I've found that I can quite often just look at people and tell whether they are depressed or not. It seems to be an instinct I have since going through everything I have. As a result I can say to them 'I think you're depressed. Please go to the doctor.' Or words to that effect. As a result I know I have directly helped three people to recover from their depression, so in that respect I am glad to suffer depression. In reality it's taught me a heck of a lot of stuff about myself and others that I would never have learnt otherwise. I used to ask God why He let me suffer this horrible thing. Now I can honestly thank Him for it.

That's very true; if you can use your own suffering to help others, it is certainly not wasted. I've found exactly the same thing.

My GP is also of the opinion that depression is particularly common among intelligent people. I suspect, in fact, that he is prone to it himself; he certainly shows a rare understanding of the condition. Maybe with an intelligent person there is just more going on in the brain which could go wrong... same sort of reason that an ultra-modern PC is far more likely to crash than an old Amstrad in good condition!



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That which does not kill us makes us stranger.
(Llewelyn the dragon, Ozy and Millie)

Sarah

or maybe it appears that way because better educated people are more likely to seek a solution to their problem via GP and the less educated turn to alcohol and street drugs.

Well, there you are! That's reason so many people on this fforum have suffered or do suffer depression. We're all so damn intelligent!

Sounds good to me!

Perhaps stupid people are too dumb to realize they have things they should be depressed about.

And THAT looks very indeed plausible to me...
One of my problems (just as it's one of Samuel Vimes' problems...) is that my natural condition is "a drink or two under par": When I'm fully sober I all-too-frequently tend to see the darker aspects of reality (due to being what Terry Pratchett called "knurd"), and it's only after a drink or two (or a very good meal, an entertaining book, some good music, time spent with friends and/or time spent on this fforum) that I feel as relaxed about things as most people seem to be "normally"... and I'm too cautious about the other effects of drinking steadily to try remaining at a sustained one-drink level of intoxication in order to counteract this. Seasonal Affective Disorder also played a part in my problems.

The antidepressant that I was on was Lustral, the same one mentioned favourably by Belochka earlier in this thread. The only side-effect that it had in my case, apart from the (helpful) reduction in appetite, was a tendency towards drowsiness that wasn't any worse than the lack of motivation & energy from which I had suffered from whilst depressed & unmedicated.

Jasper's books and the pleasant company in this fforum, definitely helped me to recover too. My thanks to all of you....

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I was completely stressed out and miserable earlier this year, and generally finding it very difficult to cope with things. I asked my nice GP for help and he agreed to give me some anti-depessants - Flourexetine, or something like that. By the end of two weeks on them, I was wandering around in a foggy haze, unable to concentrate on anything much I finished the four-week course, by which time things were looking up somewhat anyway. I was so fed up with feeling out of it, that I didn't go back for any more.

My life is settling down again, and I'm feeling like things are getting back on track now. Still haven't finished reorganizing my books, mind you :)

I've suffered from black hole depression off and on for years, mostly controllable or at least livable with without drugs (lucky me!) but the one time I was prescribed anti-depressants they worked at first, and then I think they put me on too strong a dose (Cipramil) the side-effects were so horrendous I turned into a zombie for months - you couldn't talk to me - it felt like someone who didn't speak English was operating me using a faulty remote control. Took myself off the pills and have been back to normal (happy!) for a few months. It's wonderful. One thing it does teach you is how lucky you are to be healthy, and how hard it is for people who aren't.

AAC have you tried daylight lamps? A friend suffers badly from SAD, and she sits with her lamp on for ½ an hour a day and it makes a huge difference to how she feels.

I've thought about investing in some...but what I've done that seems to help is I found some fluorescent bulbs that fit in standard sockets that have a coating that helps mimic sunlight a bit. But I really prefer just to go outside. Need that full immersion thing.

I seem to suffer from a slight case of SAD, but, being the weirdo that I am, I have the problem in summer! If the weather gets too hot I start feeling very ddpressed. If we have a few days over 30 degrees I'm really in trouble.

AAC, I'd recommend a real full spectrum light. Ott makes good ones (which we use for our parrots, actually) and I think "Vita-Lite" or some such is another brand. If you can't find them locally, you can on the internet. I've also known people who have been helped a gread deal by them, and some folks swear their parrots have stopped plucking feathers and been healthier with them too.

When it's really hot (especially if it's also very humid), I get lethargic and apathetic. I'm not alone in that, since I've talked to people who sell things at art fairs and such, and on really hot days people buy less, and people who decide to think about something and come back are less apt to bother to do so.

During summer we had a scorcher of a day (37 degrees) with bushfires all around. that was when Canberra had the firestorms, although I'm 2000 kilometres away from there. I was okay that day, but the next day I learnt what it's like to be, as they say in the Victorian novels, 'Prostrate With The Heat'.

Sunstroke? It's horrible. Can't handle the heat, though I love it because it makes people smile (in London in the City people smiling tends to be rare!)

Yes here's a couple of sites that do full spectrum light - thanks Magda that's what I meant - [www.sadlight.com] or [www.allergymatters.com]
They're not @#$%& though :(

thanks! Yup, I've seen those, and yup they're expensive. I guess I'm just too @#$%& to buy something like that, yet I'll spend thousands on camera equipment. I guess one must have priorities! LOL

Like AlisonS, I have the bouts of the blues - I usually take to my bed or, if it's during the week, hang a big notice over my desk saying that people are not welcome.

My doctor has suggested anti-depressants but after working for a leading pharmacuetical company and putting together the reps training manuals on cardiology and depression, I would only touch anit-depressants as a very last resort. Too much is still unknown about them. I'd rather hit the bed.

I've seen 17 watt Ott bulbs for about $40 that work in regular lamps. That's what I use, and I believe they're guarenteed to last for at least a year before burning out. I think I've only used 2-3 in the 5 years I've had my parrot.

The suicide rate in Britain actually rises in the spring, so getting the blues in early summer doesn't sound too weird.



PSD

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This is the work of an Italian narco-anarchic collective. Don't bother insulting them, they can't read English anyway.

Now isn't that strange? I can't find any figures to justify that (not that I doubt you, PSD), but I do know that Norway has the highest suicide rate in Europe, and there the most occur during the dark, depressing Winter months.

and I'm sure I read somewhere the the highest suicide rate's late teen/early twenties men - when it's just not cool/macho to talk about this stuff for those particular poor lads - shows how important talking about these things can be.



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If the English language made any sense, a catastrophe would be an apostrophe with fur.

Fell in love at 21 and took three years to get over it. Hormones are very powerful things; men are not unfeeling, just uncommunicative.