Depression

[Ant]

I remember in TRC, there was a 'Morning Check In' thread, people found it useful for saying hello or what ever, I'm having coffee, it helped out some who were suffering who just wanted something really general to say hello. Seeing something similar on another forum and seeing this thread just reminded me of that thread in TRC.

[Noggin]

It's worth mentioning that work can still be very stressful even if it's a good environment and not toxic, etc.
If one has a lot of responsibility then it can simply be very stressful to manage if you take those responsibilities seriously.

If you add that into the mix with a busy family, kids, etc, then it can be massive, even if everyone is nice and the company is a good one.

In fact, that can be when it gets you, when everything seems to be going ok, no particular reasons... then wham.

Often going home alone with no one to talk to, moan at, laugh with or just get a hug from is as bad. I have a mate here that lives alone, but with his dog. I maintain that living alone is much easier with a pet - you don't feel nearly as daft chatting away to a cat or dog as you do talking to the wall (a la Shirley Valentine!).

I miss having a cat for lots of reasons. But someone to talk to/at and get a hug/cuddle from are two of the biggest reasons. If I didn't live on the first floor (and in an apartment too small for a cat to live indoors only) I'd have adopted one as much for my mental health as to help a stray/rescue cat. I know - selfish. But I would love it lots too! So not 100% selfish!!

[David]

Cats.....best meds in the world..........

[Bike Breaker]

Cats.....best meds in the world..........

Especially if you have low blood pressure and one of the neighbours' cats deposits sloppy stinky yellow poo about 5 times a week in your garden.

My blood pressure's excellent but I still get the poo deposits.

[David]

I am actually quite concerned for the cat....the poo shouldn't be yellow or sloppy...and a healthy cat will bury it.
Of course, it could be fox poo.

[Bike Breaker]

I am actually quite concerned for the cat....the poo shouldn't be yellow or sloppy...and a healthy cat will bury it.
Of course, it could be fox poo.

It's not fox poo. That's stinky but different from this.

[Trinity765]

I've been fiercely independent and happy for most of my life but something happened after my Mum passed away just over a year ago. It took me ten months to realise that something was wrong, that I was stressed even though I had nothing to be stressed about. I'd assumed that since I no longer had the huge responsibility of looking after her, that I had nothing to complain about and that I'd been through "all of that", and that I was now free of the worry but the opposite was true. I'd lost the person who would tell me that it's going to be ok or that I was making the right decision or the wrong decision. Even with her dementia she still played that part in my life.

I threw myself into work and it's been great. I have a new boss who inspires me and I will reap the rewards from what I'm doing now and this will give me more prospects and choices in the future, but still, for the first time in my life, I'm missing telling someone about my day. Someone I can share the good and the bad with. I have two sons who I get on with and both would give me a hug if I asked, but I have never shared my problems with them. I have a wonderful best friend, a trained counsellor, but she's having a hard time herself at the moment so when I see her I play the listener.

I don't ever cry, before or after my Mum died. Is that indicative of a problem? I well up inside but then I pull myself together, change the subject in my head and carry on.

[Trinity765]

On top of that perhaps you're just a bit lonely, which is a perfectly normal human feeling, I think we're supposed to be pack animals and we need company.

I have somewhat isolated myself. I've turn down all social invites and left the leadership team of a riding club that I was so passionate about a couple of years ago because I really CBA. And, while I agree that we are pack animals, that doesn't inspire me to be social. I am not totally antisocial as I go into the office a few times a week just to get myself out.

[Yambo]

Grief is a funny thing and I think you are grieving, not depressed Trinity.

It's different for everybody and the process can be different for the person grieving following another death. It's a lonely journey too - nobody, even those grieving the same person will be affected the same way.

My wife died 14 months after being diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. She did well but we all knew her death was imminent. I thought I'd done my grieving before her death but of course, I hadn't. I coped by being busy and keeping fit but the grief was still there and it eased in its own time.

My son's death last December was a shock and the grief this time around is different - I have little or no motivation to do anything. I've been apathetic and on occassion have wondered why I'm still here but in all honesty I don't even have the motivation to go down that route. It's getting better, I'm getting better and I've thankfully had good support. Grief is a process though, a lonely journey with no end. It'll get better with time (the great healer) but it will never go completely. It's the curse of getting older and outliving loved ones, it'll be with us to the end, then it'll be someone else's turn to start their journey.

Grief can of course be accompanied by depression but it's not compulsory.

Time will improve your moods and the grief will ease but it might take longer than you think it should.

[Trinity765]

Thank you for your comments Yambo and Potter.

For what it's worth I have always enjoyed solo bike tours and despite dropping my bike and breaking it on the last one, I still had a great time. A dose of complete silence does me good and I had an early morning moment when I really couldn't hear anything, not even an insect buzzing. That or I am going deaf.

[Noggin]

The realisation that you've lost 'that' person that you could always talk to is huge. 12 years on I still get a smack in the guts when I know that the one person I could always turn to isn't there.

As others have said, grief is so very personal. It doesn't conform. It takes no notice of your expectations or those of others. I do think that you have to embrace it a bit. You have roll with how it feels, not try to force yourself to conform with what you think you should feel or what others think you should feel. But that's how I view it.

Support from others is a huge thing, and lacking that makes every thing a bit more difficult.


I've always been pretty solitary. Combined with shyness and lack of confidence, people either think I'm stuck up or anti social! But I've always been just fine in my own company. If I do go out, I am sociable cos I do enjoy that too, a lot.

Right now, my being extra solitary is based on stress. A bit of grief (somewhat delayed, but not just losing people, accepting changes for myself as well) but a LOT of stress and worry.

I know I'm verging on proper depression, but until I can sort the reason for the stress, I just have to soldier on and try and keep pulling myself up far enough not to fall completely



Hugest hugs to you @Trinity765, hope you can find a way to feel better soon xxx

[slowhare]

This should give you a lift, if you’re down. It’s a gem of an interview between John Cleese and the ex Australian Deputy PM, John Anderson. Between them they nail it imho. I’d rate it 5 stars.

[Greenman]

On top of that perhaps you're just a bit lonely, which is a perfectly normal human feeling, I think we're supposed to be pack animals and we need company.

I have somewhat isolated myself. I've turn down all social invites and left the leadership team of a riding club that I was so passionate about a couple of years ago because I really CBA. And, while I agree that we are pack animals, that doesn't inspire me to be social. I am not totally antisocial as I go into the office a few times a week just to get myself out.

I'm the same, I'm not very social, I prefer to do my own thing most of the time and I turn down any social evening events.

But I think there is a danger that you can go too far with it, I know someone that has done this, he can go months without even a conversation with another human being and it's like he's switched off, I think he's gone too far and I'm sure he's not happy, but he steadfastly refuses any opportunity to interact with just about everyone. It's like he's gone past the point where he knows how to now and he exists in his own twilight world.

Personally i think this is the worst thing you can do if you have mental health issues.

When you are alone and not talking to anyone your mind can become your own worst enemy, you can become negative about everything without knowing, you can conclude to a negative outcome from something that could be positive without even letting yourself play out the possible positive outcome. I have a friend who does this, he will convince himself that all the neggative things that could happen in a situation will happen thus not letting himself do anything and just sits at home (he lives alone in quite a rural part of somerset) on his own thinking how shit he is at everything, but, once you get him out he is happy as larry and always says "thanks for getting me out Greenman, i need to do this more".

If you are alone and over think situations you will only see the neggative outcomes of up coming events and will be in a constant battle with yourself to get motivated.

I always seek human interactions when i feel a bit down, it's why i socialise so much. I also get a lot of social interaction at work even if i don't get to talk to any of my personal friends which can make a massive difference to my day if my head is not in the right place. You can get talking about situations and find out that others are in the same place as you and that it's not just you that feels how you do about certain issues in your life.

Home working would be my idea of hell, i don't think home working is healthy for anyone if you live alone, as your interaction with the real world is so sparce you can start thinking and coming to conclusions that simply are not reality!

[Trinity765]

I agree with all of that @Greenman .

Over the past year I have found myself drastically simplifying my life and that includes people and responsibilities. For instance, why have two of something when one will do? It's cathartic.

I spent last week on my own in a converted chapel with nothing in walking distance apart from fields and sheep and bloody loved it. I did wonder if I wanted to spend retirement like that.

[Greenman]

I agree with all of that @Greenman .

Over the past year I have found myself drastically simplifying my life and that includes people and responsibilities. For instance, why have two of something when one will do? It's cathartic.

I spent last week on my own in a converted chapel with nothing in walking distance apart from fields and sheep and bloody loved it. I did wonder if I wanted to spend retirement like that.

Simplifying is the way forward.

It's about time - time is everything and it's all about what we do with the time we have.

If you try and have your hands in too many pies it will take over from who you want to be/are and make you into something you don't want to be just to suit everyone else - it's a mad world and we've all just got to make the most of the time that's given to us, in the only way you know how!

If your sad you will be down about others being happy, it's better the other way around most of the time. Its all about how you are projecting yourself to society, what you project and how you act will be how others treat you as well, eventually!

[Buckaroo]

Greenman's post reminded me of something that I found quite profound regarding time.

There's two types of time: chronos and kairos.

It was explained by way of a story.

I met a friend who I had not seen for a year. I asked him where he had been. Prison for a large, unpaid, debt. This past year has felt like a lifetime.
I then met another friend who was a picture of health. You look great said I. Yes, just back from two months touring the middle East. The time just flew by in a blink of the eye.

When you feel like you're spending your time with chronos, find some kairos. Life's about the quality of time and how you use it.

[gremlin]

I have periods of...I dunno...would I call it depression? Been going through a spell now, for maybe the last couple of months. It's like all my joy receptors have been anesthetised. I'm struggling to find any pleasure in the things that usually do bring me happiness. Going out with friends recently I felt like I was an observer, watching everyone else but unable to engage with any sense of sincerity. Riding the bike is boring me. Music is irritating me.
I wouldn't say I'm depressed, more numb. And tired. Constantly tired and with a sense of oppression, like the world is pressing down on me.

Not sure what triggers it. Might be the surrogate stress I was having with the Gremlinette moving out, or maybe it's empty nest syndrome. Maybe I'm anxious about my up-coming medical procedure and the possible negative outcomes.

Even Taipan's awful Dad jokes in Jokes thread are failing to raise a smile.

[Yorick]

I have periods of...I dunno...would I call it depression? Been going through a spell now, for maybe the last couple of months. It's like all my joy receptors have been anesthetised. I'm struggling to find any pleasure in the things that usually do bring me happiness. Going out with friends recently I felt like I was an observer, watching everyone else but unable to engage with any sense of sincerity. Riding the bike is boring me. Music is irritating me.
I wouldn't say I'm depressed, more numb. And tired. Constantly tired and with a sense of oppression, like the world is pressing down on me.

Not sure what triggers it. Might be the surrogate stress I was having with the Gremlinette moving out, or maybe it's empty nest syndrome. Maybe I'm anxious about my up-coming medical procedure and the possible negative outcomes.

Even Taipan's awful Dad jokes in Jokes thread are failing to raise a smile.

I've researched the way I feel, and it's not depression. It's just being bloody unhappy for no reason. And no get-up-and-go.
My heart specialist recommended Maca tablets. Peruvian Ginseng.
They seem to have perked me up a bit.
More energy and less unhappy.

[MyLittleStudPony]

I watched this series and was convinced. Single dose treatments do appear to be effective. And this was being researched (mainly by the Swiss) when the Nixon administration declared a global war on drugs and the work largely ceased.

Sadly it would be difficult to access these treatment routes.

[Taipan]

I have periods of...I dunno...would I call it depression? Been going through a spell now, for maybe the last couple of months. It's like all my joy receptors have been anesthetised. I'm struggling to find any pleasure in the things that usually do bring me happiness. Going out with friends recently I felt like I was an observer, watching everyone else but unable to engage with any sense of sincerity. Riding the bike is boring me. Music is irritating me.
I wouldn't say I'm depressed, more numb. And tired. Constantly tired and with a sense of oppression, like the world is pressing down on me.

Not sure what triggers it. Might be the surrogate stress I was having with the Gremlinette moving out, or maybe it's empty nest syndrome. Maybe I'm anxious about my up-coming medical procedure and the possible negative outcomes.

Even Taipan's awful Dad jokes in Jokes thread are failing to raise a smile.

Say what! Old fashioned Dad jokes are so much better than angry observational crap! Even yoof are turning to them now. Keep the faith Brother, keep the faith.

What do you call a magician that's lost his magic?










Ian!