An Attitude of Gratitude & Depression

You are so right notanan. When you force yourself to go out and pretend you are fine it just makes you feel worse when you get back to your safe place. Many of us want to please the people around us and make them feel good so telling them how we feel is just not going to happen.

well said notonan. Busy busy.......doesn't work, it just leads to more emptiness.

Some of the people who suffer from the most severe forms of mental illness are the smiliest most outwardly "positive" and popular people you will ever meet. The implication that depression and loneliness are disorders resulting from not being social enough is damaging and false.

Total b*llocks to imply that making yourself more busy and outwardly displaying a postitive facade will make you feel better on the inside, often it just makes people feel more disconnected.

You can be popular & lonely.
Smiling on the outside and crying inside
Desperately lonely in a crowd.

Robin Williams etc..

Yes, that's it, I'm sure.
I just find it offputting that each thread ends up with dire warnings about how addictive they are, how dangerous it is to stop.
I feel it just adds to the 'sort of' stigma which still lingers.
Or, maybe I'm over sensitive.

I don't think it is really that anti-Ds are addictive; it is simply that when it is the right time to stop them it needs to be done gradually and with care.

The jury is still out on whether they're addictive.
That's all.

1. I question the motives of Sarah Vine in writing the article.

2. The research was done by someone with a vested interest in being anti medication.

3. The only people qualified to give advice are doctors.

Any mention on here of antidepressants being addictive in that a number of people suffer extremely bad symptoms when they try to come off them, is never well received on threads such as these.

Of course if any such thoughts are the result of research published in the Daily Mail, then it is automatically dismissed out of hand.

Tillybelle, we must speak out to move forward to the time when mental health is seen as equal to physical health and when all mental health illnesses are not put under one large umbrella. Diabetes is not under the same umbrella as a broken leg. I have developed agoraphobia , if asked if I can go somewhere it would be much easier to say ‘sorry no, I have hurt my leg and walking is difficult, I say ‘ sorry no, I have agoraphobia ‘ .

Thanks for the support. I wish I could simply ignore her but unfortunately I cannot as she has control over an important part of my life. There is no way she would listen to anyone who has a different opinion to her about anything, she is never wrong and has never been known to apologise even when proved to be in the wrong.

So many of us suffering, it can be a very lonely illness.

Anniebach You poor dear lady! Sounds like you had the worst kind. It's a terrible illness. How wonderful that you can tell everyone because it really moves things forward, every time each one of us speaks up, I believe progress makes another step forward.

You are right - we haven't quite got there....

I do hope your life is filled with blessings.

Nonnie So sorry to hear that Nonnie. Some people just are horrible. Despite knowing that they are not worth worrying about, have problems etc. I am not very good at letting it flow over me, so I know if I say she isn't worth worrying about, it may not really help. Sometimes I wish I had a thicker skin! Do your best to ignore her. She is in a tiny minority, just look at all your friends here! Also she is simply completely wrong! Don't discuss it with her, just ignore her!
Lots of love, T

Fennel. I didn't put your name on the above! sorry!

You must be very special people! Bipolar is a bit different from other types of depression. With medication - often lithium - people are ok but sadly it has side effects and people do get fed up with these.

To stop taking the lithium could give rise to a very serious disturbance. I am not surprised she was hospitalised. Poor girl. Poor you! But it sounds as if you managed very well. I'm so glad she recovered.

Luckygirl I have it foe migraine too (said earlier). If you think you want to stop, have you thought of having a lower dose? It's just that if it keeps the migraines away.....
So sorry to hear you had such a bad rebound depression. It's really horrible. Good for you for talking about it. The more people talk the better.

It's very moving to hear how many of us have mental sufferings. It's uplifting too to hear how people cope with it and won't let any old fashioned prejudices bother them. Times are so much more sensible now Thank God.

I heard on the news that 1 in 8 children have a clinical mental disorder! Isn't that terribly sad? I find it so hard to hear of children having to suffer this way.

Because I was told that this was the cause.

Lucky, how do you know the depression was linked to stopping the meds?

I would assume an attitude of gratitude is essential to properly feeling better, and maintaining the wellness.

Two things:
- the advice about tailing off anti-depressants is sound. I took a tiny dose of a tricyclic for many years as migrainee prevention, and then went off it suddenly due to having surgery. Unbeknownst to me my brain had clearly got used to the drug because about 2 weeks later I suffered a very severe depression and was very ill for many months. The dose had to be tripled to get me back on track, and I am still taking it. (I would try reducing it now, but my current home circumstances mean this would not be a wise time to do this.)
- when I became so ill I made up my mind that I would not be coy about the diagnosis but would be entirely open and honest about it. Mind you to begin with there would have been no disguising it, even if I had wished to! I had 100% support and no adverse comments from anyone. It is nothing to be ashamed of and I really do think that things have moved on now - thank goodness.

Nonnie, that person is probably damaged themselves. A so called friend of mine said within earshot " What's she got to be depressed about".

I felt so stupid, I thought I was in hospital because of serious weight loss

Annie and others, yes, things have moved on but not everyone is understanding. I have one person in mind who has been particularly nasty about me and my illness, someone who chooses to blame me for it despite having a life long illness themselves, not a mental health one but one they can't control without medication.

Dear me, Annie what a sad state of affairs. I had terrible PND 25 years ago. People can be so cruel.

46 years ago I had severe post natal depression, ended up in hospital. No one spoke of PND, when I was discharged I was told ‘ no more babies’, I was devasted , I thought they meant I wasn’t fit to be a mother and I was besotted with my babies. My mother who was such a caring person said to me
‘ if you ever end up there again it will kill me’ . We were living in a police house, whilst I was in hospital we were moved to another town, it was much later that I found out we were moved to save me the embarrassment of facing our neighbours! Thank God we are moving on, still a way to go though.

ps thinking back, we were very naive to agree to this, knowing now the high risk of suicide in bipolar people.
But to judge favourably, I don't think the person who asked us knew she had stopped taking lithium.