Do you think depression is a disease?

Question

Do you thinks its uncontrollable or just for attention? What are your views on it?

Answer 1

It is a disease and one, having suffered from it for 20 years, that I would not wish on my worse enemy.


Studies show that people who have both a physical and a mental illness say they would much prefer the physical disease over depression or other mentalillness as theyshade and affect so many areas of the person's life.

Since suicide is one of the biggest side effect, it is a serious disorder indeed and the biggest cause of suicide. Living with continual suicidal ideation and not acting upon it is very difficult.

Since people get better when they find the correct antidepressant or in the past with electroshock treatment (I had a grandmother helped with severe depression with electroshock therapy), it demonstrates that it is a real disorder as the brain chemistry can often be reversed with treatment and the symptoms leave.

Having tried 14 antidepressants with little to no effect, I have given up allopathethic drugs and try to live with depression. Luckily, it has been abating some the past year.

There are plenty of ways to get attention without undergoing the awful symptoms of clinical depression.

I do, however, feel there is also a thought/body connection and that negative events in one's life can exacerbate depression and things like nutrition, exercise, etc can lesson it.

Since it is a huge money maker for the pharaceutical industry, I personally doubt they will really strive to find a cure that much...just come up with more drugs to make money. Antidepressants have a lot of dangerous side effects and I am happy that I quit taking them. I believe they have further messed up my berain chemisty and changed my personality.

It should not even be classified into mental vs. physical illness as the brain is an organ and like any organ can malfunction. Separating it into these groups helps keep it uncovered often by insurance.

Another difficult thing is unlike your original premise, it does not win attention/sympathy as many people think things like you could do things if you wanted to...you could be motivated if you want to..that is, they do NOT attribute it to illness but to personal weakness of some kind,,,one does not receive the sympathy something like diabetes or cancer would engender perhaps as it is often not looked upon as an illness.

If you ever suffered from true clinical depression, you would know it is not put on and how difficult it makes life--taking away most of life's enjoyment.

Answer 2

Having suffered from it for many years, I'll have to disagree and say that most often it is just something we do to ourselves in our minds. And there are dozens of books out there that make exactly that point. I got over years of depression when I really internalized the answer to this question "When am I depressed?" In this very instant (which by the way is the only instant that I can live in right now), I can choose to be happy, no matter how much I don't want to. I can do it, and the proof is that if something wonderful happened, I would choose to react happily to it. And the same is true now. And now. And now. And in every moment forever. We are depressed because we try to live in the past and the future instead of in the present, and therefore feel powerless to control our thoughts and feelings. The cure for depression is to realize that for the most part it is a scam that we are pulling on ourselves.

But there are many people who can't or won't realize this, and for them there is medication.

Answer 3

Depression may be a syndrone, a malady or a condition.

It is not a disease, which is caused by an outside agent (bacteria, virus) causing damage to the body.

People do get depressed. Over time, their brain chemistry does change. But there is evidence that there is more that one's will can do to fight it than was previously realized and that drugs are not always the best answer.

... and by the way, Tom Cruise is a nutcase.

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Answer 4

Definitely a disease. Not for attention. But depression has to be diagnosed by an expert; just because someone says they are depressed doesn't mean they have depression. So some people may say they are depressed when they are just in a foul mood.

Answer 5

Well, to answer your first question, I don't think it's a disease. It's a disorder.

And, speaking from personal experience, it is NOT for attention and it is NOT controllable. I, personally, have a chemical imbalance and this is not something I wake up and say I'm not going to be able to function today so I can get people to notice me. I'd rather push through it and not have any body know about it and feel accomplished at the end of the day that I didn't let something I'm working to control get the best of me.

It is something I would not wish on my worst enemy.

*I'll get off my soapbox now...*

Answer 6

Of course it is a disease (see below for definition).

A person might be able to control it if equipped with the right knowledge of how to deal with it and if supported by family and friends.

I think it is controllable to a degree. I guess some people are more prone to it and might have to work harder at it then others. I don't think there is anybody who hasn't gotten the blues or had a bad day here and there. The difference is resilience. Without resilience i can see how depression can take its place. Bad day after bad day after bad week after bad month after bad year, years....See what i mean. And your mental health has a lot to do with your physical health, too. So if you aren't doing so well mentally, you might not feel like eating and if you don't eat then your body can't repair itself (such as your brain), and then you can't think straight to help yourself..etc...

So how does one become resilient? I'm still trying to work on that myself.

Answer 7

I do not believe that depression is a disease, but I do think it is a symptom of a disease.

In my limited capacity I would believe that the seratonin uptake and what ever effects that is what causes depression. So if the Doctors could correct what causes that problem then the depression would be self correcting as well.

Answer 8

Honey, no one in their right mind would choose to feel terrible. If you've never felt it, you can't possibly understand. It's as if you are in a black pit, and you are trying to claw your way out. You are fighting it all the time, because you know that it's not normal to be like that. A good day for someone that suffers from depression is a blah day to everyone else. The meds are not "happy pills", you don't get high. It's just to help you to keep from sinking back into that horrible pit. If we wanted attention, there are other ways of getting it that don't hurt as much.

Answer 9

There are two major types of depression. Endogenous and Exogenous. One is caused by an imbalance of neurochemicals in the brain, one is caused by circumstance. Endogenous depression requires medication to control in most cases. Exogenous depression usually clears with time, but can benefit from therapy, and on occasion with short term use of medication
In either case, it is a mental health disorder, and not just a behavioral problem.

Answer 10

Depression is a disease, and since there are different levels of it, I don't think you can categorize it as something else, because then you're saying, for example, that "even though this person has the worst case of depression ever witnessed, they still don't have a disease."