No, it is a cure maybe for the depressed mood. But depression is something different, while changing moods are natural, and are with us all life. You cannot cure depression by telling the patient he should think positive". It is beyond his means. That is a characteristic of depression. The battries are empty. And if you load them up beyoind the zero mark, it could be that the plus in energy is used by the patient to open the window and jump out from 10th floor. That'S why one needs to be extremely careful in treatement of depression with chemical drugs. The patient may give the impression that he is improving, that he feels better - anbd suddenly he commits suicide - because before he did not even had the energy to commit suicide.

Optimism is nice as long as it does not cliud your sense of realism. Optimism alone is no strategy. I am in that campo thinking that people do not want to be happy -. they want a reaosn to be happy, then the feeling of happiness comes all by itself. For acording reasons, I am sceptical about what is called the technique of "positive thinking". It does not adress an underlaying course for somebody's feeling, but just tells him to wear a mask and hide his real face from himself. I have not ever seen somebody beeing able to truly find fulfillment in only "poositive thinking". Buzt I nhave seen quite a lot of people how did pratcice posoitve thinking (thgere are even books on it, can you beloieve it) - and then one day got caught by their shadows again and crashed hard on the tough floor of reality.

Optimism with a strong sense of realism, fine. But this technique of positive thinking? Thanks, not for me, not with me, and always without me. It solves nothing, and never adresses the reason for probolems, if there are problems. At best it buys time by ignoring them as long as possible. Or it leads to shifting symptoms, which then reminds of the same problem for several therapeutical contexts qhere behaviourist concepts get tried exclusively. Just manipulating the black box without caring for what goes on inside, often is just not enough.

What he said! :yep:

Skybird, please fly a bit lower. Your radio-link is suffering data corruption. ;)

But I quite agree with this message also. I have a tendency to think negatively, which I very much like to do less. Since it is nothing less than a vicious cycle and a self-fullfilling prophecy. Think bad of yourself, and you'll believe it and act like it. However, only seeing the positive side in things and outcomes doesn't ring right with me either. As all in life, things should return and find a balance. So does the way you think. My 2 cents. My 2 precious cents that is. ;)

Hm?

What you mean? In my last post, I commented from a clinical psychological perspective. The difference between low mood and depression, is an important one: the first is a natural thing, the latter is a very underhanded "disease" that is potentially life-threatening. The danger of carelessly "re-energizing" depressive patients and enabling them to commit suicide, is a big threat every practitioner in a psychiatric hospital is aware of, and every student gets warned of. My criticsm of black-box-behaviourism and positive thinking is shared in many different psychotherapeutical schools. What I said on that people do not want to be happy, but want a reason to be happy and then become happy all by themselves, is an opinion by Victor Frankl, founder of socalled Logotherapy and initiated by former experiences he had when being in a KZ.

Where the porblem somebody has, is more an inmstrumental one, behaviopristic methods and NLP and such can work well. Where the probelm of the person in question is based on "sense" and "meaning" or unspecified causes, these things are nbot necessarily the fiurst and best choice, and symptom shift is a big problem for them. It means that somebody seems to answer to a therapy, and his initial symptoms go away - just to make room for other, new symptoms, because the origin and the underlaying problem have not been adressed.

A lot of typos. ;)

Oh. :haha: You'll get used to it. ;)

I'm a speed-typer. Unfortunately. :D Because I never correctly learned to type even at normal speed.

Forget my above reply then. Could I know that somebody would complain about something so profane like - typos...??? :woot:

That's what a psychologist would say. And fare enough.

Your changing you moody thoughts into good thoughts your not ignoring them at all if importantly you are recognising you do have problems. With medication it just clouds you mind and numbs you. Could say the same with children who suffer from ADHD just give them ritalin during their children hood life & watch them go from ritalin to anti depressants when they are adults. No cure. They pretty much saying hey your messed up in the head we are going to slow down your days and cloud your mind so later on in your life when you turn adult you wont become a burden to society. Here take a pill. :dead: But a psychologist knows best.

And the like, there is no cure for the depressed person this way it prolongs the depression and fools them into thinking they are getting the right help. As I said for the seriously ill like bipolar or manic its there to keep them from visiting that dark hole it wont cure them though but neither will positive thinking. I'm talking of those who wake up one morning and are depressed or suffer from it after an event/accident in their lives that changed their comfort zone - no need to be a sheep and rush off to the doctors to grab some meds, learn to be master over your mind not a slave to it. Positive thinking take control of your moods & exercise.

I've had a pretty ----ty childhood to, and though I do not know your own views on my suggestions, nor this forums in general. There are two things that have helped immensely helped me cope with the past.

Metal, as in the music, and marijuana.
I know some may object to this, and that it is only a temporary solution, but I am being honest in saying that it helps.

I will also be honest in saying that meddling with drugs while depressed can lead you down a very bad path. Whatever you do, stay away from pills, and don't smoke to much. When you smoke to much you build up a tollerance and become bored of weed. When you become bored of weed, you look to harder substances to provide relief.

But whatever you do, stay the hell away from pills.

There is one "healthy" way that I can suggest which I find works.
Try hiking. Just go out in the woods, and be one with nature or whatever.
I learned more about life working on a trail crew and living sober in the woods for 5 weeks then I have in my entire life.

That is too far-leaning at the other side of extremes. Drugs are not like drugs, there are good ones, there are bad ones, and there are very good ones. And they can be of help in case of serious falls, or people balancing on the borderline between just a bad mood and falling into a depression. Some drugs will take away the pressure something applies. That "something" does not go away from the pill. You realise that it is still there - but you no longer must obey to it pushing your mood into one direction, you can remain more neutrals, and calm. That is a great help for therapy or even just recovering from a real low, becasue it enables you in the first to even deal with your life again without for example constantly panicking. Good psycho medications will leave you almost unaware of that you take them. They do not solve your issues, but give you the chance to look at them.

Especially with depressions and people with fears or being in danger to fall into a real depression, this cannot be overestimated. Depressions are one of the most wicked and underhanded "diseases" I know of. And the joke is that they are an infectous disease. Unfortunately, many psychologists would also agree on that often it is no joke at all. One depressive patient could bring down a whole family.

Don'T be too easy with pills, especially if it is just a prescription on demand by your normal doctor you have seen once over something, and he just says "Here is your Valium, here is your Prozac, now raise and walk." But to condemn them in general also is irresponsible. They can be a blessing.

The trick is to differ between the good and the bad ones, and to use them as little as possible and responsible.

However, I agree on the nature part. Being in nature, for a downed mood it is a healing factor in itself, I find. It also helps to settle a troubled mind and to come back to one'S senses.

RedMenace did not post anything within the last two days. I have not the skills to interpret his posting habits and his older posts. But from what I can see, I hope he is fine at the moment and soon back to report.

OK, this (his) thread can' t replace real life' s communication, but I am sure he will always find someone here to talk to.

danasan

Ha! I AM fine. Life floats on, and I'll still float on with it.

Thank you all for your support and kind words. I wouldn't lie, a lot of what I've read has truly made me feel much calmer.

Everyone spends half their life feeling sad, I guess the trick is to not spend the other half feeling sad about your sadness. :O:

(which of course like all things is easier said than done:yawn:)

One thing I remember about growing up in a severely dysfunctional situation is that I always thought I was the *only* one whose family was such a mess, who was going through the stuff I was going through.

Having one parent who exerted a lot of pressure to "keep it to yourself" like it was something to be ashamed of, and I would be harshly judged for it, didn't help. In all my childhood I think I only had two, maybe three friends (and probably no more than one at a time over the years) who knew some or most of what my home life was like. One or two teachers got an inkling occasionally, usually when the you-know-what hit the fan in a way that couldn't be swept under the rug.

It wasn't until I was well into my adult years that I finally let down my guard and really started telling it like it was (from my perspective, anyway). And I found that - and this was such a big deal I can't even tell you - OTHER PEOPLE HAVE SUCKY FAMILIES. It's not just me, not just us... the more open you are about things the more likely you are to find out that someone you know has been through the same stuff, or knows someone who has, and the notion that there's some kind of "perfect family" that everyone else has and you don't goes away. It's not something you even realize you believed until you don't believe it any more, lol.

So... hang in there. It can and does get better for a lot of folks like us (and there are probably more of us than we will ever know). :salute:

Not much to add to what's been said, really. I've had it rough as well, pretty much had to raise myself from when I was 10, got a chance to get out of the home by 21 at which point I had really hit rock-bottom. Some rocky years after that, but now I'm 27 and, would you believe it, quite happy.

Point is: you will be fine. Getting there may be hard, but not nearly as hard as it would be staying in that situation. Just keep that in mind as you go along, life won't bring you down that easy. ;)


And yes, I'm still carrying the baggage. It doesn't way nearly as much any more though, and if I had swept it under the rug I would still be tripping over it at every turn.

Aye that :yep:

The other mans grass often looks greener...until you jump over onto his side of the fence.