Anyone else suffer? It's a right bastard. My life would be perfect if it wasn't for the never-far-away Black Dog biting at my heels.

yes .time it was talked about more .i have a brilliant doctor and a very understanding partner .

there.that's cheered everyone up hasn't it ...

It's hard to break the negative cycle of thought. However as I tell all the people I work with it's for you to take that black dog and show it whose boss. No matter how bad things may be hope is never lost and I can honestly say I've seen people change their lives round when everyone else had abandoned them. It's about finding your own coping strategies for fighting boredom and those hideous negative ideations that come with it.

If anyone is interested I thoroughly believe is Qi Gong for relaxation and happy, positive thought processes. You may feel silly doing it but it does work.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Qigong

in reply to cherry lips - depression comes in many different forms. mine is not because of childhood abuse , or anything bad that has happened to me , aprt form the usual knocks of life , broken hearts etc . i am genetically predisposed to it . my dad has always suffered from it , but he is a different generation , where it was never acknowledged or spoken about. with alcoholism on the other side of the family , it was kind of a given one of us would inherit it . its always there and i have learnt to accept it always will be. the problem is you just don't know when to expect it . chemical imbalance plays a massive part , that why i take my pills , and my doctor is fantasticin that he asks how i am , counselling hasn't worked for me, but medication has. of course some days i don't want to get out of bed, and some days when i can sleep is the only way . thats where my lovely tel comes in , he was very muvh of teh pull yourself together and get on with it , but he understands now .god bless him . and having kids make it all worthwhile. it is just part of who i am, i cant change it so ........and at least its being spoken about more , its not a disease, and more people have it than you think.
weegie , i find baking and sewing very theraputic...

Interesting words everyone, and I'm glad there's been a response in what is a difficult subject. There's still so much stigma attached to mental illness - which statistically one in four (I believe) of us will experience during our lives.

It's been a strange old week for me. Following a bad "incident", I've discovered that the diagnosis of depression I had fifteen years ago isn't accurate.

I've just been diagnosed with bipolar disorder.

All sorts of feelings and memories have been going round my head, and as I read more about the illness, I keep saying to myself "f&cking hell, that's right, that's what's been happening all along".

I'm coming off the SSRIs slowly now, and will be starting a new course of medication to treat the bipolar. I really hope I can get a handle on my illness now, and live a better life. Wish me luck!

And the very best of luck to all of you who are struggling with the Black Dog.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: William Nothing,

quote:

Originally posted by weegie-fi:
It's about finding your own coping strategies for fighting boredom and those hideous negative ideations that come with it.

That's interesting Weegie. I never, ever get bored. In fact, I can't relate to it at all. Also, I rarely think negatively, and sometimes not even in the bleakest moments. For me, a depressive episode involves a complete lack of nourishment. Everything is flat and sort of "grey", no colour, no flavour, no substance*. Just a horrible sort of emptiness which is heartbreaking and exhausting.

*I'm talking metaphorically here.

quote:

Originally posted by weegie-fi:
If anyone is interested I thoroughly believe is Qi Gong for relaxation and happy, positive thought processes.

Wasn't he in Star Wars? I'll look it up. Thanks!

quote:

Originally posted by madame fist:
in reply to cherry lips - depression comes in many different forms. mine is not because of childhood abuse , or anything bad that has happened to me , aprt form the usual knocks of life , broken hearts etc .

That's the difference between clinical depression and reactive depression, I believe. The symptoms are similar, and reactive depression should be treated seriously of course, but it's not quite the same thing. And it's a damn sight more complicated than that, I know.