Depression

Before I begin my rant here, I just want to let everyone know that I most certainly DO NOT see Judy as the poster-girl for depression. I just love that picture and I've seen that face many times on many depressed people (including myself) so I thought it would be a good example.

Depression. So many things come to mind when we here that word. We live in a society where nearly everyone's answer to "How are you?" is "Tired" or "Depressed". Even though, medical science has made extraordinary advances in the treatment of depression and similar emotional and psychological disorders and diseases...yes, DISEASES, many people are still scrutinized and judged for their way of dealing with them. And, as usual, by people who have no idea what they're talking about.

Depression is a disease just like diabetes or alcoholism (which is also controversial, but trust me, it is a genetic disease). Most of the research I've done for this article has been by myself. I've read a bit, but I've been doing that for years. My goal right now is to share my own personal experiences and opinions on the subject.

I've suffered from mild to severe depression for a great many years. Many members of my family also suffer from it, indicating it's heredity. Finally, after years of absolute inner torment, and trying everything I could think of to "snap out of it", I decided to give antidepressant medication a try. And it saved my life!

Now, it wasn't without trial and error. I tried Zoloft (which helps my mother a great deal), cymbalta, Prozac, Wellbutrin, and a few others before I discovered Pristiq, which is one of the newer names on the market and part of the new generation of antidepressants. This was at a time when I had hit what I'd call rock bottom. I didn't get out of bed for three months. When I first started my regime of 50 mg a day, It was slow acting, but after about three weeks, I had the courage to get up and face the world again.

Many things cause depression and there are many kinds of depression. Hereditary, post-pardom, seasonal, environmental...and there are many different ways to treat it. Drugs are not always the answer.

With me, the best way I could describe it is that it was like living in the eye of a storm, never knowing what was going to happen next. I'd be fine one minute and then the next minute I'd be crying. One minute I'm happy, the next, I'm enraged. And all the time with this crippling anxiety that sometimes became so severe I was sure I was having a heart-attack. It's then that you start acting out and then it's not about you anymore it's about the poor people around you who have to deal with it as well. Therapy or at least someone who understands is essential to the healing of depression because if you've never been through it, you simply don't understand. And watching from the outside just makes the person in question look like a crazy attention seeker, which is absolutely ridiculous. No one would chose this.

Here are just a few of the things that just piss me off about people's narrowed views of depression. The thing that probably makes me the most mad is the drug thing. People who call antidepressants "Happy Pills". My father for example, is under the impression that you pop one of these pills and get high. Far from it! They take weeks and months to work and even then, you don't feel any sort of extra pleasurable effects. You feel normal. The whole point is to align the chemicals that become unbalanced in your brain naturally that cause depression.

I've heard so many absurd things... "You want to be this way", "You have no will power", "You're weak", "Just snap out of it", blah, blah, blah. It's not that simple when it's all out of your control. If it was in your control it wouldn't be happening to you.

My point is this, if you or someone you know suffers from any type of depression, don't turn a deaf ear to them and don't allow yourself to feel guilty for feelings and behavior that you have no control over. Help is out there. Even though it may seem like it, you're not alone. So, please, be honest, recognize the problem and do something about it. Otherwise, this disease will take hold of you and rule your life. You can be stronger than it. Sometimes all it takes is a little faith in yourself.