Posted on 12/13/2003 5:58:47 AM PST by joesbucks
The problems of depression and despair.
I do believe that there are those who have a physiological basis for their depression. You were probably one of those. However, I am also quite convinced that there are MANY who have no physiological basis for their depression; they simply allow themselves to wallow in it.
I've been through plenty in my life to have the above 'tested', so I am speaking from experience that DOES count.
And therein lies the rub. Some suicidal people are so far gone, so far removed from reality that they can't see common sense any more, even when it's shoved right up under their nose. Not all, but some.
Of course they shouldn't feel any shame in seeking medication. People take insulin, there is no diffrence.
Of course once symptoms are controlled (not cured) by medication one should also get counselling. This counselling doesn't have to come from sex-obsessed Fruedian or other secular humanist, of course.
Heck even the 12 step programs begin with "believe in a Higher Power"
I think the latest research shows that eating a low fat diet actually increases cholesterol, especially the bad kind. Google up "What if it's all been a big fat lie?" for more details.
Bingo. We've made it too easy in modern society to meet basic needs. I look at all the obscenely obese people in the USA and wonder how they could NOT be depressed. Millions of years of evolution brought us to a point not all that long ago where life was dominated by work that was required to survive, and only the fit survived. When I was younger and always training for the next marathon, I often got a deja-vu type experience on long runs, a little voice that would say this is what God or nature really intended for you to be doing---running, walking, hunting, gathering, struggling to make it to the next watering hole. Didn't need prozac in those days as the brain was swimming in a bath of good chemicals.
On a related note, I like the opening salvo of Scott Peck's The Road Less Traveled that I paraphrase: Life is difficult. The more we accept that, the easier it's going to be.
Avoiding sink is also good for your mental health and for your soul as he is just to maddening.
Of course sometimes I fail at the task, myself.
Thank you for your post, EagleMama! Sometimes God is the only way back. I've been trying to rebuild my faith in God, and to remember no matter how bad it gets, God IS watching over us. Have a wonderful Christmas and New Year!
ROTF!!! I HATE those self congratulatory newletters! I have been so tempted over the years to send out something like that ;-)
He and I saw less of each other as the years went by, but I knew he was around. He loved little children, of which I had a second and a then a third. He got engaged to a woman just a few years younger than himself and appeared very happy ... for a year or so.
Then very suddenly he darkened. I don't know if he had business trouble, debts, hidden substance abuse issues or "just" brain chemistry imbalances. We didn't talk stuff like that. My wife heard after this man's suicide that he wanted children right away and his fiancée did not want them at all. He may have abused her physically, and surely did so psychologically, laying the blame on her in his final dark days.
While we may share associations with people through work, clubs and even family or church, we may not be close. We may not have the kind of accountability and commitment to each other that allows us to share our weaknesses in confidence and hold one another's hands up, so to speak. If any of you FReepers don't find that kind of support here, then please make it a resolution to find it somewhere. The world is indeed swirling into deeper darkness, but the light of God is shining brighter and reaching farther still.
I went through my own episode in the year 2000. I was never suicidal. It was situational depression over a job loss in late '98. I got a new job almost immediately, but at a 1/3 cut in pay. My attempts to retool with IT skills seemed futile, as businesses began hiring freezes and experienced IT workers scrambled to fill slots ahead of me. I was working hard, studying harder, eating and sleeping like cr@p. On top of that was the tension of the pending election --or would Xlinton suspend transition?
I had been praying for some time for my father to be saved, specifically in my moments of anxiety about my career. And God granted this petition in September of 2000. I had a chance to visit him on a hastily arranged trip in early November. I left work early, voted absentee on Friday 11/3, and spent election week with my dad, mending some fences and getting to know him all over again. That trip set a lot of healing in motion for me.
Building accountability into my life has kept me more stable, though I have certainly not arrived.
1 Corinthians 10:13 There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it.
The image of bricks brings a chuckle. And I hear ya about 8 vs. 3.5 miles --- sounds about like me. I never got a rush, per se, but after prolonged inactivity (such as after spine surgery), I notice a difference, like there's a build-up of toxicity. The best rush was the half gallon of ice cream consumed at one sitting knowing that I'd burn it off the next morning.
ROFLPIMP!
Yes, many people find both strength and comfort from their religious beliefs.
But the doubt itself arises from the realization that the "real world" is not the way it is "supposed to be".
I don't know why some people are better able to cope with this disparity better than others.
Apparently there are biochemical/medical factors that at least have some influence over that.
But I think we should not ignore the cultural influences that brainwash us into measuring ourselves by unrealistic expectations. What we view on TV isn't real, and we shouldn't expect that our lives will follow the "exciting" and "entertaining" lifestyles that are portrayed.
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