Depression is due to negative personality or disease?

maggie once again I am stating depression is not a choice, if it were believe me people who have could certainly never opt for it as it is certainly not fun. There are those who need medication and others with counseling and or time can find a way to subside the negative feelings. Do you really understand what depression is as it is a state of uncontrollable feelings. It is not something that people can take a pill and find themselves at some point being cured. Those who take the medications are taken to subside and help the mind be at ease. However the medication sure would not take the problem away or the feelings of depression. You say you have a friend who has depression and you really do not understand it, perhaps if you read researched a bit on how depression affects people you would be more of a friend and encouraging to your friend. Although it is not something that would heal your friend obviously, but if all of your friend's friends spoke like you and no one provided any support your friends could potential end his life. As you see depression is something really serious and not something we can take lightly. I wish your friend a great deal luck as it sounds like his own friends do not understand the problems he is facing and well what type of friends does your friend have. Maybe with all the responses you are getting to all your depression discussions, you might begin to understand it a bit more. What do you think??

A lot of people who have never experienced depression feel the same way as you do. They don't understand why people can't just "shake it off" or "go do something else" or "look at the positive side." A depletion of certain chemicals (dopamine, serotonin) in the brain makes it impossible to look at things from a different angle. You get caught in a spiral of negative thoughts that feed on themselves and get worse and worse, and you know that certain things might make you feel better, but you don't even want to try those things. In fact, true depression makes it impossible for you to even want to get better, a lot of the time. Depression can be beat without medication, but it is very difficult, and requires a lot of suppport, usually therapy, and a very strong will (and depression saps the strength of will) Often, medication is a temporary things that stops the endless negative cycle long enough to establish new healthier patterns, which help the brain produce the chemicals it was lacking, and the person can become better. It is usually still a lifelong battle guarding against the return of the negative thought cycle.

There are many things which comes into play, when it comes to depression. There are various factors, whether external or internal. At times, it's difficult to say exactly what causes someone to be depressed.

depression is psychological its all in the mind, tune your mind to the right channels it will tune your heart to the right commercials

depression is caused in many people by a very traumatic event in their lives, say they loose a job or a relative (this can be a temporary depression). it can also be caused by a lack of a certain chemical in their brain which is what the pills are for. the problem is if we exercise we can help ourselves by a natural release of this chemical but when you are truly depressed getting up, washed or even dressed can become so hard you cannot even contemplate exercise. depression in its worst form even effected by the weather. we all feel better when the sun is shining but for many people the winter with less sunlight is nothing short of a living hell now recognised as S.A.D. just remember unless you have had depression you cannot even imagine what it is like. we all feel fed up but you cannot 'just pull yourself together' with true depression all will take time until your friend comes out on the other side.

its not a disease, its only created by himself. better to do is go out with his friends, watch movies.

it's a disease. caused by part of the brain not functioning correctly. in what way could that NOT be considered a disease? when the body malfunctions and results in you not producing enough insulin naturally, that is considered a disease. depression is very similar, in that the body isn't producing enough of certain chemicals. but there is much more stigma to suffering from depression than there is to diabetes. why is this? it's very unfair. I think that you're being very discriminatory against this person who you claim is a friend, by blaming them for suffering from an illness.

Someone being negative is different from depression. Depression is a disease. Or at least a disorder. There are pills to help alleviate the feelings, but it's not for everyone. The best treatment for disorder is a whole support team of family or friends who can help him through. I'd had a lot of friends afflicted with depression. Some didn't go through treatment and most of them had to be hospitalized for breaking down. Two of them went through medication and it didn't really work in the long run. What really worked for these two friends of mine is support from family, and falling in love. That last bit might be trivial, but it's actually happened :)

depression is a state of mind. try to boost your friend's confidence and help in common matters and the problems that makes him depressed and you will notice changes in him. well do not stop taking a clinical advice so keep the psychiatrist advice as a priority and try your best to take him out of that state.

Hello Maggiewinner, I think your friend have a family doctor that he consulted to in order to take those prescribed medications. Because if he is only taking those pills all by himself then that would not be a good idea. The word Depression has its own levels, you may have mild, moderate and severe depression. We experience this mild depression when we are able to cope with it and able to do some solutions to help out ourselves from being depressed, in this kind of level is normal to people like us. For moderate Depression, we may sometimes feel we have no hope, but we have families and friends that will help us in our problems causing moderate depression. From their advices, we listen to them take a good action not to be depressed in a way that we are still open for good opinions. When a person reaches severe depression then, it needs medical and psychological health care assistance. We need health care professionals to help them from being too depressed. As for your friend, maybe he can't handle nor cope negative happenings about his life. For him, he must be aware of why he is depressed and be able to engage in one on one activities first before social gatherings. Because this person may have a shy type of personality, they tend to isolate their self and prefer to be alone. You may also encourage him to play chess with you, simple games may help, to occupy his mind of thinking negatively. As a concerned friend, you may be able to help him in a little way, do not tease him that he thinks negatively instead tell him therapeutically that asking about what he feel is better, than telling him on what to do, or blaming himself all throughout. ^_^ All you have to do is to be with him as a friend, and that you are there to help him not to let him trigger his depression.

I think the disease is himself, he must overcome his depression. He needs to go out, relax and of course a true friend that should comfort him. I remember my friend also always on nerves sometimes pass out and I accompany her to the doctor and the doctor says it is her own self can cure herself. She realize she thinks a lot about her daughter away from her, but now she overcomes it.

It depends how much time passed, if its more than a month he should find medicle help, i guess :/

The depression contains so many emotions. It begin for a precise cause but it difficult to go out. i recommend, over a good medical help, the help of good friends what they know hot to understand this period, and to help him to amuse a little. i'm very near to a depressed person, and i see improvements when the person amuse him, not thinking about his problems.

It's a mix of mental and emotional problem. I used to be depressed before but i didn't get to the point that i need to take medicines because what i did is, i forced myself to engage in such activities that will divert my mind such as spending time with my friends and hang out with them. Your friend needs professional help so i suggest you tell him that.

Believe it or not, depression is a disease. His negative personality, as you call it, may be a result of his depression. I had an officemate once who had an undiagnosed depression. He acted so weird around people until he started taking medicines. A week after, he started acting normal, unless he forgets to take one and then its back to his old weird self.

Hi Anybody is in depression is not in a nagative personality but he or she is in depression because of certain reasons like health, income, social problems, marriage life promblems,lonliness etc so don't think he or she has a nagative personality but he or she needs a good friends and support of the family members to inspire him or her to do something in his or her life sometimes persons who in in depression will get more successful in his life so, don't under astimate them. Regads