I don't know how more people aren't depressed

[Springisnear4]

Life just is depressing imo. You work all the hours with no appreciation for someone who would replace you tomorrow, everything is really expensive, you just go through the motions going on some semi average holiday once a year, most days are the same, tiring and boring.

I totally agree. I think depression is the result of a sane mind in a cruel world.

So how do you live?

❤️ this

Crikey OP it's hard to reply when our natural instinct is to try and point out the positive, but you say none of that works and you've been depressed pretty much all your life.

OK, Life is, for the vast majority, pretty shit.
You can take joy where you can, if possible, if you can't then it's relentlessly awful.

It is what it is.

I don't say this to make you feel "better" - because you won't.

But here you are. You can wallow in the sheer crapness of it all or try something else.

Really, it's no skin off anyone else's nose whatever you choose is it.

It's your life.

This! 💯

@custardlover amazing post! I so agree with this.

@Springisnear4 I don’t know if you’ve ever read The Body Keeps the Score? It’s a really interesting book about how trauma shows up in the body and sort of questions some of the current beliefs about depression. I recommend it.

I think it seemed you began with the idea that life is crap so you wonder why more people aren’t depressed but it’s a bit different if the issue is you suffer from depression rather than just a mundane life.

But in response to your first post i think life isn’t crap for a lot of people. And it’s not necessarily solely dependent on circumstances.

I cringe a bit when people here say they find happiness through reflecting on how they are so more fortunate than others partly because in many poorer countries I’ve spent time in people seem happier tbh.

Not saying there is no depression or that it’s all sunshine and smiles over there, but I don’t think mentally they’re as badly off as we are here - even if on paper we are more fortunate. So basically it’s not always about what we do or don’t have.

Take your joy from the small things and then unless really horrible things are happening, you will be largely content. I think there is just too much self inflicted pressure to do and buy expensive stuff.

Yeah I've tried combinations. I've actually tried venlafaxine and mirtazapine. Mirtazapine made me feel like a zombie and venlafaxine just didn't really do anything. Thank you tho

I've had depression and been hospitalised due to suicide attempts.
Life is tough and feeling hopelessness is devastating. But it isn't all shit and changes can be made for the better.
I strengthen my coping mechanisms and (was finally allowed to) made the changes I needed to. My resilience is now sky high and depression is decades behind me. You have to make it work for you, validate your feelings and be your own cheerleader.
The never ending news is dog shit - turn it off and concentrate on making your day to day the best it can be.
Your job sucks - get a new one. Focus your efforts on getting the role that works for you.

I think a lot more people than you realise suffer from anxiety and depression, depression is still quite a taboo subject and very few people will admit to having it and go to great lengths to disguise it

I don’t know if I’m depressed or not but I certainly find life completely boring, most weeks/ months / years are just the same old ding dong, nothing interesting ever really happens and the older you get the quicker time goes by so you can almost see your life flashing before your eyes….. sometimes can’t believe I’m 48, seems like a few years ago I was in my early thirties!

Depression is not abnormal or an illness. It is a trauma response.

It is not in any way shape or form comparable to physical illnesses.

Wonderful post and so true

I agree that the OP needs to think more positively, but I don't agree that life is 'pretty shit'. Why the relentless pessimism? Not knocking you specifically because the rest of your post is spot on, but I see this 'life is tough and crap' stuff a lot and I just don't agree. I'm not saying life is always wonderful, but I must say I find it good rather than not.

It is NOT a 'trauma response'! It is a chemical imbalance in the brain and thus akin to a physical illness. You are talking about PTSD, which isn't the same thing at all.

This is navel gazing tosh.

Isn't that how life has always been for many, many, people - and yet somehow most of them managed to find something to be happy about?

I've never earned a lot of money, and haven't been away on holiday for decades, but I always found something to give me joy. I always looked on working as that my real life started when I walked out the door. Most of us have to work, it's just a part of life. You at least own your own home - I will be renting for the rest of my life.

This

That theory was debunked many decades ago. I am talking about all 'mental issues'. You really need to keep up to date with research!

Answer me this - if it is a chemical imbalance - what tests do they do? What chemical levels are normal? What units of measurements are the chemicals measured in? What is the imbalance - high or low? How often do these get tested?

Really appreciate this response. Puts things into perspective.

Hope you're ok and seizures are better managed?

I think when you're depressed, it's difficult to imagine how other people can possibly be happy. Because the world feels so dark and hopeless to you. You see people around you who aren't depressed and think, how is that possible?

Equally if you've never felt depressed, you can't understand how it feels. You can't picture how a nice walk outside, a cup of coffee and a warm bath can't cheer someone up, because it works for you (a person without depression)

I have been on both sides - I have had periods of depression and periods without. My mindset is completely different in each.

OP I'm so sorry to hear how much you've struggled and that you haven't found a treatment that helps. I'm guessing you probably have tried it already, but I know some psychiatrists prescribe antipsychotics alongside antidepressants for treatment resistant depression?

Bollocks.

This is an absolute bugbear of mine
The rife misuse of medical conditions and terminology.
please go look up the diagnostic criteria and then come back to your post.
A more accurate statement would be along the lines of,
life is hard, life is boring, life is unpredictable etc. some days some people feel low, some feel pissed off , some feel rejected / dejected/ defeated etc.
some days people feel more anxious/ stressed/ worried/ bored than other days.
What this does not mean is that they are depressed.
What this means is that most people for some of the time have absolutely ordinary human emotions that vary in intensity and frequency.
That is not depression.

Some very naive people on this thread. Presumably you all understand that many physical illnesses are not possible to cure or even remediate in any way? Why do you think mental illnesses are any different. Look at how many therapies the OP has endured. It's belittling and minimising to imply that there is some drug or treatment that will work if the OP looks hard enough. That is absolute rubbish. Sometimes it is better to acknowledge that life for that person is rubbish and there is likely nothing that can be done. You wouldn't tell a person with a physical illness that they would get better if all treatment had failed. Don't patronise.

I'm with you OP. Most of life seems like such a huge borefest, broken up by a few horrific events that take months if not years to get over. Yet the majority of people act like we live in some sort of incredible wonderland. Baffling. I could've quite easily skipped it all and wouldn't have missed out on anything. I never not remember feeling like this, even from a very small child.

Have you tried Jesus?
You have nothing to lose.