Comments on Profile Post by YMO

Good for you - depression isn't something to fight alone. I hope you find your joy.

It sucks. Had it for decades and tried everything. For me it came from my gut. Changed diet and it's mostly gone. Also seems to have lessened my addictive personality trait.

Yep, that's the goal. Came from family where seeing someone to talk about your problems is not acceptable. Downside when both your parents are first gen immigrants at times.

Find your inner strength to overcome it, very much a case of what doesn't kill you makes you stronger.

Take the holistic approach, everything matters. Some more than others though.

Sometimes the hardest thing is asking for help especially with depression. I hope you are able to diagnose the root cause and overcome it.

Knowing you need help is one of the most important parts of it. The courage to acknowledge/act is the hardest part IMO. I think it's really helpful to put it out there & normalize this crap...good on you.

Haven't had treated-by-medication depression since my teens, so no, I'm not really qualified to comment, but I say: treat it like an illness and get help and/or treatment. If it takes chemistry to put brain chemistry right, then that's what it takes. At least these days we have the internet: we can make our own minds up about the treatment on offer and make a more-informed decision to consent or not.

By which I mean to say that it "you never told me I'd get addicted to this stuff" *should* no longer happen.

Anyway, no, I don't know much except... to wish you well.

As you can see, lots of us have had this off and on. You have a lot of company. Check out treatment options. You’ll thank yourself.

Thanks all. It's hard, I'll say this much. But at least I'm doing something about it.

Take care. I bury myself in projects. I prefer to be restless than to feel unproductive...

Good call, brotha. Sometimes just a small dose of meds can be a life changer.

My brother is going through the same thing (or almost at least, he's got Bipolar II). Meds definitely help a great deal, but realizing that you yourself needs help is the biggest thing anyone could do to curing it. Wish you nothing but the best!

And there's nothing worse than being told to buck up, snap out of it, etc etc. People mean well, but do they expect someone with flu to snap out that? Clinical depression is an illness. Friends and would-be helpers need to understand that.

@Thad E Ginathom both sides of my family do that often: Snap out of it because it's in your head.

I heard that from my dad all the time. Then he came down with it himself. He didn’t just “pull himself up by the boot straps”. Luckily I finally convinced him to see the doctor. Changed his outlook.

As I said, I've only seen the mild end, but people are not unable to understand what it is like. The usual thing is to confuse clinical depression with being-fed-up depression. the latter can be fixed much more easily by attitude/life-change; the former, although it is sometimes triggered, has nothing to do with being fed up or unhappy etc. It is a shame that people have to find out the hard way.

"Snap out of it because it's in your head."

So is sinusitis. Let them try snapping out of that!