Do you sometimes doubt yourself in your depressive illness and believe what others say - that its a bad?

Question

attitude or you're feeling sorry for yourself?

tabitha, the onlysolorose- Ihave what is known as treatment resistant depression. I wish I could be one of those who responds well to antidepressants but I have tried about 10 different types and none lifted it. I have also had ECT.

the above is one of the reasons i doubt myself - because if the tabs aren't working, i figure, it is because i'm not really depressed

thanks for all your kind, understanding answers. its good to know that i'm not alone in this. it will be hard to pick a best answer

david d - i've tried sleep deprivation and staying up all night and it does make me feel a lot better for a while, and even quite euphoric, but at some point in the morning i get hit by tiredness, go to sleep and wake up worse than ever.

david d - i've tried sleep deprivation and staying up all night and it does make me feel a lot better for a while, and even quite euphoric, but at some point in the morning i get hit by tiredness, go to sleep and wake up worse than ever.

Answer 1

Lots of experiences are different. People who say depression is all a bad attitude are talking about something they've never experienced. Then again, if I were to say anything conclusively about your treatment-resistant depression, I would be just as guilty of assuming too much. My depressions as a teenager were a profound lack of energy, very physical, coming and going like someone threw a switch, and responded very easily to antidepressants, too well, and when I eventually was diagnosed as bipolar it became more understandable that my depressions were definitely not a phase everyone goes through, despite how teenage questioners here are regularly advised that way.

From what I read, no one knows if those with treatment-resistant depression have a depression that is less biological than others or biologically different or just how heterogeneous a group this might be. I have a brother-in-law who didn't respond to several meds a couple of times, but did respond to ECT, only to drift back into depression. I would think his biggest problem is that he still doesn't take his alcoholism seriously enough, but if he never does, it's impossible to know how important that is for his depression.

I would think that for anyone with treatment-resistant depression, it's best to trust your mental health professional to look at you and decide if the best next thing to try is something psychological or medical. Further medical therapy might mean pharmacotherapy, since there's always something else to try, or it might mean something else like sleep deprivation. Psychotherapy can take a long time before you get maximal benefit from it. Either way it seems best to keep trying, unless your mental health professional says you're just feeling sorry for yourself. If so, I'd get another mental health professional. Maybe he or she doesn't have enough experience if he or she says anything like that.

Answer 2

Yes i do. Most of the time, that doubting person was in my own head. I spent a very long time being depressed, and not doing anything about it, because i felt that i couldn't really be depressed, and i was just being pathetic, self centred and stupid. I thought that people wouldn't understand, and would just accuse me of making a fuss. "what's so special about you" etc. I almost had this view of myself as not being allowed to be depressed because only "real" people get depressed. I have food, water, friends, family etc and therefore have no right to feel like this.

It eventually got so bad that i just couldn't face life any longer and i was forced to see someone about it. Its an immense relief to tell someone how you feel and for them to take you seriously and say "yes, you do have depression, and thats fine". I am just finishing a course of antidepressants and am feeling better about myself than i have done for years.

There are still certain friends and members of my family who i have never been able to bring myself to tell, because i feel that they would not take it seriously, and react in the way you describe. But i have to say that ignoring the bully inside my brain was the best thing i ever did.

Good luck.

Answer 3

very rarely will you find a person, who has never suffered from depression, that will give you understanding advice. the typical, frustrating sayings that people often say are:
"just snap out of it!"
"stop wallowing in self pity!"
"oh, just get on with it!"
of course, these sayings make every depressed person want to strangle and painfully murder the person who said them.
if you could just "snap out" of depression, surely depressed people would just simply "snap out of it"? why would they continue to choose to be depressed?
usually, depressed people are looking for attention. they NEED the attention. it's unlikely anyone can get through depression [not mild] by themselves, unless they're extremely lucky. they need understanding, non-judgemental support. they need to be given hope and positivity.
i'm not really answering the question, haha. sometimes, yes, i do doubt it. because i look at other happy people and think "is it really that easy to be that happy? if everyone else can be, i can too. i must be acting over the top." but i get so confused over how i feel sometimes. i try hard to be happy, i'll be on a high, then i'll sink real low and be an angry person and ahh it gets a little crazy.

Answer 4

Yup, I constantly doubt myself and think bad of myself. Others haven't really said anything like that which has suprised me as I expect to be mean and horrid and say I am a bad person, but all have been helpful and supportive which has really thrown me off.

http://uk.answers.yahoo.com/question/index;_ylt=AmDl06yGPqTcI8aRECClcY8gBgx.?qid=20070604060541AAehjDF

This is the topic that I made about my own doubts.

I agree with the laugh. Because I can laugh and smile at my tutor she doesn't how bad I actually am. She seems to think I am getting much better than I am! I also argue with myself, that if I can laugh and smile from time to time then how I can be depressed, then feel guilty for smiling!

Answer 5

No not at all, although they try 2 make u 2nd guess urself n make u feel worse. The person whose telling u that ur feeling srry 4 urself is some1 who does not understand the disorder. Depression is not something u can snap out of. U need support n some1 who understands n identifies with ur symptoms.
Best of Luck.

Answer 6

Depression does lead to bad attitudes and self pity, those are symptoms typical to depression. The issue is that there isn't much you can do about it alone. You lack the neuro chemicals required to get out of the circular downward spiral in your thought patterns, that is what medication and counselling are for, to help you pull out of the spiral. The only thing I can say, is that if you don't get the help you need, you are your own worst enemy.

Answer 7

The people who say these things have never experienced real depression, luckily for them. Depression is far more than just a 'bad attitude' or 'self pity'.

If you are suffering depression, do seek counselling or cognitive behavioural therapy, and/or medication. The right anti depressant can make a MASSIVE difference.

Answer 8

Oh yeah! It's all in your head, you're just lazy, pull yourself together, if you're depressed how come you can still smile and have a laugh - blah, blah, blah. People who have never suffered from depression cannot possibly know what you are going through. Depression is an illness, it is not your fault, you will get better (with help).

D.
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Answer 9

people that say that have never experienced it for themselves, and hopefully they never will. its easy to say you should just pull yourself out of it but its not that easy.

i know from experience how bad depression can be and it took me over 6 months and some hard medication to pull myself together and it takes a lot to keep myself from ending back there. i didnt even suffer from it for that long.

just make sure you get the help you need and keep working towards a goal, even if its something simple.

Answer 10

Actually, I would imagine that that's quite normal! After all, people with depression normally have VERY low self-esteem, so it's only natural that they would be full of self-doubt. Of course, that's not a good thing!