Is Depression A Mental Illness?

[God the Father]

Or just a rational response to conditions of human life? Would it be more appropriate to describe chronic happiness as a mental illness, given what we know about war, starvation, disease, murder, hate, inequality, Obama, meat-eaters, etc?

[CatherineM]

Some depression is a response to sad things.  Some is a chemical imbalance in the brain, and it is certainly is a medical condition.

[veritasluxmea]

Yes. Yes it is. /thread

[GregorMendel]

Some depression is a response to sad things. Some is a chemical imbalance in the brain, and it is certainly is a medical condition.

^Nailed it.

Yes, it is indeed.

[God the Father]

Some depression is a response to sad things.  Some is a chemical imbalance in the brain, and it is certainly is a medical condition.

 

What's the correct neurotransmitter balance? If a sad-leaning balance is called an "illness," couldn't a happy-leaning balance be called "ignorance"?

[Maggyie]

It's an interesting question. Sanity is pretty subjective I think. In an insane world, are the "crazy" simply truth-tellers we prefer to marginalize? So as to continue our irrational fantasy of living in a society that makes sense...

[CatherineM]

The opposite chemical balance from depression is mania.

[GregorMendel]

You guys always push me to look forward one semester to answer questions these days, neuroanatomy and psych compose the bulk of Next semester lol

[Benedictus]

The colloquial overuse of the word depression is used most often to describe natural and healthy sad responses to situations. These come and go as a fact of life. Clinical depression is a different issue and I think sometimes the public can be pretty ignorant and dismissive of those with deep seated depressive illness. The same goes with 'Manic' episodes. It's not, at least usually, simply elated happiness. There is a destructive and negative impact of this state on the person over a period of time. None of the symptoms are isolated either.

[little2add]

Depression clearly is not mental illness
Depression happens just like STUFF happens

The only bad part about it, is letting it ruin your life, even then, if you let (depression) it turn you away from the people that love you , I wouldn't call it mental illness...

Depression is painfull and highly contagious to "others" especially mom and dad and brothers and sisters and some neighbors, friends and small animals

There is a cure

Edited October 26, 2014 by little2add

[Benedictus]

Depression clearly is not mental illness
Depression happens just like STUFF happens

The only bad part about it, is letting it ruin your life, even then, if you let (depression) it turn you away from the people that love you , I wouldn't call it mental illness...

Depression is painfull and highly contagious to "others" especially mom and dad and brothers and sisters and some neighbors, friends and small animals

There is a cure

You clearly don't know what you're typing about if you make a statement like that. You've obviously never seen many clinically depressed people, on psych wards or anywhere else. Yes, lots of stuff is going on but this doesn't distract from the fact that these medical problems exist and impact on people in a bad way. I find pop psychology and quacks telling people to 'think themselves a better life'; or 'your illness doesn't exist'; or 'I was sad once, so I know what clinical depression is like', both exasperating and annoying. I could think of other words as well. :bomb:

Edited October 27, 2014 by Benedictus

[veritasluxmea]

There is a cure

And that cure is...?

[little2add]

You clearly don't know what you're typing about if you make a statement like that. You've obviously never seen many clinically depressed people, on psych wards or anywhere else. Yes, lots of stuff is going on but this doesn't distract from the fact that these medical problems exist and impact on people in a bad way. I find pop psychology and quacks telling people to 'think themselves a better life'; or 'your illness doesn't exist'; or 'I was sad once, so I know what clinical depression is like', both exasperating and annoying. I could think of other words as well. :bomb:

Depression, grief most certainly exist however is not a mental illness, it's a state of mind. And it hurts

That's the thing about pain. It demands to be felt.”

[blazeingstar]

Depression clearly is not mental illness
Depression happens just like STUFF happens

The only bad part about it, is letting it ruin your life, even then, if you let (depression) it turn you away from the people that love you , I wouldn't call it mental illness...

Depression is painfull and highly contagious to "others" especially mom and dad and brothers and sisters and some neighbors, friends and small animals

There is a cure

 

 

First, stop trying to steal my title as incompetent arse of Phatmass.  You're doing a good job right now, and your ignorance is showing.  If you're going to take a position on something, atleast you know.  Science.

 

You're confusing so many different topics that it's pretty crazy itself.

 

Depression is either biological reactive, chemical or situational. Situations can make chemical depression worse, and usually biological reactive comes from some artificial source, such as a side affect of medicine that is unavoidable say, a sleep medicine that blocks the pituitary will cause depression.  Another good example of this is a woman after giving birth.  She may literally not have a "happy" hormone in her.

 

So now onto a bit about each.  You're clearly not speaking about biological reactive, because literally that state...there is nothing you can do about it.  A person's feelings of glass being half-empty, or even fully empty, are impossible to control.  They're not producing any hormones (or are producing such a low amount) that the brain can literally not feel happiness.

 

Then you have chemical.  Chemical depression is like cancer.  It's how you deal with it, it's a big disease, and it affects others but is really just as "contagious" as cancer.   Contagious only in the same way that if you do not care for yourself while caring for a cancer patient you're more likely to succumb to a fatal disease (including cancer) because you're not sleeping and eating properly.  Chemical depression basically means that some gland in the body, or signal in the brain is broken.  More on "contagious" later.  If you are struggling to understand the difference between clinical and situational here's a good video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aX7jnVXXG5o&list=UUX6b17PVsYBQ0ip5gyeme-Q

 

 

Situation depression is actually healthy.  That sounds crazy, but it is true.  Situational depression is an immobilizer that can prevent rash actions in the time of grief, fear, or other times.   Now, this depression lasts as long as the situation then clears up.  Usually under 6 months.  After that it can cause perminant affects.  These perminiant effects can lead to clinical problems like PSTD or Complicated Grief.

 

Now back to the word contagious.  Feelings are not contagious, actions are.  One of the things said about most depressed people who commit suicide is that they were fun, the life of the party and no one knew how they truly felt.  So there goes your theory.

 

What you're speaking to is a depression person who shows other signs.  Animals are not hurt by anyone's feeling.  They are hurt by neglect.  Certainly other people in a depressed person's life can be hurt by bad behavior.  While depression makes certain behavior understandable, it doesn't give the depressed person a pass on the pain of their sins anymore than the next guy.  It will always hurt when someone calls you an arse because you tripped them, but if you know that person has a clear mind we'll take that more seriously than a depressed person calling you an arse because you moved the salt six inches to the left.

 

 

Depression, grief most certainly exist however is not a mental illness, it's a state of mind. And it hurts

That's the thing about pain. It demands to be felt.”

 

See above.

 

Basically, you're saying that we have full control over our feelings.  For many reasons as humans we don't.  We have full control over our actions.  Certain actions, like physical activity, can help control feelings but they cannot do it all.

[little2add]

First, stop trying to steal my title as incompetent arse of Phatmass. You're doing a good job right now, and your ignorance is showing. If you're going to take a position on something, atleast you know. Science.

You're confusing so many different topics that it's pretty crazy itself.

Depression is either biological reactive, chemical or situational. Situations can make chemical depression worse, and usually biological reactive comes from some artificial source, such as a side affect of medicine that is unavoidable say, a sleep medicine that blocks the pituitary will cause depression. Another good example of this is a woman after giving birth. She may literally not have a "happy" hormone in her.




So now onto a bit about each. You're clearly not speaking about biological reactive, because literally that state...there is nothing you can do about it. A person's feelings of glass being half-empty, or even fully empty, are impossible to control. They're not producing any hormones (or are producing such a low amount) that the brain can literally not feel happiness.

Then you have chemical. Chemical depression is like cancer. It's how you deal with it, it's a big disease, and it affects others but is really just as "contagious" as cancer. Contagious only in the same way that if you do not care for yourself while caring for a cancer patient you're more likely to succumb to a fatal disease (including cancer) because you're not sleeping and eating properly. Chemical depression basically means that some gland in the body, or signal in the brain is broken. More on "contagious" later. If you are struggling to understand the difference between clinical and situational here's a good video


Situation depression is actually healthy. That sounds crazy, but it is true. Situational depression is an immobilizer that can prevent rash actions in the time of grief, fear, or other times. Now, this depression lasts as long as the situation then clears up. Usually under 6 months. After that it can cause perminant affects. These perminiant effects can lead to clinical problems like PSTD or Complicated Grief.

Now back to the word contagious. Feelings are not contagious, actions are. One of the things said about most depressed people who commit suicide is that they were fun, the life of the party and no one knew how they truly felt. So there goes your theory.

What you're speaking to is a depression person who shows other signs. Animals are not hurt by anyone's feeling. They are hurt by neglect. Certainly other people in a depressed person's life can be hurt by bad behavior. While depression makes certain behavior understandable, it doesn't give the depressed person a pass on the pain of their sins anymore than the next guy. It will always hurt when someone calls you an arse because you tripped them, but if you know that person has a clear mind we'll take that more seriously than a depressed person calling you an arse because you moved the salt six inches to the left.



See above.

Basically, you're saying that we have full control over our feelings. For many reasons as humans we don't. We have full control over our actions. Certain actions, like physical activity, can help control feelings but they cannot do it all.

Take two pills and see me in the morning, doctor