Depression Fighter

Self help for depression fighters

Depression Fighters

The importance of having fun

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A quick definition of “fun”:

The popular online dictionary, Merriam-Webster.com defines fun as:

  • someone or something that is amusing or enjoyable : an enjoyable experience or person
  • an enjoyable or amusing time
  • the feeling of being amused or entertained

As you can see, words like “work”, “obligation”, and “responsibility”, do not fit in with this definition. It’s about having a good The importance of having funtime for the sake of having a good time. And it is crucial for your overall wellness and maintaining a positive mental state.

The importance of having fun

Why you need to make room in your life for fun

When you are having fun you are also in a state of pleasure and enjoyment. A moment of fun allows you to shift your mood quickly to a positive state. This can carry into your next activity even if it’s not something you consider fun. And when it does, helps you to enjoy more of your work, responsibility and obligation.

If you ask yourself what you work for or what you want in life, the answer is most likely linked to fun. It’s actually why we live. The human goal is life is commonly to be happy. And being happy is most often linked to activities you would consider fun.

Fun is an innate skill that cognitive psychologists believe is necessary for the way our brain is wired to make us conscious. Since you know how to have fun its not a focus of teaching. Education teaches us how to be responsible and work. That teaching over time, and the lack of teaching about fun has you lose practicing the skill so much so that sometimes it gets completely lost.

Try this now: Are you having fun?

Create a list of all the activities you consider fun.  This will be different for everyone.

Then, write down the actions you take during your week.  Cross reference the lists to see if the fun activities are there. If they aren’t you need to incorporate these activities into your week. Start with one activity and try to add more.

Are you having too much careless fun?

True fun is frivolous, that is, the activity has nothing to do with your day-to-day responsibilities.  Be aware that having too much frivolous fun is also not healthy. You’ll know you’re doing this if you see many of your fun activities and less responsibilities on your list. Too much careless fun can translate to over indulgence and an unproductive life that isn’t forwarding accomplishments you’d like to attain.

Why you should always get a second opinion

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When you are sick, especially when you have a mental health conditions, one of the most important things to remembers is: ALWAYS get a second opinion.why you should always get a second opinion

Or a third. Or forth. Really. Get as many as you can. The more you get, the more expert evidence you can collect as to what is the real issue.  

As a patient it’s important to always remain aware. In the end, it is your body. You’ve been living with so often you have the best understand of your symptoms. And, you have to live with it and take care of it the way you see fit. That means, deciding what you feel is the best treatment option and weighing that with what professionals suggest.

Don’t believe what your family doctor says because they have the “almighty powers” that come with the allowance to put the letters M.D. after their name. While they are more knowledgeable than you on the topic of medicine, they are still human.

And humans make mistakes. Even doctors. They have bad days and can miss important aspects of your diagnosis.

They also have different life experiences, which may make give them different ideas about your diagnosis. A doctor who just treated a patient with the rare condition, may consider that as possible condition for you. While a doctor who learned about it once in med school, won’t even think about it.

Why you should always get a second opinion

The problem with mental health diagnosis and perception:

If you break your leg your doctor will take an x ray, show you the evidence, and put your leg in a cast. That’s not like mental health diagnosis. The evidence medical professionals have to go on is a set of behaviors that can’t be represented physically. Their evaluations are based on symptoms that you tell them you have, and personal accounts. Sometimes the accounts involve your family members and friends but those stories have different people with different experience different life and different perceptions.

Some doctors will be smart enough to take that into account. Some won’t. It can be a problem. So, what you need to do is be aware of the humans frame stories. This includes yourself.

 

How do doctors diagnose depression?

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The most common diagnostic tool used by doctors to help him decide if a patient with symptoms of depression is actually suffering from the full on illness (and not just a passing state of feeling sad that’s caused by a life event) is a questionnaire.

How do doctors diagnose depression? Here are the common tests they use:How do doctors diagnose depression?

Currently the most common ones are:

  1. Hamilton Depression Rating Scale (HAMD)
  2. Montgomery-Asberg Depression Rating Scale (MADRS)
  3. Beck Depression Inventory
  4. Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-9)

Your doctor will likely used one of these tests to assess you. Questions are similar in nature for each.  They ask you about symptoms your experiencing – such as: Sleep disturbances, issues with fatigue, suicidal thoughts, feeling uninspired or hopeless, loss of motivation, loss of pleasure.  They will also ask you questions to help them understand the severity of your symptoms.

Here are some examples of the types of questions you may be asked:

  • Have you lost interest in activities you used to find pleasurable?
  • Ae you experiencing changes in appetite such as eating too much or not feeling like you want to eat?
  • Are you having difficulty concentrating?
  • Having you been experiencing thoughts of suicide, death, or wanting to die?

In most cases, if you have felt hopeless for a least two weeks or more and it’s so bad it’s affecting your life – you’re having trouble going to work, socializing, enjoying activities you once thought were pleasurable etc. – these are high indications you have depression.

The diagnostic criteria for depression appears in a medical text for mental illness called the DSM-IV.  (Read the diagnostic criteria here).

Your doctor will also likely run some basic biological tests to rule out other potential issues that cause depression. The most common ones are the:

  1. Physical exam. Your doctor will likely examine your body to ensure there is nothing notable wrong with your physiology that could be causing depression symptoms.
  2. Blood tests : A blood sample may be taken and a complete blood count (CBC) will be performed. This helps the doctor find out if you have any hormonal issues or a vitamin deficiency.

How doctors “fix depression”: Antidepressants

If your doctor rules out all other medical issues that could be causing your depressed mood and suggests a diagnosis of major depression they’ll likely treat you by prescribing an antidepressant medication. Doctors are trained to fix medical problems and this is how they do cure depression. It’s the only tool available to them, aside from referring you to a different type of specialist.

You need to be aware that the problem with this route is that they may skip identifying other potential causes for your depression. They will treat the symptoms without curing them. So, you need to investigate therapeutic forms of treatment that teach you how to proactively deal with negative and uncomfortable emotions.

What you need to understand about antidepressant medications:

Finding the right antidepressant for you is like finding the perfect wedding dress. You have to “try on” many to find what works for you.  This is because the current diagnostic criteria that doctors use is based on asking you a line of questions, ruling out other illnesses with basic physical tests, and then making an educated assumption.

They don’t do a brain scan to see what’s really going on and here’s why:

  1. It would put too much pressure on the medical system to do these tests for the number of people who end up in their office with symptoms of depression. There are too many people that treating everyone would cause a dramatic back up. This would lead to longer treatment wait times, and possibly more deaths.  So, prescribing an antidepressant is the fastest way to treat depression.
  2. Even if they could see what brain regions were affected it still wouldn’t tell them anything about how the condition was caused and thus what treatment to use. So, brain scans would help to identify the problem but hast nothing to do with treating it. Therefore, it’s a lot of fuss for no reason.

So, they test you on a medication for 4-6 weeks and if it doesn’t work, they try something else.  If you get worse, well, the sad truth is, sometimes that’s part of the process.

As you can see, this is hardly an effective treatment. But for now, it’s all doctors have. A questionnaire, some basic tests and a lot of trial and error with antidepressants.

But, don’t blame the doctor, it’s the system that’s flawed. We don’t know enough. And because we don’t know our treatment options are unfortunately somewhat limited right now. That is why it’s important to do what you can to help speed up your recovery process.

Common misconceptions about suicide

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Common misconceptions about suicide

Myth #1: Most people who threaten to commit suicide aren’t really serious about it.

Truth: Threats of suicide should always be taken seriously. Anyone who threatens to commit suicide has likely considered it or is considering it.  Sometimes phrases said jokingly like “would you miss me if I was dead” is a way to communicate what they’ve been thinking and find out what you think (if you would be hurt if they were gone). Almost everyone who commits or attempts suicide has given some verbal clue.

Myth #2:  People who try to kill themselves are crazy

Truth: Most suicidal people are actually dealing with a somewhat rational frame of mind given their circumstances.  Many are dealing with emotional pain from major life crises or a physiological chemical imbalance.  Long term, daily emotional pain can be debilitating. Sometimes people consider suicide as the only way they see to get relief.

Myth #3: If a person truly wants to commit suicide there is nothing anyone can do to stop them.

Truth:  Taking your life is not an easy thing to do.  No one wants to be in a situation to have to deal with this dilemma. Most often even if someone is very serious about committing suicide, they will likely have mixed feelings about death until the very last moment. Most suicidal people do not want to die. They feel it’s the only way to end their suffering.

Myth #4:  Suicide is avoiding dealing with problems

Truth: Most people who attempt or successfully commit suicide try to get help many times. They seek help from professionals and close loved ones.

Myth #5: Suicidal people are selfish

Truth: People who attempt or commit suicide are not trying to hurt anyone. Often they take many actions to get help and put off suicide so they don’t hurt family and friends. When they don’t get the help they need and the pain becomes to great, they feel they have no choice.

The “Reasons for Living” list

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Crisis professionals use a technique that helps individuals considering suicide see the bigger picture and get out of the immediate negative thoughts that are pervasive: The Pros/Cons of Living List.

The strategy is fairly simple.  You sit with the suicidal individual and help them build a list or reasons to live and reasons not to live.

Yes, you also want to look at the reasons they give for not wanting to live. It will help you: a) Understand what they are dealing with more accurately than assuming, and 2) Allow them an outlet for their negative thoughts.

Here’s the most important part.  You want to make sure the reasons for living outweighs the reasons not to live list. That is easy because it always does.  Reasons like wanting to get married and have kids one day in the future can weigh heavier then the immediate pain.

It helps to put life into context. It’s not just about the moment they are dealing with. The moment will pass. Things will get better.

Here’s an example of a list:

reasontolivelist