To think my friend isn't really depressed?

[louiserh33]

I'm speaking as someone who's battled depression for years ...
She got dumped after 3 months from her boyfriend ..the next day couldn't sleep and went to the doctors and asked for anti depressants.
She started them for 4 months ...her ex text her one day and she got back with him.
Two days later stopped the anti depressants and never mentioned depression again,said she was cured.
Friday her boyfriend dumped her again..
She went to the doctors and started the anti depressants again and got a month long sick note.
This ain't depression is it?

Not qualified to say but also not impressed by the GP.
Please don’t let what’s going on in her life detail you from getting the support you need OP. Don’t give her situation headspace.

I just feel like she's trivialising what I've gone through for years.
Not just being upset you've been dumped but not having the motivation for life anymore.

Depression takes all different forms and severities. Hers is situational and yours perhaps more inherent and long term.

Illness is not a competition. Her condition has nothing to do with your condition, it is not trivialising what you experience, and neither should you trivialise what she is experiencing.

It's pretty unlikely that a GP would just give out ADs and a month long sick note just because you were sad you'd been dumped.

Well she didn't tell the doctor she had been dumped.

They do, my friend got them after she was dumped.

There is a big difference between sadness and depression. If anyone is at fault here it is her GP. Like PP said, don't dwell it on it OP. Whatever she is feeling, it is what SHE is going through and no reflection on what you are/have been dealing with. Don't try to compare the two. x

So to not trivialise your experience you want your 'friend' to suffer? Great friend OP, outstanding

You can't know how depression affects other people. You don't sound very compassionate. A relationship breakdown can be devastating. Don't compare your illness with hers, it's not a competition .

I don't think all doctors have time to probe enough and it's possible to lie to get medication.

Hers is a situational, possibly short term issue. It's not the same as long term MH issues imo but focus on yourself OP and don't get wound about what's going on with her. It's not helpful to you.

Have you spent time in your friends head?

Perhaps she told the GP about the symptoms she is experiencing, and they match those for depression?

My depression started after I got bullied at work. That was over twenty years ago and I'm still very unwell. If I'd been helped when I first fell ill perhaps my life would have been very different.

You're being horribly judgmental about someone else experiencing mental illness.

So she's not allowed to be sad when people reject her? What?

So Thursday she was great,then Friday she gets dumped and bang she's "depressed"
If he text her today her depression would be miraculously cured like the last Time.

No, it’s not depression. It’s like people can’t deal with feeling sadness anymore, a completely normal emotion. You get dumped by someone you don’t want to break up with - you’re gonna be sad. Fair enough if you’re still sad months down the line. But the next day?!

How can you compare sadness to depression?

I have also suffered from depression. However I am not a doctor, and I assume you are not - it is not up to us to judge your friends mental state, people react to things in different ways.

I'm not a doctor no but getting dumped on a Friday and being upset does not equal depression in my mind.

Yes, YBU. It's not a competition to see who is the most honestly depressed. If that's the way she feels, that's the way she feels. Just be a good person/friend and just be there for her- what's so wrong with that?

Are you worried she is going to detract from your depression by any chance, non of us know another person's mind and non of us can say what they are experiencing, depression is not a bloody competition!!!

Many people confuse sadness with every day events, with depression. And many medics seem to endorse this confusion.

It’s a med

I've had depression on and off in cycles for years. I'll feel close to suicidal and have self harmed a lot in the past. I used to be on and off meds for it as when I felt good I'd stop taking them. But when the depression comes it is very real. All manner of things have started it. You have no idea if the relationship breakdown was the final straw for her.

I studied in Scotland. Years ago I must've had a stomach bug, I puked for 3 days in a row. I finally got an emergency appointment with the GP, (I had both uni and work to attend and and at work I was unpaid for sick leave!) told him my problem. He asked if I was stressed. I said yes (hell I was, 60-70 hours week, no wonder) and he offered anti depressants. For vomiting. I was shocked and obviously refused. Wish I complained

Sad events can certainly trigger depression and make people really unwell.
Everyone is different, but no-one should be judged.