How does one become and stay clinically depressed?

Question

I do not know what it is like to just feel normal-happy the majority of the time. I would like to know and am in therapy and have started medication about 6 weeks in. Though I have a wonderful life I often feel sad and anxious, and have for much of my adult life. My question is why am I still depressed? Is it that I have a physical propensity for it? I know my mother was depressed, is it hereditary? Or is it in part because when you are sad a good part of your life your body gets used to it and can't do anything else, even when things get better? Or a combination?

Thanks in advance.

For those of you suggesting that I go out and make friends, and get hobbies, please note I have plenty of both. Everything you might say I need to have a good life I have. So the answer is not that easy unfortunately. Thanks to those giving thoughful and knowledgable answers.

Answer 1

you probably do not need drugs. Get a hobby or take up skating,skiing,ballroom dancing,or start walking and/or running.

Answer 2

Depression can quite often be genetic. If your medication is not working talk to you doctor you may need to have your dosage increased or the medication type changed.

I have suffered from depression since I was a teenager I am now in my 30's and I have over come it. You can too. Try eating very well (5-6 small meals a day) and excercising. Get out make friends. Try taking Essential Fatty Acids - there is a link between genetic depression and not enough fatty acids in the diet. There is lots you can do. Keep with the therapy and talk to your doctor about adjusting your medication.

Answer 3

Oh, I feel so much for you. I have a son with clinical depression also. Yes it is in the genes and I'm afraid like everything else, it is up to the person to try and fight it by, eating well, no alcohol and smoking, plenty exercise and hang around with positive people at all times. You will gradually fight it off. It may sound like hard work but, if you don't have a go you'll never find out the best cure.
I hope someones suggestions may help you today. I wish you all the best.

Answer 4

Clinical depression usually happens because of a chemical imbalance in your body. The medication that ur doctors are prescribing will try to even out the imbalance and make ur symptoms milder. Having a relative who's had depression does put someone at a slightly higher risk of getting depression. The important thing is to keep taking ur medications, because it takes the medication anywhere from 2-6 weeks to "feel" like it's working, so if you don't feel like the medication is helping at all, PLEASE don't stop taking them, it takes a while for the medications effects to take over. It is a good idea to take it one day at a time,and to know there you have people who support and love you and there are crisis lines to call if u feel you need to talk. I know you will be able to make it through this, just take little baby steps at a time, stay on ur medication.

Answer 5

this sounds to me like you suffer from dysthmia. that is a form of
depression that lasts a life time and seems to have no start and no end. the person will work go to school all of that have friends like you but just say they are and were never happy. yes this is something that is linked to genetics but the gene has not been found . what they do know is that if one parent or grandparent had it then the child is far more likely to end up with it.
as for why you dont feel better now . that can be because the medication you take needs time to build up and that you may not as yet even have reached the dosage that is needed for the drug to work . many drugs such as ssri drugs have to be started slowly and increased slowly. they take time to work. the other
reason may be that the drug you are taking is not the right one for you . the doctors do know what they are doing yes but depression is an illness that they still have to kind of throw shots at and hope to hit the bulls eye. there are many different drugs in the same class that they may try . there is also an entire other class of drugs moa drugs and they too are thrown sort of like shots in the dark.
i know first hand how hard this is all i can tell you is give this time . understand that the doctors will do all they can to help you but it just may take a long time to get to the right drug for you .
you have friends great . one thing i never forget from a group i was in was this saying FAKE IT TILL YOU MAKE IT. that is what we really have to do . even though you feel sad and uninterested and even may feel worse as you most likely know . you still must make every effort to continue with things you know other people do to feel happy . other people meaning non depressed people
as far as the anxiety goes the same drug your taking most likely can treat that too . There are other meds that are for the treatment of anxiety alone and they are not so much shots in the dark for the doctors. They are some of them addictive and you have to be carefull not to get hooked. i take them and i dont get hooked but i know a woman that is hooked and has been for years despite many real attempts to get off them in rehab and in the hospitail . she is now taking the drug as it is suppose to be taken but just not all the time .
so anyway what you need is to fake it till you make it . time .
dedication. faith. a doctor you connect with . help from friends and family . God . more faith and more time .
at some point the best med for you will be found and you will feel better . as well talk theraphy is said to be in some cases just as effective as medication so you might hit this with both a phycolagist and the meds .
whatever happens see this as being an illness that is no more your fault then childhood diabetics are at fault.
i will pray for you and i hope you pray for yourself and all the people who need help .

Answer 6

It can be hereditary, but it can also just be a chemical inbalance and you cannot control it. I had to take anti-depressants for a long time. I am also anxious a lot of the time. Ask your doctor about Zoloft, it is good for both.

Answer 7

i think of you're clinically depressed yet i ask your self in spite of if chlorpromazine is optimal for you. it fairly is slightly a zombie coming up drug, inspite of the reality that I purely say this from experience as i'm not a physician. i think of you ought to ask for a metamorphosis in drugs. little need asserting take exercising - that does artwork besides the undeniable fact that it fairly is obtrusive you're growing to be some exercising taking your canines out. Social theories of melancholy could advise that all of the climate are there so which you will have become depressed. forget approximately your loved ones telling you to pull your self mutually. in the event that they had had melancholy themselves they could be attentive to how silly it is to declare certainly one of those element. CBT could help, yet purely as solid is speaking to a volunteer, because it actually relies upon on who's doing the listening. As somebody else has stated, the Samaritans are solid. Their training is 2d to none. in case you touch your community PCT they assist you to be attentive to of any community psychological wellbeing help strains on your area, and any centers from ideas or Sane that could exist regionally. My perfect suggestion is to aim to maintain in there - there are various fellow victims and that's an somewhat difficult worldwide for all and sundry. My very perfect desires.

Answer 8

although the AMA knows they tell few.. your diet has caused you(most likely) an acidic condition..you should try slowly changing to whole grains and organic vegetables...cut out the sugars and the chemicals(like the phosphoric acid in colas), in less than 3 months you will be done...if this is too much all at once try an organized diet like vegan or macrobiotic.

Answer 9

You get depressed by being on Yahoo answer all day. You stop getting depressed by reading the Power of Now by Eckhart Tolle and getting on with lfe.

Answer 10

You may want to read this article http://www.healthadel.com/articles/9/1/Depression-Treatments/Page1.html i found will be useful also has info on different treatments.