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depression


anonymstol

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i'd say the burden of evidence is on the person making the claim. somewhat related is that throughout my 5 year long psychology program and psychiatry work i have yet to hear a single serious scientist/doctor/psychologist/what have you claim anything of sorts. 

 

i also took 5 minutes to read through an (the only?) article that supports the claim (Gallup, Burch & Platek, 2002; http://bit.ly/semenrocks), and judging by the method they investigated the connection with (i.e. no manipulation), nobody can reasonably say there's a causal connection between semen and depression. the fact that nobody seems to have replicated the study (which is basic scientific practice) begs the question if their result was just coincidence, and saying so wouldn't be a stretch.

 

the authors put it very well themselves: "It is important to acknowledge that these data are preliminary and correlational in nature, and as such are only suggestive. More definitive evidence for antidepressant effects of semen would require more direct manipulation of the presence of semen in the reproductive tract and, ideally, the measurement of seminal components in the recipient’s blood." (p. 3) as usual, medial attention distorts tentative scientific results

 

side note: can't believe i'm actually discussing this. and i do know your "prove it" didn't really ask for a serious response. i guess i've just got to be a smartass

 

edit: words

Edited by flexbert
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I just wanna say that I am finally off ALL 'medications' and 'drugs' that my depression in late 2015 kinda influenced me into trying.  I had to spend 6 months tapering off my SSRI and nearly the 80% I was in a bleh mood. The SSRI would only work for a few months after each dosage increase till I got to the max.

No more SSRI's. No more kratom. No more MJ. No more alcohol. No more cigarettes. No more anxiety meds (which was more caused by withdrawal from the other drugs I think), and no more of a few other things I'd rather not name here though they more effected me in 2016 and 2017 than now.

And this is the most consistently I've been in a good mood since before depression started in 2015. I'd forgotten how being 100% "sober" felt, and forgotten what it's like to be for your mood to be mostly influenced by environment and not medication.

Edited by Brisbot
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Nice one brisbot. I was sure happy when i kicked the benzos i was taking for anxiety, which is similar to depression for me

I feel anxiety in a way is depression. I don't think someone in a good mood most of the time will also have bad anxiety.

 

How long did you withdrawal? Or did you do a gradual taper. I hear benzos make you WD for 1-2 months straight if you've been taking long enough and that it's much worse than even H or fentanyl which seem to last around a week at most.

 

I was taking something with a similarly long WD. Won't go into details, but it isn't as bad as any hard drugs or anything. After taking it for 2 years I went cold turkey and my WD lasted a month and a half straight. And heightened anxiety didn't go away for 2.5 months.

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I'd also like to share a technique that's been effective for me. My depression in 2015 was most caused by feeling stagnant in life. There is something inherently depressing about knowing exactly where you'll be in 10...20..30 years time. Though I think people with this causing depression only tends to be minor depression, any maaybe a low moderate depression.

Obviously anyone can have depression for any reason... and sometimes it doesn't even need a reason as it's a chemical imbalance so I don't think this will work for everyone.

But I got 85% out of my rut by externalizing it. I imagine myself from a third person perspective doing whatever escapist activity that will perpetuate depression such as spending too much time browsing the internet. I imagine someone in my family, friends, or anyone who cares about me is watching me and I think "what do I think this person needs to do in order to get out of this rut, because what he's doing now isn't it that thing" and I try to follow that advice, Instead of just following an impulse based off feeling or habit. It doesn't work every time, but it helps.

 

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Nice one brisbot. I was sure happy when i kicked the benzos i was taking for anxiety, which is similar to depression for me

I feel anxiety in a way is depression. I don't think someone in a good mood most of the time will also have bad anxiety.

 

How long did you withdrawal? Or did you do a gradual taper. I hear benzos make you WD for 1-2 months straight if you've been taking long enough and that it's much worse than even H or fentanyl which seem to last around a week at most.

 

I was taking something with a similarly long WD. Won't go into details, but it isn't as bad as any hard drugs or anything. After taking it for 2 years I went cold turkey and my WD lasted a month and a half straight. And heightened anxiety didn't go away for 2.5 months.

I did a VERY slow taper. A bit over a year

 

It was uncomfortable but something i had to do. I was on clonazepam.

Edited by yek
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oh damn. how long did you have to take it initially to 'get up' to the dose you tapered from? Were you in a bleh mood for that entire year?

the sucky thing about a lot of drug fixes for depression is that it only seems to be effective for the first few months, then when it's no longer effective you just want to kick it, but then it takes a year or two to do so.

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oh damn. how long did you have to take it initially to 'get up' to the dose you tapered from? Were you in a bleh mood for that entire year?

 

the sucky thing about a lot of drug fixes for depression is that it only seems to be effective for the first few months, then when it's no longer effective you just want to kick it, but then it takes a year or two to do so.

Yeah well i was taking a medium dose for a few years so i wasn't even getting that desired effect anymore. I had to take it to make my body happy.

I basically felt crummy, anxious.

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I bet there was relief when your mood was dictated by environment again. What's funny is that before 2015 I never drank or smoked and didn't even really understand the degree of how the environment controls your mood until I short circuited it with 'medication'... biggest waste of time ever, at least for me.

How long were the benzos effective for you?

Edited by Brisbot
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I imagine myself from a third person perspective doing whatever escapist activity that will perpetuate depression such as spending too much time browsing the internet. I imagine someone in my family, friends, or anyone who cares about me is watching me and I think "what do I think this person needs to do in order to get out of this rut, because what he's doing now isn't it that thing" and I try to follow that advice, Instead of just following an impulse based off feeling or habit. It doesn't work every time, but it helps.

 

Good advice, in general. Although I don't think it'll really work when you're really depressed.

 

The third person perspective of yourself can be so incredibly distorted, it becomes impossible to "visualise" getting yourself back on track again. It's been a while, but I distinctly remember a feeling of being a ghost. Or having become an invisible black hole of sorts. I basically stopped existing for a bit. I believe that's a consequence of having blocked out emotions. And it's hard to imagine a third person perspective would have helped. On my bad days I'd get pissed at myself, I believe. And on other days, I simply wouldn't care. Or just couldn't do it all. I don't know. Might depend on how deep you are in it, I guess. Or it's related to the reasons of the depression. But in all honesty, that was more than a decade ago. So, I'm going with my imagination here.

 

If it works, it works though. And the ability to consciously change frames and perspectives in general is a precious ability. Regardless of your emotional state.

 

Good thing you stopped taking medications, btw. And happy to see it serves you well.

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I imagine myself from a third person perspective doing whatever escapist activity that will perpetuate depression such as spending too much time browsing the internet. I imagine someone in my family, friends, or anyone who cares about me is watching me and I think "what do I think this person needs to do in order to get out of this rut, because what he's doing now isn't it that thing" and I try to follow that advice, Instead of just following an impulse based off feeling or habit. It doesn't work every time, but it helps.

 

Good advice, in general. Although I don't think it'll really work when you're really depressed.

 

The third person perspective of yourself can be so incredibly distorted, it becomes impossible to "visualise" getting yourself back on track again. It's been a while, but I distinctly remember a feeling of being a ghost. Or having become an invisible black hole of sorts. I basically stopped existing for a bit. I believe that's a consequence of having blocked out emotions. And it's hard to imagine a third person perspective would have helped. On my bad days I'd get pissed at myself, I believe. And on other days, I simply wouldn't care. Or just couldn't do it all. I don't know. Might depend on how deep you are in it, I guess. Or it's related to the reasons of the depression. But in all honesty, that was more than a decade ago. So, I'm going with my imagination here.

 

If it works, it works though. And the ability to consciously change frames and perspectives in general is a precious ability. Regardless of your emotional state.

 

Good thing you stopped taking medications, btw. And happy to see it serves you well.

 

Thanks. It's odd how some habits feel perfectly fine, but as soon as I look at myself in third person I wonder "wtf that guy" is thinking.

 

I 100% agree on the applicability front. I only think it can help with minor depression where your depression is caused by your actions or rather lack of them and you're able to "steer" your direction in life. If your depression is more environmental to where it's out of your control almost no matter what you do, then for sure it wouldn't help.

 

Depression seems to take different forms.Even though I feel like I understand what it's like to be mildly depressed I've never felt like a ghost, ceased to care (well I will procrastinate but it's more like "I'll care tomorrow"), blocked out emotions, etc. I can only understand mild depression because I've felt it. But I've never been so depressed that I felt like I couldn't get out of bed. That is a different feeling entirely I think.

 

I knew someone who had severe depression her whole life since she was a kid, and was diagnosed with it at 11 though she had it years before then. The thing is she grew up upper middle class. Lots of family and friends, etc. But it didn't seem to matter. She had major depressive episodes which would fluctuate between being a little depressed to severe depression, in the same way manic-depressives fluctuate between mania and depression, except with a lower baseline. Her lifestyle didn't seem to influence mood much. Very good things could happen for her, but if her brain was in 'severe depression mode', she could care less.

 

That kind of depression is entirely different from the one I had which was (mostly) triggered by circumstance and can be fixed accordingly. Whereas she is at the mercy of her mind.

Edited by Brisbot
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I think the important takeaway is that having a good sense of a third perspective of yourself is a sign of emotional health and a potentially powerful tool to improve yourself. So you just keep on doing what you're doing. :)

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That's me 2 weeks in on citalopram. Never tried anything like this before. 1 week of nausea in the mornings and interrupted sleep but that's sort of gone away now.

Its helping me immensely, I'm glad I tried it.

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  • 1 year later...
  • 2 years later...

calling dysthymia "high-functioning depression" is weird imo.

apathy and anhedonia are my jams, circumstances don't seem to matter, at least not consciously. meds seemed to work pretty well for a while, not so much these days. are antidepressants really just a scam? seems like they're prescripted left and right, yet no hard evidence exists shit's working much better then 'cebos. afraid of therapy, for some reason.

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I've been on four different antidepressants over the course of 20 years and have lost all faith in them.  Sometimes I think it helps and sometimes I think the drug makes it distinctly worse.

This year my body has plunged into the deepest suicidal depression I've ever known, but I'm coming out the other side right before Winter. [x] Lost job [x] Lost partner [x] Lost home (but I have an apartment now)

Now to climb out of debt and find a job in a recession. My sympathy with all others powering on in silent glory.

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antidepressants don't work consistently for different people. I think their success is very prone to an individual's makeup. they worked for me when I needed them in a bad spot but they broke other things and I stopped using them.

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