no u.

You're only going to turn this into a flame war if you keep going.

yeah you got it, how much is the wager and how do you intend to prove it

edit: I'd like to point out that yo soy is making a lot of assumptions and it's plainly obvious she's doesn't understand this issue at all

You know what I mean. It's not like what's-his-face's teapot orbiting the sun. There is a finite number of people and a finite number of 40 year olds that used to be depressed. Interview all of them until you find one who got over their derpession overnight, then I win the bet.

I think people with depression have a lifelong battle with it and it doesn't just change overnight. Of course, some times things are better and you have to keep in mind the things that are making it better, for the next depressive "episode". I'm not saying this to belittle your situation or by golly, I want your life to suck too!

yeah if you think one day you're not going to battle with your demons then you aren't being very realistic

again, i'm glad you're happy and life doesn't have to be shitty all the time but if you actually have a mental illness it doesn't just go away one day, you just learn how to deal with it better and know how to recognize what's happening to you. we are not as smart as we think we are...

there's going to be a lot of people like the unmentionable one in this thread that seem to think that people who are depressed choose to be that way or that you're the one that controls your own destiny and you can choose to be happy and blah blah blah but they usually have incredibly debased veiws of themselves, e.g. believing they possess qualities they do not have, and don't really know much about mental illness in the first place.

but yes! you're right. You don't always feel like shit all the time. You don't always think about killing yourself all the time. It's nice isn't it?

this is what i said, ya ding-dong. no need to mock me.

just because you and brendan are more vocal about your depression doesn't mean people who aren't vocal about it have no room to say anything. what exactly did i say that was so wrong?

nothing. because that is my experience and obviously some other people have the experience of just moping, putting others down, and not being pro-active. i started keeping in mind the things that made me feel better a few years ago, like you said. i started to be able to tell when i would start to feel unusually down for no reason and i would liken it to a cold in the sense i had to get out of the house and do something before it got worse. i would run or volunteer or write or even just open the blinds. when i moved here i was working as an office manager in downtown but i realized if i was going to make a change by moving here i may as well go even further and make anther change for the better so i went to depaul and am now certified in grant writing and am working with a non-profit and hope to continue because it's what makes me happy. and my drinking no longer negatively affects my life (and hasn't for the past year. one whole year today) but depression is a life-long battle.. i'm just better equipped for it now.

thanks for this. i love stephen fry.

Maybe I will battle my demons. Let them come, I've been there before. If it ever does happen, I'll be in a much better place and I'll have the support of those who care about me. One of those people could even be a loving girlfriend.

If I'm choosing to be happy, then it's only by wanting to hold onto feeling great about myself, which I woke up to without even trying. The last time that happened was only after I'd slept with someone.

I mean shit, I'm taking daily showers and brushing my teeth twice a day now. It feels so good just to be doing normal things. Baby steps.

oh goddamn it.

i don't think you realize how straight up insulting this post is.

"A tendency to melancholy.... let it be observed, is a misfortune, not a fault." ~ Abraham Lincoln

what? finding out what makes you happy and going for it is a bad thing when you're depressed?

dealing with it =/= suffering in misery

you're just so stoic in your depression it's sickening.

this is the behavior of someone that's happy and mature

i think you're underestimating what an insurmountable challenge it is for some people.

there are people for whom external environmental influences don't change a thing with respect to their mood.

happiness is a CHOICE.

Be careful you don't go manic, ok. It's a different kind of nutsville. Just keep an eye on yourself.

That's because they have mental illness! BUGHUH?

Depression is the inability to construct a future

-Rollo May

yo soy i don't read your posts or your insistent neg reps

yes you do.

plz stahp

****, i mean this as kindly as possible, but if you really had any sense of what real depression was like, you wouldn't be condescendingly offering remedies like "just do something that makes you happy!".

you can't be stoic in depression

stoic means without emotion

well i guess you can be but then they wouldn't be really sickening because you wouldn't even know they were actually sad behind their stoic visage

I agree. I felt happy first, and that's what's making me do things that make others and myself happy.

you know nothing about me. my mammy put me in therapy when i was 16 and i went off and on for years on different medications (seroquel, tamerol (sp?), campral). i was severely depressed for years and years and probably have more reasons than anyone of you to still be depressed. i was in a bad way and spent many nights in the hospital on suicide watch and even in jail until i saw nothing else to do but change. i even cut my father out of my life and haven't spoken to him in 7 years (i do feel pangs of guilt and sadness). i guess i just hit my rock-bottom.