Severe Depression - Curable or Permanent Condition

[FFH]

There are those that believe that severe depression is incurable, something that you have to live with for the rest of your life. Like incurable diseases, we talk about being bipolar, manic depressive, schizophreinic, attention deficient, etc., which are all legitimate disorders. My question is this: Are they curable or incurable?

I know that I have experience several compulsive disorders, and have, also, experience severe depression to the point of wanting to end my life. Mental pain is unbearable and unrelenting. Sleep is a welcome relief if you can get any. Every waking hour is a struggle. Nothing seems worth while anymore. Death seems to be the best and only way out of the mental anguish you are experiencing. Self hatred is the norm and is what seems to fuel the downward spiral. Mental pain was much harder to bear than physical pain. Mental disorders are harsh and unrelenting and can last for years and many take their mental illnesses to the grave. This is such a waste of a good life. Were we sent here to earth only to suffer for our sins and the sins of others committed against us? We have all done something bad or had something bad done to us, some more severe than others.

Is there a cure for severe depression and mental disorders? Are you stuck with a certain disorder or mental illness the rest of your life, because of a chemical imbalance, or a horrific past injustice, that was done to you, or because of a horrible sin committed?

Is mental illness a physical disorder, like a chemical imbalance in the brain, or a spiritual disorder, like a demonic possession, or the result of a horrific past experience or sin?

I had an experience with three different people (a friend, a relative and an aquaintance), who just days, weeks and months before seemed to be relatively fine, or at least seemed fine, and the next thing I know they had ended their lives. No warning, whatsoever. I also have two friends who have come very close to taking their own lives, but are now successful and own their own businesses. Why the change? Why the turn around? At the risk of sounding pretentious, I will say, I know the answers, as to why they turned their lives around, because they have expressed them to me.

We as human beings have the unique ability to send someone into a deep depressive state OR pull them out of one. We can be so cruel to one another. It is so easy to criticize and so hard to love and encourage. It has been said that it takes, at least,
10 positive comments to negate 1 negative comment. We may hear lots of great things said about us but we still dwell on the 1 negative comment someone said about us years ago.

In both successful cases, previously mentioned (in which suicide was traded for success), it was unconditional love shown over long periods of time and in their time of crisis, that pulled them out of their own feelings of self hate and feelings of worthlessness. Asking someone to do something with you like skiing, horse back riding, motorcycle riding, fishing, boating, etc. or anything to get them out of the house, seems to help lift another's spirits enough to battle the demons in their head. Helping someone to fix a car or paint or clean a house helps a person feel a sense of self worth. Feelings of self hate amd worthlessness begin to leave. Both people are edified.

My point is this. People are silently asking for help. There are poeple all around us who need help and cannot help themselves. Both me and my wife experienced long periods of depression. My wife cried for two or three years, hours at a time, each day. I did not think she would ever stop suffering. She still has tough days, when sadness overtakes her. People are suffering every day. It may be a co-worker or a friend, a spouse or a relative, that you know, who is suffering. it may be an unresolved issue that is causing someone you know to suffer and it is affecting their normal daily life. Whatever it is, help someone do what they cannot do for themselves. I have friends who are way more successful than I am. I have sacrificed some of my own needs and desires so that they could achieve theirs. This is an amazing experience. Sacrificing of yourself for others. I have put some of my own things on hold to help others get what they wanted. Was it worth it? Are human beings worth helping? Should we just let others suffer all around us when we have the ability to help them? It is so easy to help someone change their life from something bad into something good. It only takes a word of encouragement, a helping hand, a kind word. Do something meaningful for someone else. Helping someone with their physical needs can help to pull someone out of a depressive state. This is not a corny, unrealistic or unreasonable thing to do. It does not take much to change a human heart from darkness to light.

Severe depression is curable. Mental disorders can be overcome. Give someone a chance to feel worth while again. Do something for someone other than yourself.

I am in no way minimizing severe depression. I realize their are horrific things that are done to children and adults that lead to life long feelings of worthlessness and self hate. I also know that Christ was bruised for our iniquities. A bruise is internal. Mental illness is internal. Christ suffered and died so that we would not have to suffer. Give God a chance to take away your pain. I think it is necessary to give others as well as ourselves the chance to heal as much as possible.

Don't ever say that you or others have to live with the pain of what's been done to you, or others, in the past. Don't ever say that you have to live with the sins you have committed in the past and the pain that goes along with it. If you say this then Christ died in vein. Christ can heal mental disorders. Christ can heal severe depression. Christ can heal a human heart and he is asking us to help, ourselves and each other, in this process.

Peace can be a part of your life. I know, because I made it a primary goal of mine to obtain a peace of mind at the age of 20. It took me about 4 years to do it. That was fifeteen years ago. It is possible to be free and have a peaceful mind. This was more important to me than my physical health. I would have done anything to achieve it. Fight to get your mind and your life back.

2 Timothy 1: 7

"For god hath not given us a spirit of fear, but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind."

 

[Bishka]

You say mental disorders can be overcome, but did you ever think God gave them to us for experience and learning? I believe some can be cured and others can't, it all depends on what God wants for us. Perhaps God gave me Bipolar Disorder so that I could learn from it, learn patience, humility, and many other things. I believe I have learned some of those things, but I still have much to learn.

 

[Quoth The Raven]

I also know that Christ was bruised for our iniquities. A bruise is internal. Mental illness is internal. Christ suffered and died so that we would not have to suffer. Give God a chance to take away your pain. I think it is necessary to give others as well as ourselves the chance to heal as much as possible.

Don't ever say that you or others have to live with the pain of what's been done to you, or others, in the past. Don't ever say that you have to live with the sins you have committed in the past and the pain that goes along with it. If you say this then Christ died in vein. Christ can heal mental disorders. Christ can heal severe depression. Christ can heal a human heart and he is asking us to help, ourselves and each other, in this process.
2 Timothy 1: 7

"For god hath not given us a spirit of fear, but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind."

Sounds like you're skating on the thin line that divides opinion from prozelytization.

 

[jeffrey]

(POINTS ARROW UP ABOVE) What Becky said.

 

[jeffrey]

Sounds like you're skating on the thin line that divides opinion from prozelytization.

Agreed. Faith, what worked for you, fine. But if you believe you are 'cured' I have doubts that you ever really had clinical depression. It doesn't go away. You just learn to deal with it, If not, it kills you.

 

[FFH]

Sounds like you're skating on the thin line that divides opinion from prozelytization.

If sharing words of hope from the Bible is proselytizing, Then I must be a member of the "Church of Hope". Care to join me?

 

[Aqualung]

Quoted from D&C chapter 46:

11 For all have not every gift given unto them; for there are many gifts, and to every man is given a gift by the Spirit of God.
12 To some is given one, and to some is given another, that all may be frofited thereby.
13 To some it is given by the Holy Ghost to know that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, and that he was crucified for the sins of the world.
14 To others it is given to believe on their words, that they also might have eternal life if they coninue faithful.
15 And again, to some it is given by the Holy Ghost to know the differences of administration, as it will be pleasing unto the same Lord, according as the Lord will, suiting his mercies according to the conditions of the children of men.
16 And again, it is given by the Holy Ghost to some to know the diversities of operations, whether they be of God, that the manifestations of the Spirit may be given to every man to profit withal.
17 Adn again, verily I say unto you, to some is given, by the Spirit of God, the word of wisdom.
18 To another is given the word of knowledge, that all may be taught to be wise and to have knowledge.
19 And again, to some it is given to have faith to be healed;
20 And to others it is given to have faith to heal.
21 And again, to some is given the working of miracles;
22 And to others it is given to prophesy;
23 And to others the discerning of spirits.
24 And again, it is given to some to speak with tongues;
25 And to another is given the interpretation of tongues.
26 And all these gifts come from God, for the benefit of the children of God.

See, FFH, you might have the faith to heal yourself of your depression. But not everybody does. They have other faiths that you don't have, though. If everybody had the same faiths, nothing would get accomplished. we can all do different things, because that's the only way we will all benefit. As Paul said (roughly), if my entire body were eyes, what would hear?

 

[FFH]

You say mental disorders can be overcome, but did you ever think God gave them to us for experience and learning? I believe some can be cured and others can't, it all depends on what God wants for us.

Perhaps God gave me Bipolar Disorder so that I could learn from it, learn patience, humility, and many other things. I believe I have learned some of those things, but I still have much to learn.

Ether 12: 27 (Book of Mormon)

"And if men come unto me I will show unto them their weakness. I give unto men weaknesses that they may be humble, and my grace is sufficient for all men that humble themselves before me, for if they humble themselves before me, and have faith in me, then will I make weak things become strong unto them."

 

[Bishka]

Ether 12: 27 (Book of Mormon)

"And if men come unto me I will show unto them their weakness. I give unto men weaknesess that they may be humble, and my grace is sufficient for all men that humble themselves before me, for if they humble themselves before me, and have faith in me, then will I make weak things become strong unto them."

Yes, I can become strong in Christ, but guess what, I'm still going to have Bipolar Disorder. Just like people are still going to have cancer, still going to have AIDS, still going to have diabetes. God gave these things to us for a reason. What was the point in coming to earth? To gain a body and return to our Heavenly Father, part of this was experience, we need experience in things.

I don't believe I will ever have Bipolar taken away from me, at least not until the resurrection. I believe then I will have a perfect body, mind and soul.

He gave me a weakness, yes, it it will humble me, it will slow me down, but I will still have this weakness when iI come unto Him for strength. Bipolar is my stumbling block in life, just as other people have stumbling blocks, such as pride, bad health, financial woes. Bipolar is mine and God gave it specifically to me, because He knew I could handle it.

It's hard, but worth it, I will never ask God to remove this stumbling block from me, ever. It has taught me so many lessons and continues to teach me lessons each day.

Somedays I go into manics and spiral out of control, I can't think straight, I feel like driving my car into a wall, I'm speaking a million words a minute, but I know God gave this to me, so that I can gain patience and hope. He gave it to me, so that I will remember to come unto Him in prayer when I need His help.

He gave it to me so that I would remember.

 

[Sunstone]

If a safe bet that home remedies for severe depression have been tried for thousands of years, and that some of them work for some people. But I'd personally rather rely on medications and therapy. Those seem to work for me, while the things I did before I found them didn't work as well.

 

[Bishka]

If a safe bet that home remedies for severe depression have been tried for thousands of years, and that some of them work for some people. But I'd personally rather rely on medications and therapy. Those seem to work for me, while the things I did before I found them didn't work as well.

Defintley. Some home and natural remedies work just well for some people. I'm not one of them. :bounce I have the chemical imbalance along with it being biological so I'm pretty much stuck, there isn't any way I am growing out of it or it just suddenly being cured. Fine with though.

I did therapy for awhile, but I didn't help, they kept drudging ujp what I had done and that would keep me spiraling in different directions. I like medication, to an extent.

 

[Evenstar]

I was put on meds for depression and seen so many doctors, ive lost count.

I took myself off all medication, I didnt want to be dependent on them.​

I have learnt a lot from my past and my depression... Its made me a stronger person. How can I argue with that. I also except it will return.

 

[Bishka]

I was put on meds for depression and seen so many doctors, ive lost count.

I took myself off all medication, I didnt want to be dependent on them.​

I have learnt a lot from my past and my depression... Its made me a stronger person. How can I argue with that. I also except it will return.

So true, so true. I am off all medication and am taking nothing except vitamins right now. I have also learned a lot from my past, and I knew my manics and depressions will keep coming and going.:jiggy:

 

[jeffrey]

I myself have diabetes. I believe in God, but that doesn't mean that I can down a bag of sugar without consequences. It's , clinical depression, is like being an alcoholic. Once one, always one. You might not have a drink for 30 years, but that doesn't make you cured.

 

[Bishka]

I myself have diabetes. I believe in God, but that doesn't mean that I can down a bag of sugar without consequences. It's , clinical depression, is like being an alcoholic. Once one, always one. You might not have a drink for 30 years, but that doesn't make you cured.

So true. My bipolar isn't acting up right now, but that doesn't in anyway mean I'm cured. It's just in temporary remission for the moment.

 

[Storm Moon]

I remember about 10 years ago I fell into a very deep depression. Why? Because I feared death so much. I'd lay awake all night crying and sleep all day. I barely ate or got out of the house. I did this for about a month. Then one night, I was watching something on T.V. that really hit me. This kid was worried about his dad dying that he nearly drove himself crazy. His dad sat him down and said 'if you worry so much about dying, you won't have time for living.' I snapped out of it probably a day or so later. It was the only time I did not have to have medication.

About 2 years ago, I started having panic attacks when my bf moved out of town to do a temp job at Dell. I was so scared I'd lose him, so again, I was being eaten away by constant fear. Plus, I was having blood pressure problems, so that really added to what was going on. I finally went to the emergency room and said, 'look, I need help. I can't stop crying. I'm constantly worrying about having a heart attack. Please do something for me.' So they prescribed Paxil and told me to see a doctor. Since I've been on it, my life has changed. If I miss a dose of my medication, I go crazy. I nearly lost my boyfriend because I didn't take it for a week, and that was cause I thought I didn't need it anymore. I still do because I cannot handle stress very well. When I get so stressed, I lock up and don't do anything at all. So not everyone can win their battles with mental illnesses without medication. It's what they were made for. Oh yeah, and chocolate was made for that too LOL

 

[Bishka]

I remember about 10 years ago I fell into a very deep depression. Why? Because I feared death so much. I'd lay awake all night crying and sleep all day. I barely ate or got out of the house. I did this for about a month. Then one night, I was watching something on T.V. that really hit me. This kid was worried about his dad dying that he nearly drove himself crazy. His dad sat him down and said 'if you worry so much about dying, you won't have time for living.' I snapped out of it probably a day or so later. It was the only time I did not have to have medication.

About 2 years ago, I started having panic attacks when my bf moved out of town to do a temp job at Dell. I was so scared I'd lose him, so again, I was being eaten away by constant fear. Plus, I was having blood pressure problems, so that really added to what was going on. I finally went to the emergency room and said, 'look, I need help. I can't stop crying. I'm constantly worrying about having a heart attack. Please do something for me.' So they prescribed Paxil and told me to see a doctor. Since I've been on it, my life has changed. If I miss a dose of my medication, I go crazy. I nearly lost my boyfriend because I didn't take it for a week, and that was cause I thought I didn't need it anymore. I still do because I cannot handle stress very well. When I get so stressed, I lock up and don't do anything at all. So not everyone can win their battles with mental illnesses without medication. It's what they were made for. Oh yeah, and chocolate was made for that too LOL

I agree, I couldn't, when I was younger in my teens go without medication. It was a living nightmare for everyone around me and myself.

 

[gnomon]

There are those that believe that severe depression is incurable, something that you have to live with, for the rest of your life. Like incurable diseases, we talk about being bipolar, manic depressive, schizophreinic, attention deficient, etc., which are all legitimate disorders. My question is this. Are they curable or incurable?

I know that I have experience several compulsive disorders, and have, also, experience severe depression to the point of wanting to end my life. Mental pain is unbearable and unrelenting. Sleep is a welcome relief if you can get any. Every waking hour is a struggle. Nothing seems worth while anymore. Death seems to be the best and only way out of the mental anguish you are experiencing. Self hatred is the norm and is what seems to fuel the downward spiral. Mental pain was much harder to bear than physical pain. Mental disorders are harsh and unrelenting and can last for years and many take their mental illnesses to the grave. This is such a waste of a good life. Were we sent here to earth only to suffer for our sins and the sins of others committed against us? We have all done something bad or had something bad done to us, some more severe than others.

Is there a cure for severe depression and mental disorders? Are you stuck with a certain disorder or mental illness the rest of your life, because of a chemical imbalance, or a horrific past injustice, that was done to you, or because of a horrible sin committed?

Is mental illness a physical disorder, like a chemical imbalance in the brain, or a spiritual disorder, like a demonic possession, or the result of a horrific past experience or sin?

I had an experience with three different people (a friend, a relative and an aquaintance), who just days, weeks and months before seemed to be relatively fine, or at least seemed fine, and the next thing I know they had ended their lives. No warning, whatsoever. I also have two friends who have come very close to taking their own lives, but are now successful and own their own businesses. Why the change? Why the turn around? At the risk of sounding pretentious, I will say, I know the answers, as to why they turned their lives around, because they have expressed them to me.

We as human beings have the unique ability to send someone into a deep depressive state OR pull them out of one. We can be so cruel to one another. It is so easy to criticize and so hard to love and encourage. It has been said that it takes, at least,
10 positive comments to negate 1 negative comment. We may hear lots of great things said about us but we still dwell on the 1 negative comment someone said about us years ago.

In both successful cases, previously mentioned (in which suicide was traded for success), it was unconditional love shown over long periods of time and in their time of crisis, that pulled them out of their own feelings of self hate and feelings of worthlessness. Asking someone to do something with you like skiing, horse back riding, motorcycle riding, fishing, boating, etc. or anything to get them out of the house, seems to help lift another's spirits enough to battle the demons in their head. Helping someone to fix a car or paint or clean a house helps a person feel a sense of self worth. Feelings of self hate amd worthlessness begin to leave. Both people are edified.

My point is this. People are silently asking for help. There are poeple all around us who need help and cannot help themselves. Both me and my wife experienced long periods of depression. My wife cried for two or three years, hours at a time, each day. I did not think she would ever stop suffering. She still has tough days, when sadness overtakes her. People are suffering every day. It may be a co-worker or a friend, a spouse or a relative, that you know, who is suffering. it may be an unresolved issue that is causing someone you know to suffer and it is affecting their normal daily life. Whatever it is, help someone do what they cannot do for themselves. I have friends who are way more successful than I am. I have sacrificed some of my own needs and desires so that they could achieve theirs. This is an amazing experience. Sacrificing of yourself for others. I have put some of my own things on hold to help others get what they wanted. Was it worth it? Are human beings worth helping? Should we just let others suffer all around us when we have the ability to help them? It is so easy to help someone change their life from something bad into something good. It only takes a word of encouragement, a helping hand, a kind word. Do something meaningful for someone else. Helping someone with their physical needs can help to pull someone out of a depressive state. This is not a corny, unrealistic or unreasonable thing to do. It does not take much to change a human heart from darkness to light.

Severe depression is curable. Mental disorders can be overcome. Give someone a chance to feel worth while again. Do something for someone other than yourself.

I am in no way minimizing severe depression. I realize their are horrific things that are done to children and adults that lead to life long feelings of worthlessness and self hate. I also know that Christ was bruised for our iniquities. A bruise is internal. Mental illness is internal. Christ suffered and died so that we would not have to suffer. Give God a chance to take away your pain. I think it is necessary to give others as well as ourselves the chance to heal as much as possible.

Don't ever say that you or others have to live with the pain of what's been done to you, or others, in the past. Don't ever say that you have to live with the sins you have committed in the past and the pain that goes along with it. If you say this then Christ died in vein. Christ can heal mental disorders. Christ can heal severe depression. Christ can heal a human heart and he is asking us to help, ourselves and each other, in this process.

Peace can be a part of your life. I know, because I made it a primary goal of mine to obtain a peace of mind at the age of 20. It took me about 4 years to do it. That was fifeteen years ago. It is possible to be free and have a peaceful mind. This was more important to me than my physical health. I would have done anything to achieve it. Fight to get your mind and your life back.

2 Timothy 1: 7

"For god hath not given us a spirit of fear, but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind."

Okay, I'll try to refrain myself. So in short, here is my response to your well intentioned post:

:bonk:

:banghead3
:verymad:

 

[Bishka]

Okay, I'll try to refrain myself. So in short, here is my response to your well intentioned post:

:bonk:

:banghead3
:verymad:

My thoughts too.

 

[pdoel]

I think there are many different forms of depression. I think some are easier to cure than others.

There is a long line of depression in my family. In high school and college, I often suffered from depression. My sisters both suffer from depression and anxiety attacks. When my Grandmother was near the end and in a home, some therapists spent some time with her, and informed us they gathered she had suffered from depression her whole life and was terrified of death. A few cousins have told us in the last few years they too, suffer from depression. Many of my relatives are on prozac.

I, however, managed to fight it on my own, and have been depression free (for the most part) for over a decade. I think it all depends on how you go about it.

I do think that depression can be largely chemical. I've known people who went on a special diet, and managed to beat their depression.

I also know that quite often, there's never a clear reason for WHY people are depressed. For those who've never suffered, this seems to be the hardest thing to understand. How someone can be so depressed, but be unable to say why.

In college, I took quite a few psychology classes. In my theories on therapy, one therapy we studied simply stated, if you are depressed, or unhappy, look at your life, evaluate what you do each day, that could be causing these types of feelings. I thought it was silly, but decided to give it a shot.

At that time, I often felt lonely, like I didn't have people around me to do stuff with, or even that nobody wanted to do things with me. Just never felt included. So, I looked at what I could possibly doing to cause this.

Well, I often studied alone in my room, and quite often, with the door lock so I wouldn't be bothered. When people would ask me to go out, my answer was always, "Nah, I need to study."

Well, um, ok, maybe there WAS a reason I was lonely. Heh heh. So, I started to study in the library instead. And, even if it was something I wasn't keen on doing, when asked, I would always say yes. Well, in no time at all, I always had people around me, was included in everything, and my loneliness was quickly a thing of the past.

It's human nature to try and find blame for things. And more often than not, it's easier to blame someone else, or something else, rather than ourselves. FFH, you have mentioned in another thread your fear of Harry Potter, and blamed that for your depression. I hate to tell you this, but I can guarantee you, it is not these "evils" as you see them, that are causing your depression.

As hard as it is to really criticize ourselves, that's really the key. We're responsible for our own happiness. Nobody else can make us Happy. You have to love yourself first and foremost. If you can manage to do that, the rest of it is cake.