Do you believe depression is a true illness or ... (see details)?

Question

do you believe that people can just "fix" themselves and "get over it"?
Isn't is like telling a diabetic to just "get over it"?

Answer 1

Depression is a true illness. Many people identify the feeling of being clinically depressed as "feeling sad for no reason", or "having no motivation to do anything." A person suffering from depression may feel tired, sad, irritable, lazy, unmotivated, and apathetic. Clinical depression is generally acknowledged to be more serious than normal depressed feelings. It often leads to constant negative thinking and sometimes substance and drugs abuse. In fact, there is a difference between the "depressed-mood" and a true clinical illness. When we talk about the mood, it's a sad or low mood or a loss of pleasure, an emotion that does not affect capacity to perform personal obligations, while the "clinical depression" can become a major depressive disorder, a state of intense sadness, that has advanced to the point of being disruptive to an individual's social functioning.

People can't simply "fix" themselves, not "get over it" they need qualified help for this.

Answer 2

Depression is an illness and diabetics have a disease that can only be controlled with medical help. Depressive people need the support of the medical field and their close contacts. This is not something to make light on for either illness and I hope others understand that. Depression has killed more people I've cared for than any other illness. We need to reach out a hand when it's needed.

Answer 3

What is Depression?

Depression is a medical illness that affects the mind, brain, and the body. Depression refers to a disorder of a significant level of severity and duration. Depression also has some specific symptoms that your doctor or therapist will discuss with you. As stated earlier, this is more than the every day, temporary blues that we all experience from time to time, and it is more than the normal sadness or grief that we experience due to the loss of a loved one.

Depression is often described as painful, even though nothing is "broken." However, what is really "broken" is someone's spirit. It is an emotional state that is very painful to deal with and the depressed person often feels that there is no hope, and cannot see the light at the end of the tunnel. They may begin to feel worthless and think they no longer have anything to contribute to their family and friends.

Answer 4

To quote my psychiatrist no one can "cure" you. The best a psychiatrist can do is help you to know yourself, which can take a life time.
When you start digging and probing and trying to understand, which is not always a pleasant experience depending on what you find, you may gradually see what you can and cannot deal with and do the best you can. Sometimes medicine is required.
Nothing can be "fixed". Every one is a little off in some way. It is just a matter of degree.
If someone close to you is going to have life threatening surgery and the Doctor tells you not to worry because logically it will not help. Can you say that he is logically right and go party that night? We are emotional people. That is why depression is an emotional disorder and should be treated accordingly.

Answer 5

I definitely believe that it is an illness and it does depend on the severity of it with each person who suffers from it.
We are not able to fix it, as you put it. It's a chemical imbalance in the brain that can be helped in a number of ways. And sometimes people do get over it if they are not suffering from clinical depression, chronic depression or manic/depression (sometimes referred to as bipolar).
I say they can get over it because sometimes people find themselves depressed when traumatic things happen and it takes them longer than someone without depression to get past it. But it's not on their own doing except for keeping positive thoughts, seeking help, doing things to make their depression better and less severe as time goes on.
Then there are the people who truly need all the help they can get because it's so debilitating that they can no longer function and take care of themselves. They need psycho-therapy, sometimes medication and many people need one or both for the rest of their lives.
It all depends on the person, how bad their depression truly is and what type of help they are seeking and receiving.
I think this was a very interesting question; seems to have gotten a lot of people thinking. A variety of answers for sure.

Answer 6

Regardless of whether or not it is recognized as a "TRUE" illness, it is a real affliction that affects millions. Sometimes it's because of something simple like a breakup (which I know is not always so simple but lets face it that's pretty minor) that most people can just "get over" and sometimes it's much more serious. Lots of people try to downplay post-partum depression but don't you wonder how many of those mothers who killed themselves and their children were suffering but noone reached out? How many of them were told to "get over it"? Some people are truly depressed and need therapy and even medications to help them. So yes, I would say it could be alot like telling a diabetic to just "get over it." Interesting question.

Answer 7

Is it a real illness ? Are you kidding ? If there's only one illness that is real it's depression. If there is one illness that can paralyze you and affect every aspect of your life, it is depression. Nothing pisses me like people who think they are being smart by saying the "it's all in your head" sh*t. I wish I could pull their stupid tongues out of their ignorant mouths so they'll never be able to say it again. Why do people like to repeat words they hear from others without ever knowing what the hell they're talking about ? Most people believe in the "it's all in your head" crap even though they have never suffered from depression and have no clue what a destructive thing it can be.
I just want to add, I agree with Delicate. That's exactly what I tell my stupid friends. Why would someone choose to live in sadness and misery if he could be happy instead ? It makes my blood boil when people say ' life is what you make of it', or ' you can be happy if you want to' !! Yeah, all these depressed sad people can be happy in an instant, but no, they don't want to be happy. They just want to be sad and miserable !! I just want to tell all those idiots out there that there isn't a switch that you can turn on or off to control your mood.

Answer 8

Being depressed is a normal feeling due to circumstances. However "clinical depression" is a very real and serious illness which can range from minor to terrifying. It is important to have a Doctor help identify between the two if you cannot climb out of a depressed state in a reasonably short time.

Answer 9

Yes, it is sometimes a disease and other times it is more like an episode. If you suffer from depression and find you are not "getting over it" you should seek out some medical help and see if there may be a chemical imbalance or something else affecting why you are in a state of depression.

Answer 10

Over the last five years I had begun to have increasingly withdraw into a downward spiral of depression..

But now with the method I can fully focus my energy and thoughts into a decisive line on how to make my life better constantly. And it works like magic! I'm beginning to attract people to me once again and things have just been looking up since then.

Helping you eliminate depression?