Kick Depression's Ass!

[KUSA]

I gave you some ideas in a different thread you had about levels of happiness. It applies to this as well.

In a nutshell it is all about self discipline and control. People seem to think that they can't control how they feel but it's simply not true. Being depressed or having anxiety is actually a choice.

Now I'm not saying that a traumatic event won't get you down but that is temporary as all things pass. What I am talking about is general depression or anxiety. If you feel it all or most of the time it is because you chose to.

That really sounds kinda harsh to say but it's true. I know you are saying well my brain has a chemical imbalance and I can't help it. Guess what, the brain can be rewired and you are the only one that can do it. It doesn't happen overnight and it starts with rejecting the bad feelings. If you are depressed don't act like you are just reject it and get involved in something productive.

The only people that are incapable of rewiring their brain are those with very low Iqs. They can't help it. If you have average or better intelligence then you can use your intellect to change and grow.

Always be in control of your emotions not the other way around.

I cannot agree with you. Even though breaking the vicious circle is paramount to getting better, it is most certainly not a choice. All I can choose is to take my medication regularly, make sure to keep some human contact, exercise and eat well, but I cannot choose to feel better. I have no control over how fast my physical wounds heal, and neither can I control how my neurotransmitters are emitted and how well the receptors in my brain works. As I said, prolonged depression makes a physical impact on the brain and there is no getting over it, besides with consistency and whatever help I can get.

What I'm about to say next is completely anecdotal and subjective, but I want to illustrate my POV. I was quite stable this winter, but my migraines were getting worse and more frequent, so I got a prescription for candesartan, which has helped me in the past. What I didn't plan for was that it lowers the immune system, and I have been sick with different pathogens for two months, missing vital classes I should have taken. Now I can't do my vocational training this spring as I was supposed to, and it's a really hard blow for me. I had a great plan, but thanks to my migraine medication and unforeseen complications, I now feel as rotten as I did when I first acknowledged the fact that I was depressed. It has nothing whatsoever to do with procrastination or the unwillingness to make a difference in my own life, outside forces made the illness worse. Setbacks feel that much more difficult, when you have no happiness left over to take you over the threshold. Now I have to come up with a new plan, while being really anxious about my future and while the horrible thought of killing myself repeats itself over and over in my head, like a song that just won't stop playing. It's something I have to live with, probably for the rest of my life, the only thing for me to guard against it is to acknowledge that I am depressive, but that it doesn't define me. Sure, being a tenacious fucker is a definite benefit, but it doesn't help me to cure my depression.

First of all I didn't mean to sound arrogant or condescending to anyone. I said what I said because it worked for me and I think it would work for a lot of people too. I have a tremendous amount of control over how I feel and act. It was not always that way.

The mind can heal itself. Maybe not all the time but you'll never know unless you try.

If I could only do the Vulcan mind meld you would understand and your depression would go away.