I’ve known since I was a kid that I’m depressed. I even have infant photos of me, where I look like I just hate life. Other baby photos the baby is smiling, and interested in everything. Whereas I look like even though I’m too young to even have thoughts, I’m still giving off body language of “leave me alone”.
But when I started asking everyone I knew if they too were depressed, I haven’t gotten one single person to say that they’re happy. Everyone has said they’re depressed. So now I wonder if it’s a regional thing, or if everyone everywhere is depressed.
There is depression and then there is clinically diagnosed depression. The two are not the same. Self diagnosis can only go so far and has a high likelihood of being wrong. The latter is not as common to have.
Clinically, no.
Do I have occasional feelings of sadness, anxiety, ennui, helplessness, despair, lack of motivation, etc, and do bad things happen in my life?
Yes, absolutely, that’s a part of being human.
Am I happy?
Well that’s a more complicated question than it may seem.
Am I totally satisfied with every aspect of my life and the world around me as it is now and where it seems to be going?
No, not by a longshot.
Is my situation “good enough” for now, does it seem like things will improve for me, do my good days outnumber the bad, am I overall enjoying life and looking forward to hopefully many more years of it, am I able to spend time with people I love, in places I want to be, doing things I like and want to do?
Overall, yes. Not that there isn’t plenty of room for things to improve for me and lots of things that I would change if I could but I can’t, but I’m getting enough of the things I want out of life that I can say that overall I’m happy.
The world is fucked up, so it makes sense. Probably you got toxic traits from your caregiver(s), explaining even why as a child you felt that way. Try to enjoy the ride anyway - I mean, what have you got to lose, really? :-P
e.g., learn to forgive, ending with yourself.
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Depressed people love talking online about how depressed they are. Especially self-diagnosed depressed people.
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Young people in particular are prone to “depression” because they want to fit in and depression is so hot right now
Have you considered that depression is “hot” because a huge portion of the population no longer have to suppress their feelings?
Yes.
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I have never been really depressed, even in bad times in my life I was able to see a better future. My mother has been diagnosed with depression when she was around 30 but when we look at any pictures from the past, other than her wedding, she always looked depressed.
As far as I understand it’s some chemical inballance in the body but our scientists weren’t able to pinpoint how to fix it (yet).
This makes me sad for my mom, but not depressed. My own life has been getting better and better, especially since covid started. I’m one of the lucky ones I guess.
Depressiom is a malfunction of the brain, just like diabetes is of the pancreas. It has both genetic and environmental triggers.
Some people are going to contact the disease early for no apparent reason. They fight it their entire lives.
Other people have strong environmental influences that trigger the disease. The right treatment can effectively stop or even reverse the progression of the disease. Other people are resistant to the treatment the the disease progresses unchecked.
Both diseases are deadly if not treated at all.
The hardest part for people suffering from depression is that the disease itself fights against treatment. All the things that people need to do to feel better are the last things a depress person wants to do: Set a regular sleep cycle, have a strong exercise routine, eat well balanced food, take your medication on time, avoid self-medicating with other drugs, attend therapy regularly, interact with supportive friends, engage in hobbies they enjoy, etc… aka a living hell and a daily battle requiring energy they don’t have. Oh and every part treatment takes time to have an effect as well. So at the beginning (2-5 years) they have to do all that work to still feel like shit at the end of the day.
Thank you for sharing your experience.
I’m not depressed. Sometimes I get a little seasonal affective disorder but I just take vitamin D now and that seems to have solved that.
What was your relationship with your parents and your peers?
Was it ever economic or more existential?
Not at the moment, though maybe my therapist would say I’m experiencing low-key depression. I’m clinically diagnosed bipolar, so I’ve seen incredibly much worse, as in paralyzing me with dread. But I found a partner who keeps me engaged and active and we started living together early this year and that has done a lot to keep me out of my head. 2020 was fucking doom because I lived alone and had no car and spent way too much time just cooking on all the things that could go wrong while isolating.
I expect a lot a terrible shit to happen where I am (USA) in the next four months. But I’m not thinking about it much. I haven’t directly asked any friends, but I think I know one who would probably say yes to depression. But he’s working at a soul-crushing job that I also once worked and for that reason I don’t think he counts toward your survey.
Therapy and treatment really helps. Good luck.
In my case, I’m just addicted to social media like Lemmy. That’s what causes it. I can’t quit it.
I suppose so. Baseline level of happiness has always been low and I tend to have a pessmistic outlook. When I was a kid I remember getting random intense pangs of guilt in my stomach for no reason even though nothing was happening to cause it. Laterally I realised that was a symptom of depression.
At the same time my life is pretty great. I’ve been very fortunate to enjoy my career and to have a partner that I’ve got a good relationship with. All of my immediate family members are still alive and thriving to varying degrees but thriving for sure.
Strong suspicion that I could be close to mentally “normal” if I were to incorporate working out at the gym into my regular routine.
Nearly everyone close to me is not depressed.
Hope things get better for you. Most likely they will.
Yes, I was diagnosed with what they said is severe depression with suicidal tendencies. I’m on a couple different medications for it. I do have a friend group of people that are both not depressed at all to clinically being diagnosed as having depression. We try to help each other out as much as we can. Relationships can be hard as there is such a social stigma with mental illnesses. I can’t count the number of times I’ve lost a friend or potential romantic partner because of my depression.
Even they happy people I know acknowledge shits going down hill. Reality objectively sucks even when things are personally going well.
Where’d you grow up where everyone is depressed? Detroit? I kid, Detroiters. Y’all got some things going on.
But naw; not depressed and don’t know too many depressed people.
I’ve had an issue with my balls(testicles w.e), been sore as fuck. Like someone’s constantly squeezing them really hard, and occasionally I get a punch off em for good measure. I’ve had a huge battery of tests and scans, only thing the Dr can figure is maybe it’s a trapped nerve, so been trying to get in with a specialist to figure that out. Anyway, long story short, the nerve pain meds the Dr put me on are also an antidepressant, so my balls hurt like fuck, but at least I’m in a good mood! 👍
Which med is that, if you don’t mind me asking?
Amitriptyline, it’s got quite a few possible sixe effects, but so far all I’ve gotten is a bit of cotton mouth in the morning.
