Is depression forever?

Thanks for your views xxxitaliaxxx13, I wish it was as easy as just sitting down and talking to someone, but that is great if your a bit down, but not if you have major depression or any other mental illness. I agree that therapy is a good thing to help but it alone is not a cure, but that is only my view It might be different and helped others on it's own. Thanks:)

I know what you mean redrover, you feel better so you think it's gone and you no longer need your treatment, when in fact it is the treatment that is helping you feel like your cured. So even if you feel better never just stop your meds or treatment, it is a vicious circle. I hope it is curable, but I just maybe havnt been cured yet!

I am glad you found a great doctor who treated the syptoms you had, not just the name. I don't think you taking anti psychotics odd, as I too have had taken them for a while but am only only anti depressants now, some did use to make me feel like a zombie, but I guess it is just finding the right ones for the individual. I am glad to hear you have been well ever since it is good to know it does happen, that people get better and move on. Thanks for your response RobinJ.:)

I like to think it can also kissableroo, as I have been fighting with it for 13 years and even though it is not as bad as it was years ago, it still hangs around. It is a tiring thing and I hope your new meds work for you, and you find the right balance. Hang in there.:)

Thank very much for your encouraging words. I truely hope one day you can be completely free of your depression.
Roo

Thanks to you also kissableroo, I look forwad to that day and I wish it also for you.:)

Good point girlgonefishing, it would depend on the cause of the depression and the type. I guess depression bought on by life experiences like the death of a loved one, would heal in time, and I guess if not cured depression can be controlled to the point of being the same as cured but needing long term treatment, which if it was a choice of quality of life it would depend on the individual. I cant say I would rather be depressed than stay on my meds, I think I will stick with them, though some I have had over the years the answer may differ!! Thanks for your input girlgonefishing.:)

A long time, that can sometimes seem like forever.. Thanks lalchetian.:)

I agree with you ciades, being optamistic is helpful, and havijng something to believe in also helps. I am glad you have recovered from your depressive patches and thanks for sharing your experience with this.:)

Thanks for the good information and advice isin07, I have suffered from depression and other problems since I was about 15 I am now 27. Most if what you said I have heard before, but it is still great advice for those who have not heard or recieved any treatment and where wondering what steps to take. I agree with the statement on the meds, I have no problem with the fact I will probably be on meds for the rest of my life, I mean if I had diabetes and needed meds to make me feel better and keep me alive then of course I would take them and the same is with my depression. I guess I just in one of my weird thinking moods, wondered if depression is actually curable or just controllable, I guess though know thinking about it as long as it is controll able then I guess that is way better than it being out of control!!!
Thanks again.

Hey it's your opinion and thank you for sharing, you dont need to be an expert to have a say, I have suffered depression for a long time and I have no more right than anyone else to offer advice, as what works for one doesnt necessarly work for everyone. I agree eith you about there are way to deal with it and to live a happier life, I guess I should just be grateful for that and not look for more, I guess it is nice to dream though! I wish you luck with your knew approch to dealing with your emotions, I too use to stuff myslef with food to make myself feel better, but it didn't make me feel better for long cos It made me stack on the weight and then I just had another reason to hate myself, I guess it is just finding that moderation and better ways to deal with emotions, but it is all a learning process and no one (unfortunatly) can do it for us. All the best.:)

Thanks, I have no other option, being overweight AND depressed was just making me downright miserable. In fact my saving grace right now is that I am feeling better about myself BECAUSE I am doing something about this part of my life.. other areas, well thats something else all together. Best of luck to you!! If you want to ever chat, I am here:)

Thanks mbs730 I am here like wise for you, it is good to know there are people to rant to if need be!:)

hmm and would you like to give some advice on how you manage to get and keep a job when you have clinical depression?

I do wish that people who do not know what they're talking about wouldn't say things like this.
You cannot think yourself out of depression. yes getting out does help but most of teh time you can't get out cause of it. Depression stop even things that do make you feel good from making you feel good!

Hey, I had clinical depression, pal, and you know what I found out, all those meds that the doctors put be on were only making me more depressed, so I got off of them. Then I thought to myself, I need to have a positive attitude is what I need to have. Life is too short to be depressed. If you are down all of the time, you miss out on half of your life. I lost part of my life that I will never get back because I was so depressed. Where the Hell did being depressed get me? Nowhere! Now that I am not depressed, I have a job, I am in my last years of college, and I have a boyfriend. I hate to be harsh, but you need to cut the depressed attitude and start living your life or you are going to lose it. I had every reason to be depressed too, I found out that my father was dead, one of my friends that I was close to died at 13, and my brother died at the age of 20. Should I be depressed? Probably, but what is going to become of my life if I am? My brother told me before he died, "I do not care where I came from, as long as I am here." He loved life, and for the short life that he had, he lived it. He partied, he traveled, he worked, he had a girlfriend, he was went to UCI, he had it all. Yes, his life was short and his death was tragic, but he lived, dammit, he lived!

First of thank you both for your take on things, just remember though that even if we have had depression we still cannot undersatnd what another person has gone through as depression is not a clear cut thing. Different things work for different people and I know we all have different things that we do to help us get through it, but not all of them work for everyone. I think it is great rogeu13xmen13 that you were able to change your thinking and get where you have in your life despite the challanges it seemed to throw at you, it was still not an easy thing for you but you did it. It is still not that way for a lot of people with depression and other mental illness's, medication and therapy in some cases is the difference between life and death for some, and this is the point Indium was trying to make.Each case is different and I have to say from my personal experience going out into the public and getting a job to me would have been like asking my to pull all my teeth out, and I would have killed myslef rather than have to face the world, but that was me. Thanks again.:)