.
While I admit there are doctors who probably just hand out pills and go to the next patient, everybody's different. If you've tried everything and nothing works,don't be afraid to try the meds.

Stay away from drugs kids if you can avoid it. Again, this is more about trying to figure out what your body needs. Everyone needs a break every now and then so don't get too bent out of shape. And by masturbating it's just trying to relieve stress. If you even feel it's getting out of control then you'll be forced to confront your lifestyle and adjust it until you stabilize. A doctor will try to sell you anything so before you go down that path really try to chill and get your shit together by yourself first.