06-07-2024, 03:16 PM
(06-07-2024, 02:29 PM)argentus Wrote: I am going to suggest to you that "depression" is the wrong word for the condition which you describe; agree that it is the word that is commonly used, however I think it is a poor noun to represent the condition. Can I suggest a better one? Perhaps. How about 'untethered', or 'disconnective dissociation' (not to be confused with dissociative disorders). Maybe "singularness". I don't have depression. I have merely been depressed, which is very much not the same thing. My best friend in life experiences depression, and he has been through a plethora of meds; the most effective (from his perspective) don't alter his perceptions, but just ease the ache of them.
...
I really feel for those who are part of this syndrome. I hate to say "afflicted", because I can't help wondering if those energies might be channeled, such as into art or music or mathematical study. I don't know what I'm talking about, because I've never been there, but I doubt it is a condition for which there is an easy or definative cure.
Bless you for the beautiful ideas, and your willingness to breach the silence.
It's funny that you mention that the word depression may be misplaced, misused, or misunderstood. I agree wholeheartedly. I credit the willingness to discuss it, while criticizing the inadequacies of understanding that lead to mischaracterization.
I know that my first lesson in all this was that we suffer greatly from the "telephone game' when it comes to the topic. As many struggle with it, the accounts and words of others often echo... even if they don't represent the reality that each of us, as individuals, endure. I became sensitive to the use in the common vernacular... "Oh, she's depressed about..." might not mean she's depressed at all... it might me that she is overwhelmingly troubled by a specific thing, or that she is feeling a sadness that pervades, or supersedes, other realities in her life. Nowadays we are too quick to profess knowledge or comprehension about the things "others have said."
I recall watching a comedy with family and friends... laughing hysterically at the antics, situations, and performances in it... all while deeply depressed. I remember being told... "You are not depressed... you are so cheerful, and attentive..." as if that "outward" factor was a determinant of depression.
It builds on what I call the errant imagery of depression... a person wringing their hair at the scalp, looking down, tears flowing from their face... but I don't recall ever not being able to cope socially, even if it was an empty exercise. The idea that depression "leads" to suicide has often haunted me. I have never been there... but I have been depressed. I have, since I can remember, always felt that "unbelonging" or "separateness" from the human world around me... my parents raised me to understand that is not a "bad" thing unless I make it a bad thing. I do not grieve about who I am. As another poster commented elsewhere, "It is what it is."
In regards to Xanax, do what works for you. No judgements from a mere layman have special value. And even when professionals opine, sometimes their judgements fail too.
Xanax gave great relief to my wife when she was in distress over her condition... I know it has real benefits...
Me? I'll stick to pot. It puts my depression in the background... it's not a cure, but it helps me.
I wanted to focus on the story in the thread about how people (most of whom received never-ending assertions that 'antidepressants' were safe and effective) are discovering, en masse, that these are the words of "marketers" amplified by their proxy middlemen (most of whom are rewarded for their efforts.)
I have an unabashedly amateur's theory that antidepressants only smooth out the peaks and valleys of mood... while they may make the depths feel less oppressive, they also squelch the highs of life, the joy and subtly uplifting moments... making it all rather grey, rather 'blah.' But that's just my opinion.
I am getting uncomfortable in this discussion because I am not really keen on this being about my feelings... I am not totally "a master" of them. But I am compelled to defend my insistence that being sad, stressed, burdened, or in grief is NOT necessarily 'depression'... depression is not 'about' things.
