What even is depression?

[sanlcx]

In my case, i simply realised that life is shit and not worth living (right now anyway, maybe it'll get better in the future in a few hundred years).
Does that make me depressed? I find that to simply be logical reasoning. I can still function and have fun doing certain things, maybe depression is just not having any motivation to even do anything? But that can be because the person is so over this shitty reality that they just can't bother to do anything anymore, i wouldn't say that's a disease. What do you think?

 

[Darkover]

A child never gives its consent to be dragged kicking and screaming into this reality, and forcing it to is unconscionable.
The only certainty in life is death, The most terrifying thing to a human is death. By bringing a child into the world, you force another being into a form of existential bondage where it is perpetually frightened of and certain of its own impending death. It's completely unjustifiable.

wanting to live but facing death is a form of depression

 

[Beyond_Repair]

I think depression is a wide range of symptoms. There's a thing called "smiling depression" where the person can function and appears relatively happy and well-adjusted to the outside world but is still depressed. For some people, they have insomnia, and for others, they sleep too much.

I think it's just how a person reacts to the reality of life, which is going to be different for everyone

 

[ihatethisplanet]

Some people glide through life with everything handed to them, able to be perfectly logical and never experience the fear of anxiety or panic, and others are either in the middle or the opposite of that.

I spent years dealing with anxiety and then panic. Then depression hit because I realized I'll never be normal and able to operate like the logical little robot my dad and ex-husband wanted. And the low feelings also began when I started working and experiencing all of the physical symptoms of anxiety.

I agree that depression is waking up to realize that this planet is shit, but that's not everyone. Plenty skate through life thinking everything is wonderful and a gift. I can't see it that way. Waking up another day is a gift? Is that some kind of joke? It would be for a parent dying of cancer and wanting to spend another day with their children, but when you have no one to live for, it's just a curse. If I could donate however many years I have left to someone who was dying and desperately wanted to live, I'd do it in a nanosecond.

A child never gives its consent to be dragged kicking and screaming into this reality, and forcing it to is unconscionable.
The only certainty in life is death, The most terrifying thing to a human is death. By bringing a child into the world, you force another being into a form of existential bondage where it is perpetually frightened of and certain of its own impending death. It's completely unjustifiable.

wanting to live but facing death is a form of depression

And taxes. Can't forget about the government needing endless cash to waste.

 

[MyChoiceAlone]

been wondering about this. never really thought about it. even when 2 of my ex's had to leave for their country during college, i guess i was depressed? but i was content just shooting pool and i'd do that all night, every night. marriage fell apart but didn't think to ctb then either. found other things to do.

when i actually thought about it and found/read the ppeh. gave me hope >> only to destroy it over and over. i think i really felt depression for the first time. been feeling it ever since.

 

[Forever Sleep]

Not sure if this will help but this is similar to the form doctors use to diagnose depression:

Patient health questionnaire

The Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-9) is an easy-to-use patient questionnaire for screening, diagnosing, monitoring and measuring the severity of depression.

patient.info

I think the theory is- we all experience periods of low mood. It tends to be considered depression when it is prolonged and other symptoms start showing up- ie. It starts to affect our lives. So- things like: changes in appetite and sleeping patterns and sex drive. We no longer find joy in things that interested us before. It's when a few of these are present that they diagnose depression.

I'm not so sure about the physiology of it. They used to talk about stuff like low dopamine levels. I don't know if they do now. I've heard there are differences in appearance of the grey matter in the brains of depressed people. I wish there was more biological science to it. Psychiatry sounds frighteningly wooly to me.

 

[WeDontKnowTheFuture]

I do not think that depression is a sickness as it is generally admited. The lack of serotonine hyopthesis has been proved to be false.

I actually do not think that depression exist concretely, this term is an abstract categorization of various form of suffering.
it's a way of putting people into boxes.
I see what we call depression as various psycho-physiological state of almost constant suffering that we put together.
Each individual has his own way to experiment it. We can all agree on the symptoms of covid-19, but what we call depression completely differs in terms of the effects on each individuals. What cause one of these state of suffering is multifactorial and so very complex. We cannot group peoples in different stade of torment and say to them " you guys just get a disease".

That said, I don't think we can separate depression and the person who is experiencing it as some psychiatrist who says " it is the depression who talk, not him".
it is a way of disqualifying suffering people by making them pass for people without discernment because they are victims of their so called sickness.

 

[FuneralCry]

I despise how people label perfectly valid feelings of hating existing and being tired of it as "depression". I believe they don't wish to accept that existence itself really is the true problem, wanting to permanently prevent all future suffering is all that feels rational to me.

It's not a mental illness wanting to permanently escape from this decaying flesh prison we were unfortunate enough to be burdened in, instead such a thing is all that makes sense to me, existence is just so harmful.

I hate when people act like wanting to die is the problem despite the fact that existence is the true hell, I see no value in meaningless and pointless suffering where one is just waiting around to die anyway.

 

[achb]

Well depression is more of a description of symptoms than anything. It doesn't denote a cause or anything. It's pretty much just "well people who feel this way can be categorized under this term so we can treat them." It's basically just a low mood that lasts for a prolonged period of time and affects your day to day life (in specific ways outlined differently in different countries).