I’ve known since I was a kid that I’m depressed. I even have infant photos of me, where I look like I just hate life. Other baby photos the baby is smiling, and interested in everything. Whereas I look like even though I’m too young to even have thoughts, I’m still giving off body language of “leave me alone”.
But when I started asking everyone I knew if they too were depressed, I haven’t gotten one single person to say that they’re happy. Everyone has said they’re depressed. So now I wonder if it’s a regional thing, or if everyone everywhere is depressed.
There is depression and then there is clinically diagnosed depression. The two are not the same. Self diagnosis can only go so far and has a high likelihood of being wrong. The latter is not as common to have.
Depression has gotten massively common because people tend to self-diagnose themselves. They self-diagnose themselves because therapy costs are high.
I’ve gone through therapy to say that I absolutely do have it. But then again, I knew for certain that I already had it prior to seeing at least two therapists. Because I’ve had a shitty childhood, I’ve gotten bullied an awful lot through childhood, I had unsupporting and unloving parents. A lot of my ambitions and dreams weren’t realized because I didn’t have the necessary tools to go and achieve them. My school career was so embarrassing that I elected not to go to college because I had nothing to show for it.
And while I can say that I’ve had decent friends and some good relationships. I keep finding myself fighting with whether or not anyone actually cares of me and simply just isn’t tolerating me so they can take advantage of my generosity.
So I have plenty to be depressed about.
Even they happy people I know acknowledge shits going down hill. Reality objectively sucks even when things are personally going well.
I don’t trust anyone who isn’t depressed right now
lolwat?
bruhh… this would only make sense if you ID a specific group. Any point of time everything is happening on planet earth. some people sleeping, some working, some fucking… some having mental break downs while somebody else is married…
however, if you are a modern wage slave paying bills, you are likely not feeling too strong right now and depending on how worn our you are, you might also be depressed.
Reminds me of these mgmt lyrics:
if you’re conscious you must be depressed or at least cynical
I’m not depressed. Sometimes I get a little seasonal affective disorder but I just take vitamin D now and that seems to have solved that.
I have clinical depression. Most of my friends have a mental illness/aren’t nerotypical, we joke that we find each other. But as for actively being depressed, I can’t say most of my friends are and my own mood is on an upswing.
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Depressed people love talking online about how depressed they are. Especially self-diagnosed depressed people.
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Young people in particular are prone to “depression” because they want to fit in and depression is so hot right now
Have you considered that depression is “hot” because a huge portion of the population no longer have to suppress their feelings?
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Do you mean clinically depressed or just unhappy with life?
I know a couple people who are clinically depressed. They take medication for it. It helps.
Most people I know seem to be doing more or less okay. Not counting like stress about climate change and the political landscape and what not. But like one friend just did a nice trip with his partner, another guy I know just had a nice birthday party, another person’s enjoying her new job, etc etc.
Nope. I’m really happy with my life and most of my friends are too. I look forward to what the future may bring, but I can see myself becoming depressed if a close friend or family member passes away, as I love them very dearly.
I know lots of people who aren’t depressed.
We also understand a lot more about mental health than we used to, including the fact that mental health challenges are not as unusual as they were once thought to be. Growing up in the 90’s and early 2000’s, I was just a “lazy”, “unmotivated”, and “inattentive” kid. You know, a “space cadet.” I now know that I have ADHD. I have also struggled with depression since childhood. Depression, anxiety, and emotional disregularion are often comorbidities with or symptoms of ADHD. Getting a diagnosis and on proper medication was life changing for me.
But, lack of happiness is not the same as depression. I think sometimes people get those confused. You can be unhappy without being depressed. I would say that there’s a whole lot more unhappy people in the world than depressed people. I also think people often look for joy in the wrong places and expect that “stuff” is going to make them happy. It works. For a bit. But that kind of happiness quickly vaporizes and leaves you feeling as empty as felt were before.
Real happiness comes from a sense of fulfillment. That looks different to different people. I feel happiest when I feel like I’m “grounded”. When I get time to shake off all the responsibilities and BS that gets piled on my plate. Sometimes that’s when I’m kneeling in church on a Sunday morning or taking time out of my relentless schedule to play with my kids. Or when I can get my wife to go for a walk with me. Especially when I can do something that makes someone else’s day a little brighter.
It took a lot of searching to find the things that bring me joy. And the only way to really know if something will is to experience it. Life is hard. On some level there’s just no way around that. But it can also be good. Personally, I’ve had a LOT of hard days. But I’ve had a lot of good days too. For me it makes the hard days worth it.
In my case, I’m just addicted to social media like Lemmy. That’s what causes it. I can’t quit it.
yeah. I can’t definitively say that I do, because I put up a perky front to not appear depressed, and I don’t know if others are doing the same.
No
I have never been really depressed, even in bad times in my life I was able to see a better future. My mother has been diagnosed with depression when she was around 30 but when we look at any pictures from the past, other than her wedding, she always looked depressed.
As far as I understand it’s some chemical inballance in the body but our scientists weren’t able to pinpoint how to fix it (yet).
This makes me sad for my mom, but not depressed. My own life has been getting better and better, especially since covid started. I’m one of the lucky ones I guess.
Depressiom is a malfunction of the brain, just like diabetes is of the pancreas. It has both genetic and environmental triggers.
Some people are going to contact the disease early for no apparent reason. They fight it their entire lives.
Other people have strong environmental influences that trigger the disease. The right treatment can effectively stop or even reverse the progression of the disease. Other people are resistant to the treatment the the disease progresses unchecked.
Both diseases are deadly if not treated at all.
The hardest part for people suffering from depression is that the disease itself fights against treatment. All the things that people need to do to feel better are the last things a depress person wants to do: Set a regular sleep cycle, have a strong exercise routine, eat well balanced food, take your medication on time, avoid self-medicating with other drugs, attend therapy regularly, interact with supportive friends, engage in hobbies they enjoy, etc… aka a living hell and a daily battle requiring energy they don’t have. Oh and every part treatment takes time to have an effect as well. So at the beginning (2-5 years) they have to do all that work to still feel like shit at the end of the day.
Where’d you grow up where everyone is depressed? Detroit? I kid, Detroiters. Y’all got some things going on.
But naw; not depressed and don’t know too many depressed people.
