mthayer

A pack of cigarettes for a bike?

Hope that bike is not stolen.

jethro56 

It was owned by a good friend. I rode with him when it was new. Been in his barn for 20 years.

bongo_x

Depression and it’s friends, SAD and the like, are killers. From personal experience I have a lot of sympathy. The funny thing to me is, sympathy or not, the first course of action is the same; get off your butt and do something, other people have real problems. I believe someone already said that. Even the people who are unsympathetic jerks have the right idea.

The problem is that it’s completely at odds with the thinking that goes with the disorder. That’s why one of the most important things I learned from a program I won’t mention was;

Don’t make things optional. Decide what you’re going to do and do it.

The killer is the part every day where you decide if you feel like doing something. Don’t decide. Don’t even think. You already decided. I don’t decide every day if I’m going to be married, I did that a long time ago (I could decide if I’m going to get a divorce, but that’s different). Don’t give your "feelings" so much power. It’s a trap. Go do your exercise plan you already decided on and allow yourself to decide to quit after you’re done.

There’s a lot of other great advice here, but I think the first step is to get up and do something, without asking yourself whether you want to. I think these things are more physical than mental and try to treat them that way. A diabetic doesn’t sit around and decide how they feel about insulin, or wait until they’re in the mood to take a shot.

If you’re depressed, to whatever degree, you’re not going to be in the mood to do what you need to to treat it. That’s not a rational decision, that’s a symptom of the disorder. You’re not going to feel like it. Realize that and try to do something anyway. Pretend you have a brain disease that tricks you into making decisions that hurt you and further the disease. Oh wait, you do.

Or so I’ve heard.

bb

Neil_B

+1. Heck, +100.

cooleric1234

I understand the point but I think this kind of attitude isn't helpful. For me that just makes me feel guilty that I'm lamenting over my "trivial" problems. We don't know what people are like on the inside and external problems are handled differently by different people. However, I think there is a proper way to apply this principle. Rather than feeling guilty because you're depressed over problems that are trivial to to others why not count your blessings. Looking at the positive side of things can definitely be helpful. Also getting outside yourself and helping others can do a lot for helping you in your difficulties. Once again, understanding and talking back to the cognitive distortions is incredibly helpful to me. I usually list the problem, my feelings, and then pick out each distortion that I'm applying to the problem and "talk back" to my incorrect way of thinking. Very helpful.

bongo_x

I totally agree and do the same things. After I’ve gotten off my ass and can think a little more clearly. At the depths I have simply not been able to get to that kind of rational thinking. That’s more like maintenance thinking for me.

My post was meant with a little humor, or what passes for humor for me. What I’m saying is that people don’t respond well to "get off your butt and do something" because it hurts their feelings and clashes with their view of things, even though it really is what they need. If you’re depressed your view is broken, quit listening to it (I don’t know how one listens to a view, but there you have it).

One thing I don’t do is guilt. I find that guilt is most often used in place of doing something. As in, I won’t change my behavior, but I will feel guilty about it. As if that’s something. At least for me, it’s a trap.

bb

Sayre Kulp 

I've been away from this thread for a bit and I'm too tired to go back through all of it right now, so forgive me if any of this has already been discussed. I don't particularly care for the medical world's solutions to depression. The medication that inhibits the way your brain makes connections can have drastic side effects including suicide. Believe me, I know. Instead, I have researched possible nutritional advantages that could be gained through vitamins and other supplements. I've been taking GNC multivitamins for over a year now and I swear by them. I also recommend Fish Oil to anyone and everyone. I just recently started taking Melatonin before bed and it has helped me sleep better and feel better the next morning. This has been helping somewhat with my funk. I figured I'd throw it out there in case anyone else might benefit from it.

Neil_B

I can't agree. It's not the effect of the drugs.

That said, I think anti-depressants are far too often prescribed.

john423

You have to have a sense of what is "a case of the blues" and what is "a case of serious, chronic unipolar treatment-resistant depression."

One can be treated with exercise, supplements, etc., and one will not go away no matter what you do. Period. Imagine S.A.D. year-round, then throw in S.A.D. on top of that during the winter months. I wouldn't wish this on anybody.

And yeah, the medications can cause suicidal thoughts. It's a rather odd "side effect," kinda like how some anti-depressants really can screw with your sex life (or lack thereof). Nothing's without its problems - you hear the commercials for any kind of medicine, and there's always a list of crazy side-effects a mile long. Some medicine for dry eyes has a chance of killing you dead.

I'm on a really old-school antidepressant called an MAOI - I can't eat many kinds of cheeses or have soy sauce or not very much of many kinds of alcohol (thank goodness I don't drink) or my blood pressure spikes and it's off to the emergency room. If I get a cold, I can't use basically every kind of over-the-counter cold medicine. It happens. But I absolutely dread to think where I'd be without it and the rest of the boatload of drugs I'm on.

I hope to someday lessen the boatload down to a raftload, but at this moment in time I'm not optimistic. Basically what I'm saying is while some common-sense stuff may work for a lot of people, for some people depression is an elephant and thus must be hunted with an elephant gun.

cooleric1234

Plus the "medical community" is a broad brush. As I've been harping on the whole thread cognitive behavioral therapy can be a safe, effective, no drug approach.