happy pill withdrawal

[ygolo]

Originally Posted by Usehername

Yes, is there a strong correlation between people who struggle with depression and those likely to socialize on message boards? I was not unaware of the prevalence of depression in the general population, but the ratios here seem awfully high.

I've never taken any anti-depressants. A while ago I researched depression to see what exactly would constitute clinical depression, because from talking to a friend's experience I was wondering about two periods in my past and whether or not I was just "down" or actually depressed.
One of the times was possibly due to a serious lack of socialization when I was 18 (sometimes I go 6 weeks without contacting friends and it's no big deal because I don't live alone, but the year I was 18 was outright unhealthy for a lack of social contact).
The time I think I was actually depressed was 14-16; I was dealing with some moderately serious personal issues, was certainly an insomniac (but I didn't tell anyone because when I told my mother, she didn't believe that it took me 5 hours a night to fall asleep and I'd wake up an hour before my alarm) and just had a really crappy few years. Plus the whole adolescent-brain-reorganization going on during this time makes me pretty certain I was depressed. I only wonder b/c I could fake being happy soo well around friends at school. I just stayed in my bedroom the whole time at home, though. Can you give off the impression that everything is fine when you're depressed, or is it impossible with true depression?

I think a lot of my middle-school and some high-school days were spent depressed. Even before that people used to comment that I was very withdrawn and didn't participate in things. That really made me feel like a freak. I just did what came naturally. In undergrad, and through out most of the years I was working, I would cycle between about half a year of depression, and half a year of being OK. Unfortunately, the 1/2 year became almost the whole year, this last time around, and I didn't want to go back to feeling like I did in middle-school.

I think it is possible to hide your depression. I did it by overachieving to some extent. But I think that was all just a way to prove my worth somehow (an impossible task, there is no proving self-worth, I wish there was). I used to think (and still do to large extent) that my intelligence was my only redeeming feature. In fact almost all my "success" to date has been due to "puzzle out" situations.

I'm hoping to find some good qualities of me that is not related to my mind in some way (I like to think that honesty is one, but I am not always honest).

[wyrdsister]

Well, I think that a lot of INXXs in general have a hard time at school and feel as though they are on the outside of society looking in. This, coupled with the fact that we are sensitive and intelligent, can, sometimes make us feel a little depressed, sometimes a lot. We are pretty rare aren't we?

Like... 5%?

[ygolo]

Originally Posted by wyrdsister

Well, I think that a lot of INXXs in general have a hard time at school and feel as though they are on the outside of society looking in. This, coupled with the fact that we are sensitive and intelligent, can, sometimes make us feel a little depressed, sometimes a lot. We are pretty rare aren't we?

Like... 5%?

I know INxx are farily rare, I don't know how much though. I think it is important to keep in mind that any type can be misunderstood, sensitive, and intelligent.

Sometimes I think my brother (ISFP) is the most misunderstood one in the family.

[ptgatsby]

Originally Posted by wyrdsister

Well, I think that a lot of INXXs in general have a hard time at school and feel as though they are on the outside of society looking in. This, coupled with the fact that we are sensitive and intelligent, can, sometimes make us feel a little depressed, sometimes a lot. We are pretty rare aren't we?

Like... 5%?

Having just answered this, it's about 9-17% of the population according to the full spread from capt. Should be close to 12% to give a more fixed number.

[ygolo]

Originally Posted by ptgatsby

Having just answered this, it's about 9-17% of the population according to the full spread from capt. Should be close to 12% to give a more fixed number.

Is capt. the most reliable source to go to on these matters?

[ptgatsby]

Originally Posted by ygolo

Is capt. the most reliable source to go to on these matters?

It's pretty much the only source - well, better put, all the sources are eventually flowed up to them. They are the research branch of CPP, the owners of MBTI.

[ygolo]

Originally Posted by ptgatsby

It's pretty much the only source - well, better put, all the sources are eventually flowed up to them. They are the research branch of CPP, the owners of MBTI.

Nice to know.

[Usehername]

Originally Posted by ygolo

I think it is possible to hide your depression.

Do other people think it's possible to hide your depression? Do you think you could go to school/work 40 hours a week and smile and laugh and make the right jokes and have no one have a clue that you go home and spend your evenings hiding out in your room, feeling "depressed"? (I'm trying to differentiate between "true" depression and "feelings of depression" because those two are different.)

[wyrdsister]

Originally Posted by Usehername

Do other people think it's possible to hide your depression? Do you think you could go to school/work 40 hours a week and smile and laugh and make the right jokes and have no one have a clue that you go home and spend your evenings hiding out in your room, feeling "depressed"? (I'm trying to differentiate between "true" depression and "feelings of depression" because those two are different.)

It depends just how good an actor that person is, and how deluded.

I wouldn't be able to hide severe depression that's for sure, but I can't speak of others.

[ygolo]

Originally Posted by Usehername

Do other people think it's possible to hide your depression? Do you think you could go to school/work 40 hours a week and smile and laugh and make the right jokes and have no one have a clue that you go home and spend your evenings hiding out in your room, feeling "depressed"? (I'm trying to differentiate between "true" depression and "feelings of depression" because those two are different.)

You already know my opinion, but here is a thread on a depression forum, that may help answer your question:

Smiling Depression Have you heard this before - Depression Forums

Workaholsim can be a sign of compensating for an inner sadness. So too can always putting on happy face.

On the other hand, negatively ruminating, by focusing on depressed feelings might be enough to cause it. The "negative rumination" explanations I've read turned out, for me, to be the most accurate explanation for my depression. Though, as the article implied, rumination itself was not the issue.

Based on my own experience, I would say that it is even possible to think about negative things without being negative. Simply by being "open" and "expansive" (borrowed from The Wisdom of Negative Thinking) about what you are thinking about. I found I can even be self-critical as long as I am open about it, and it may help.