ironmonk Posted March 3, 2006 Author Share Posted March 3, 2006 [quote name='loganrude' date='Mar 3 2006, 12:07 AM']ironmonk I have just a few questions... what are your favorite tv shows and what are your favorite bands? now to this subject matter. I would have to say I highly disagree with your orginal post that being unhappy means we are doing something wrong. I have been suffering from depression and anxiety badly for the last year and a half. I have been TRYING to be a holy person. I don't miss Mass, I try not to sin, and I try to lead others to Christ. However, I still feel unahppy a large portion on my life because I worry. you don't have to go start pulling up Bible verses on me telling me I shouldn't worry, cause I already know that, and I TRY not to. I have been seriously reconsidering my life for the last couple years now. I got rid of the majority of my Movies (kept wholesome one like rudy, remember the titans), I stopped listening to ALL of the secular bands I used to, and now only listen to Christian stuff. I have been TRYING. but i guess I must be failing like mad somewhere cause I'm unhappy? i hope not... [right][snapback]902071[/snapback][/right] [/quote] TV shows: Stargate SG1 & Atlantis, EWTN's Fr. Copari, and a few others from EWTN. Scicene and history shows too, but they haven't had much on lately. Bands: none really. I like upbeat happy music that helps be happier. I mostly listen to the local Catholic radio station [url="http://www.SpiritFM905.com"]http://www.SpiritFM905.com[/url]. Some techno. When I was in high school it was heavy metal... Suicidal Tendancies, Slayer, Metallica, Anthrax, Megadeath, etc... Not so happy music. It does take time... and the fact that you are making a cognitive effort to change is the start to changing. There will always be ups and downs. As we grow older and wiser things will become easier. It took me a long time to change, but I surrounded myself (filled my eye) with possitive things. I would try to stop talking about negative things. I would help others more. I would take quotes from the Bible, Saints, and other wise quotes, put them on 3x5 inch cards and covered my wall with them. I would read a couple everytime I passed them and then meditate on what I read. We need retirement from the hassles of life and to meditate on how to serve God better because that is the meaning of life - to serve God. When our focus is elsewhere, something will always be off. If we do not get away from time to time to meditate, then happiness we will lack. I highly suggest reading "Way to Happiness" by Archbishop Fulton Sheen [url="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0818907754/sr=8-1/qid=1141393451/ref=sr_1_1/102-7765036-1172158?%5Fencoding=UTF8"]Get it here[/url]... and Imitation of Christ by Thomas Kempis [url="http://www.catholic-pages.com/bookrack/amazon.asp?ISBN=038502861X"]Click Here for it.[/url] . People being unhappy is nothing new... the way to fix being unhappy is with bringing ourselves closer to God and changing our outlook on life... our point of view... The old cliche "is the glass half empty or half full" speaks volumes. Our attitude is up to us. It is not simple to change it, it takes work. Remember, nothing worth having is easy. It took me years to change, and sometimes I relapsed into saddness, but I knew it was up to me to fix what was wrong. We must examine ourselves and be honest with ourselves... we must be critical and decide what must be done to fix the problems. If we don't know, the answers are in Scripture, teaching of the Church, and writings of the Saints. Many people today get too much of what they want... it spoils us. We've been programmed by TV and the godless... it takes time to undo that programming. God Bless, ironmonk Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cmotherofpirl Posted March 3, 2006 Share Posted March 3, 2006 Monk there is a big difference between feeling blue, feeling deprived, and clinical depression. Stop equating them because they are not the same thing. Changing your attitude does not cure clinical depression. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brother Adam Posted March 3, 2006 Share Posted March 3, 2006 [quote name='cmotherofpirl' date='Mar 3 2006, 07:54 AM']Monk there is a big difference between feeling blue, feeling deprived, and clinical depression. Stop equating them because they are not the same thing. Changing your attitude does not cure clinical depression. [right][snapback]902213[/snapback][/right] [/quote] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lil Red Posted March 3, 2006 Share Posted March 3, 2006 so i guess you are not going to respond to the rest of phat's post? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ironmonk Posted March 3, 2006 Author Share Posted March 3, 2006 [quote name='Lil Red' date='Mar 3 2006, 12:01 PM']so i guess you are not going to respond to the rest of phat's post? [right][snapback]902349[/snapback][/right] [/quote] Everything he brings up has already been addressed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ironmonk Posted March 3, 2006 Author Share Posted March 3, 2006 [quote name='cmotherofpirl' date='Mar 3 2006, 08:54 AM']Monk there is a big difference between feeling blue, feeling deprived, and clinical depression. Stop equating them because they are not the same thing. Changing your attitude does not cure clinical depression. [right][snapback]902213[/snapback][/right] [/quote] 1) We can control our own minds. We have the freewill to take control or be lazy and not do anything. It takes work to do this. Our society has grown lazy. 2) Happiness is a state of mind. 3) Life will have ups and downs, staying in the down part of it can be changed if people want to change it. 4) It is easier to blame a "disorder" than ourselves when we have the power to change it if we work at changing it. The blueprint for a happy life is in Scripture. Everyone can choose to follow it or try to draw in their own blueprint. Clinical depression is not biological. Chemicals in the brain are released by emotion... these same chemicals can and do influence more of the emotion that releases them... So it's a two edge sword. As we feel some emotions, like depression, anger, fear, etc.... the very chemicals that are release when we feel them cause the feelings to be stronger. We can, with a cognitive effort, take control of these emotions with time and hard work. A pill is not the solution.... Also, back to the main point of the original post... if everything seems to be going "great" but someone is still unhappy, then it's one of the two reasons why they are unhappy. What prompted this thread was someone I know has fallen into a powerful sin. Everything seems to be going right for them, but they can't figure out why they are not happy. They know what they are doing is a sin, but they are trying to make their own rules to live by. So this thread is "FOOD FOR THOUGHT". Human emotions are thousands of years old... the Church's teachings in Scripture is the blueprint to live by... live by them and be happy or don't and be unhappy. We have it so easy here in the USA. Also, people didn't get thrown into a mental institution for being depressed a 100 years ago. People where more faithful a hundred years ago. So what has been changing to cause this massive rise in "depression"... society... we live in a godless hedonistic society. Saints and people who had nothing material in the past did not suffer from depression and they were happy and content with what they had. They focused on God, not themselves. They helped family members and neighbors... helping others brings joy to us. Joy overcomes depression. To say that depression or clinical depression is for a fact caused by biology is wrong - because it is a theory. To say for a fact that it is not caused by biology is wrong because we do not know enough about the way the human mind works to say either way. I do not believe that it's biology because of simple reasoning, history, and the very words of Christ. Because I have conquered it and I know others who have too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jaime Posted March 3, 2006 Share Posted March 3, 2006 [quote]Clinical depression is not biological. Chemicals in the brain are released by emotion... these same chemicals can and do influence more of the emotion that releases them... So it's a two edge sword. As we feel some emotions, like depression, anger, fear, etc.... the very chemicals that are release when we feel them cause the feelings to be stronger. We can, with a cognitive effort, take control of these emotions with time and hard work. [/quote] Its clear you aren't reading what I and others are writing. Please go back and actually read the posts. Again you contradict yourself from one sentence to another. Clinical depression cannot both be "not biological" and a "two edged sword". There are many many cases where the root cause of depression can be examined and resolved. There are 2% of all cases that are quite simply chemical in nature. No amount of hard work is going to resolve it. Inferring that people who suffer depression are simply to lazy to change is, again, insulting and ignorant Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lil Red Posted March 3, 2006 Share Posted March 3, 2006 this thread seems to be going 'round and 'round and not getting anywhere. it's closed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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