Posted by dj on July 31, 2000, at 10:04:28
In reply to Some questions for everyone about depression, posted by Rach on July 31, 2000, at 0:46:53
>I do not want to make anyone feel uncomfortable >with answering.
People make themselves uncomfortable with the way they choose to interpret things. You have no power to make me or anyone else uncomfortable. As Eleanor Roosevelt noted years ago: "No one can make you feel inferior without your consent." Ditto, for uncomfortable, etc..
> 1. Do you believe your depression is >biologically based or more mentally based?It is a biological vunerability to stress. Sources of stress can and do include mental views.
> 2. Do you take medications &/or have >counselling?I've done both and currently do neither as I work on minimizing and counter-acting stressors in my life based on what I've learned from many sources. I prefer natural rather than pharmaceutical approaches as I consider the pharmacological approach useful only in re-balancing one's system when it has gotten too far away from homeostasis.
ADs, I believe, can help you deal with symptoms on a surface basis but not with root causes. Those require a more subtle approach, based on fine-tuning. AD's, I believe, can interfere with fine-tuning because they are crude instruments, which create their own imbalances on other fronts. Some prefer to attempt to rebalance with other meds., which just create more imbalances.
I believe the body/mind is designed to be healthy and dis-ease reflects dis-stress and one is best to figure out one's own stress triggers and deal with them appropriatly and systematically. Good holistic counselling can help, but overall one needs to find one's own way with assists from wise insights from knowledgable others along the way.
> 3. Have you geared your treatment towards what >you base your depression on?
Do you mean to ask if I base treatment on what I interpret the sources of depression to be? If so, YES, as noted in my previous response.
> 4. If you believe your depression is more mentally based, what events/actions etc. >contributed to your depression?
I don't believe that it is mentally based but I do believe that environmental stressors such as previous job and educational situations have contributed to my stress and anxiety level being heightened to a degree which triggered distress and depression, when I haven't been able to figure out a strategy for dealing successfully with those internalized external pressures and have succumbed to them and learned helplessness.
> 5. Do you have any blood-relatives with >depression?Yes. An aunt and I'm sure there are traces of dysthamia in my immediate family. Learned stoicism... ; )
> 6. Do you believe in 'recovery', or do believe >in 'remission' (or both)?I don't agree with either term which use an AA and medicalized framework, both of which I consider overly simplistic. I believe in dealing with sources of dis-ease in a holistic manner.
>
> 7. Do you believe you will recover/remiss? (is that the right term?)Life is a balancing act and the challenge for each and every one of us is to find the appropriate balance for ourselves.
poster:dj
thread:41827
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20000729/msgs/41846.html