Extreme depression-how to deal with in the interim period

zoobyshoe

First off, there's no neurological condition called "depression". It's a psychiatric disorder, specifically, an affective disorder. It's not accurate to speak of "neurological depression". A neurologist would send you to a psychiatrist if your only symptom were depression. The OP has that plus some other psychiatric ("mental") dx, so none of this is neurological.

Secondly, I am not suggesting he eschew meds in favor of CT, but that, since he's already got the appointments set up, CT is what he can look into in the meantime, which is the strategy he asked for.

I have a diagnosis of "Major Depression", myself, and have variously tried several anti-depressants, none of which made a dent in it. Cognitive Therapy worked wonders. The San Diego County Mental Health system uses it in all their group therapy sessions (which, of course, are done in conjunction with meds).
No, Cognitive Therapy was developed for people with severe, lifelong dysfunctional depression.

zoobyshoe

He has pretty much just outlined Cognitive Therapy. I still suggest you get the book because it breaks the strategy into detailed tactics.

m'lady

In the time it has taken me to register Zooby has pretty much said all I wanted to add. Ibelk, I too thank you for good advice. It does seem to me an outline of CT. I appreciate a cautious nature in approaching any drugs, and must note that many I've seen saying how helped they are by the drugs do not see themselves from the outside where they appear just not to care anymore. I would submit that in some this lack of caring goes too far, thus the thoughts of suicide cautioned about in the med info. I would also like to submit that all depression in the end is neurological. It may self right or be long term, but it touches the roots of our being. While drugs can be found that suit an individual, it is wrong to ignore that in tests placebos often help as much, and exercise more. In the interim, the root question here, we do have some choices we can make. Ibelk outlines them. The fact that many have come to the same conclusions underlines that we can influence our bodies through the behaviours we choose. There may be an interim to that too. And that interim may need drugs. There definitely is a time to care less.
The article on math vs memory on this site is not quite a tangent. There is an inverse relationship in brain activity regarding them. For me, I cannot often go to sleep, even with drugs, without quieting my mind by doing some kind of nonverbal activity, ie sudoku or tanagrams. - a matter of focus.
Thanks everyone for your thoughts on the Intelwanderer's plight on another who shares it.

Evo

You have no way of knowing if his depression is not related to neurological problems. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16612216

He did say he had another diagnosis. I didn't say there was a neurological condition called "depression". You should be more careful when you read and when you reply, and perhaps try not to get so flustered over terms.

Perhaps it would be better to refer to it as "biological", that would cover clinical depression and a wider range of disorders.

http://uhs.berkeley.edu/lookforthesi...nsuicide.shtml

intelwanderer

True-it could be that it is tied in with my condition. We will see.

I found lbelk's advice rather useful, at least for today.

zoobyshoe

He specifically said he had another "mental" diagnosis. Therefore there's no reason to start speculating about a neurological cause.

My own depression could very likely be neurological because the co-morbidity of psychiatric depression with seizures is extremely high, around 50%. Regardless, Cognitive Therapy turned out to be an extremely effective way for me to manage it.
Believe me, I read what you wrote carefully:

This clearly associates all non-situational depression with a neurological problem. In fact, though, the bulk of people being prescribed meds by psychiatrists for depression are not considered to have a neurological problem.

The effectiveness of Cognitive Therapy is independent of the cause of the depression. That's one of it's distinguishing features: it targets the here and now manifestations, not the causes.

Evo

Go with his advice and ignore (sorry) the off topic bickering.

intelwanderer

Another thing that is making me happier is being a lot more open minded about my future(I don't where I do my Phd now nearly as much, and I'm questioning whether that will be what I do at all) and keeping it all in perspective. I'm not sleeping in a Jakarta slum. I'm fed. I've got a family who cares about me and who I'm getting along a lot better with now than I was a few years ago. They support me in spite of my failure still. I won't be in debt even. Yeah, sure, there are a LOT of things that I wish were different about my life, but ultimately, those are details, cherries on top of the cake, if you will. I won't be getting a 4.0 this semester, but so what?

If anything, this makes me mad, because I've got so **** much but I'm not taking advantage of it. This is significant-anger is different from sadness, which I felt before when having this thought. But maybe this anger will motivate me.

I don't care if things get off topic-I tend to steer conversations that way all the time. I'd imagine that the mods would care though.

Evo

I *am* a mod.

mkjet7060

CBT did absolutely nothing for me until I got on meds. Therapy works for some without medication and id def recommend that route first, but if you find its not helping, give medication a shot. Also id recommend wellbutrin first if possible, I've tried the ssris and they seem to kill my motivation while wellbutrin has the opposite effect(and does for many people).

intelwanderer

Trust me, I know.


I'm on the phone with my mother and we are arranging it.

Drakkith

Hmm...I wonder if this would help me. I've been extremely negative towards myself the past 6 months or so, if not longer and I think I finally realized why. But I don't know if it will help since I don't think there's anything I can do to fix the problems that are making me...depressed I guess.

zoobyshoe

As I said the book is very easy to find and even most likely free to read from the library, so you are risking about nothing to get hold of it and start reading. Cognitive Therapy is dependent on doing exercises, I should let you know, to break the habit of defaulting to cognitive distortions. Simply reading the book alone won't have much effect, though it ought to clarify what it's about and that it makes extremely good sense.

Drakkith

Alright, I may check it out. Thanks zooby.

Spinalcold

I too have a lot of problems with depression, but am very stubborn...hence I haven't gone for help like I should. I admire you for that.

I agree with most of the people who have posted here, but I have one thing to add that you may not like. Could it be that you are putting too much pressure and stress upon yourself? Having a goal of an A is great, but if you are sacrificing your mental health in the process it isn't. Grades aren't everything, you seem to have a great relationship with the physics dept in your university, that is a very important tool. They know your interest, your true potential and your drive. They can not only help you with marks but the right placement for you. Marks aren't everything, people skills help, and with your openness to ask for help it shows that.

Keep in mind, not all the best physicists were brilliant in school. Some like Bell had an extremely hard time.

I wish you the best of luck, but I think you are on the right track. Just remember to be proud of what you have done and don't put that much pressure on yourself to be perfect.