The Depression/Anxiety Thread

[TheCountOfNYC]

My anxiety has been bad for the past two days and I wanted to come to the forums to talk about it, maybe get some advice, but I searched and couldn't find a thread for these mental illnesses. I figured I should start one so anybody on here who suffers from depression and/or anxiety has a place to go on the forums. This thread is to help people on here by telling them that they're not alone.

[Longestnight71316]

I saw this thread and just wanted to say you're not alone.  Couldn't let a thread like this go unanswered.  Be well!

[JayOctavarium]

https://www.dreamtheaterforums.org/boards/index.php?topic=10059.0

[ChuckSteak]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8_j5mmBa4mw

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qiZZK98ppkQ

[Adami]

My anxiety has been bad for the past two days and I wanted to come to the forums to talk about it, maybe get some advice, but I searched and couldn't find a thread for these mental illnesses. I figured I should start one so anybody on here who suffers from depression and/or anxiety has a place to go on the forums. This thread is to help people on here by telling them that they're not alone.

As a therapist that just recently worked for a clinic that focuses on anxiety, feel free to message me if you have any questions or anything.

[TheCountOfNYC]

https://www.dreamtheaterforums.org/boards/index.php?topic=10059.0

I felt that the anxiety side of things wasn't being properly addressed there. Anxiety is an entirely different animal from anger. Having anxiety on top of depression is like feeling angry, scared, sad, stressed, useless, empty, hopeless, pathetic, overwhelmed, and worthless all at the same time. To just classify anxiety as anger is completely wrong and missing how awful it is to suffer from.

[JayOctavarium]

Makes sense.

I guess I have 2 threads to frequent now

[Hyperplex]

Suffered with clinical depression since I was incredibly young but only diagnosed at 18. Anxiety has also always been bad but wasn't diagnosed until later in life, and it seems the older I get, the worse it gets.
This past April I finally, after much stupidity and procrastination, began seeing a therapist. It's helped a bit, in addition to my medications, especially in the anxiety realm.

[Dublagent66]

My anxiety has been bad for the past two days and I wanted to come to the forums to talk about it, maybe get some advice, but I searched and couldn't find a thread for these mental illnesses. I figured I should start one so anybody on here who suffers from depression and/or anxiety has a place to go on the forums. This thread is to help people on here by telling them that they're not alone.

I disagree with the bolded part above.  Lots of people suffer from depression and anxiety without necessarily being "mentally ill".  I think it's a little more complicated than that.

[Hyperplex]

Depression and anxiety are mental neuroses, mood disorders, that are clinically defined as mental illnesses in the DSM-5. The term mental illness is not exclusive to psychotic disorders.

[TheCountOfNYC]

Depression and anxiety are mental neuroses, mood disorders, that are clinically defined as mental illnesses in the DSM-5. The term mental illness is not exclusive to psychotic disorders.

Agreed. Especially when you consider that a lot of people are medicated for depression and anxiety (myself included).

[Cable]

Alright, so for some clarification here- good too as I need to brush up on my terms & definitions for a training!;

A mental disorder is a syndrome characterized by clinically significant disturbance in an individual’s cognition, emotion regulation, or behavior that reflects a dysfunction in the psychological, biological, or developmental processes underlying mental functioning. Mental disorders are usually associated with significant distress or disability in social, occupational, or other important activities. An expectable or culturally approved response to a common stressor or loss, such as the death of a loved one, is not a mental disorder. Socially deviant behavior (e.g., political, religious, or sexual) and conflicts that are primarily between the individual and society are not mental disorders unless the deviance or conflict results from a dysfunction in the individual, as described above."
(2013, DSM-5)

Ah mental health, you grey unclear animal for all of us. 

As for being "mentally ill," the key for definitions here is it is any impairment that the individual feels related to their MH. Or in some circumstances, what some else thinks an individual has. The bigger concept is basically all MH is viewed on continuum. Some have it bad, some don't. Some have the same disorder, but to different degrees. It's even built into a good amount of the diagnoses; you can have Major Depressive Disorder with Mild, Moderate or Severe. And that can change, and go into partial or full remission. It can have psychotic features (hallucinations and/or delusions basically.)

So we end up as whatever symptoms someone has, if it's to the level of not functioning properly, whatever that is for someone, then they could be "ill." Someone has a cold, and they are ill. Someone can have symptoms of depression and anxiety as Dubla was getting at, but not be ill, and not be really impaired. Quite frankly, I hate the term ill in the context of MH, because often it leads to the road of naming the more debilitating diagnoses (Schizophrenia spectrum, Intellectual Disability, Dissociative Identity) and stigmatizing it all. That can trivialize and invalidate someone with a generally more minor depression (Unspecified depressive disorder), but that person could be going through heck in their view.

[Hyperplex]

The key criteria is the prolonged presence of the symptoms (typical minimum threshold is 2 weeks continuously) and the degree of disruption of quality of life. There is a difference, as stated above, between sadness, stress, grief, and other "life causes" and the suffering that comes with disorders like depression and anxiety. Depression, or sadness/grief, after the death of a loved one is typical, if not expected, and is considered perfectly normal behavior. Chronic, generalized sadness, hopelessness, worthlessness, etc in the absence of an acute cause or otherwise "rational" reason is very different. However, a widely-held belief that someone with depression can just "get over it" or "look on the bright side" or "try to have a better outlook" is extremely damaging to those who suffer with it, because it not only invalidates their struggles, it could also keep them from seeking actual help because they feel no one understands or accepts their pain as real. Same with anxiety. "Oh don't worry about it" or "it's not that bad"...same effect.

There is a huge stigma against mental illness, because many people believe one can either be psychotic (schizophrenia, DID, shizoaffective, etc) or not mentally ill, and that simply isn't the case. Just because symptoms are not glaring or lab imaging doesn't show anything doesn't mean the ailment isn't serious.

[Chino]

I had a moment of complete shutdown last night after finding out my girlfriend owes about $45K more on her student loans than I originally thought. I'm always worried about finances and that was a blow out of nowhere.

[Dublagent66]

The key criteria is the prolonged presence of the symptoms (typical minimum threshold is 2 weeks continuously) and the degree of disruption of quality of life. There is a difference, as stated above, between sadness, stress, grief, and other "life causes" and the suffering that comes with disorders like depression and anxiety. Depression, or sadness/grief, after the death of a loved one is typical, if not expected, and is considered perfectly normal behavior. Chronic, generalized sadness, hopelessness, worthlessness, etc in the absence of an acute cause or otherwise "rational" reason is very different. However, a widely-held belief that someone with depression can just "get over it" or "look on the bright side" or "try to have a better outlook" is extremely damaging to those who suffer with it, because it not only invalidates their struggles, it could also keep them from seeking actual help because they feel no one understands or accepts their pain as real. Same with anxiety. "Oh don't worry about it" or "it's not that bad"...same effect.

There is a huge stigma against mental illness, because many people believe one can either be psychotic (schizophrenia, DID, shizoaffective, etc) or not mentally ill, and that simply isn't the case. Just because symptoms are not glaring or lab imaging doesn't show anything doesn't mean the ailment isn't serious.

On the other hand, just because someone has certain symptoms of depression or anxiety doesn't mean the ailment is serious.  It all depends on the individual.  There are many forms of these conditions.  Some are serious.  Some are not.  I don't believe that mental illness should be used as a blanket term and not all people fall into the clinical definition.

[Cable]

On the other hand, just because someone has certain symptoms of depression or anxiety doesn't mean the ailment is serious.  It all depends on the individual.  There are many forms of these conditions.  Some are serious.  Some are not.  I don't believe that mental illness should be used as a blanket term and not all people fall into the clinical definition.

I agree Dublagent, and you are correct with regard to feeling depressed or anxious without actually being diagnosable. That is actually why the manual has qualifiers of meeting X out of X number of symptoms. With the illness thing, clearly not calling all MH disorders an illness is your preference. I myself stated I don't like the term, and don't professionally or personally use it. That however is a common term, and we are clutching at minute differences. Again, a cold or flu is an illness, as is stage four cancer. Both people are ill, and certainly we can objectively say stage IV is probably more ill than flu person. But that doesn't mean we ignore the fact that someone has a flu, and they may feel like dog crap as a result.

I had a moment of complete shutdown last night after finding out my girlfriend owes about $45K more on her student loans than I originally thought. I'm always worried about finances and that was a blow out of nowhere.

Yeah that sucks Chino, kind of knowing your use of money and management. I imagine it's like "alright, we only got X amount to go, so X more years of 200$ p/month" to only hear "actually, it's 400 p/month." 

[Chino]

It's actually going to be $890 per month come 2027 

[Cable]

It's actually going to be $890 per month come 2027 

Yeah, futz that! Ask for lower payments, as long as Uncle Sam provided the loans. And there still may be options if not. My payment would be 950 p/month, and there is no way my income supports that. So my monthly payment is based on my income.