Depression?

The best lesson I ever got about my own mental issues, which I learned during the "Prozac Incident"  was they are MY mental issues and I either need to learn to use them or lose them. Other people may be able to help occasionally, but only I (or God) can remove those issues.

In my case, I have specifically asked for and then seemingly received help from God after several decades of struggling with these issues. I am a man who had found that even my little amount of faith has been rewarded. For me the experience has been as if the simple act of studying Christian principles, improves your life.

It seems unfair to keep this experience to myself, no matter if some people might accuse me of bible bashing or god bothering both of which are held to be very unpopular these days.

All my problems have not magically vanished, but they did become much more manageable as I learned how it really works, rather than what some comedian on the telly or half baked vicar in my youth were selling me. Christianity like any good "culture/system" trains you to cope with adversity and avoid many pitfalls for the unwary in practical ways whilst reminding us that all the really good things come from god.

I am very uncomfortable with my own beliefs, to be honest, and entirely unsure that I really have the right end of the stick theologically (or sometimes even morally) speaking, and freely admit I have no proof just strong indications for the existence of God. One thing I am sure of though, I am NOT the supreme form of life in this universe, and most likely way too unintelligent to ever understand how it really works, but I am very grateful he provided the example of Jesus Christ to follow..

"Depression" is fixed only by increasing your baselines of happiness and more importantly contentment..

Figuring out what actually makes you happy whilst subjected to a blizzard of mind control /advertising people showing you 24/7 everywhere you look what they say will make you happy is not easy, and has taken me decades...  

Take it from me, I've been there, and got myself out before they tried ECT...

You have to tell at least someone you feel like this. And if that person is a professional therapist or someone working in a GP, it's even better. They won't do anything to you that you don't want to do yourself. They simply don't have the right to. I was in a car accident, and my mother died then. I was struggling with PTSD for a while. It caused me a massive depression. I thought about following her to God. But I had kids, and I couldn't let them without a mother too. So when I saw [removed by moderator] I knew it was the center I wanted to recover.

[Edited by Suzanne Mod]

Hey, girlie. I'm sorry you're feeling down. Look, I took St.John's wort as well, and it also didn't help. Tho counseling helped a lot. For instance, last year, I had severe depression and anxiety because I lost a very special person to me. I was constantly experiencing feelings of isolation, and I was suffering from feelings of anxiety. Counseling helped me navigate all these feelings, and I couldn't be happier with where I am now in terms of well-being. Maybe you could try online therapy? Here are a few therapy sites I found [link removed by moderator]Take care!

I like this line

’ your life is worth just as much as anyone else’

Its legally true;

it’s morally upheld by every major religion irrespective of what your opinion is of religions 

it needs to be true for general human security 

it doesn’t depend on volatile human emotions 

It is needed when Thinking and emotions are distorted into being self-destructive and other-destructive.

you are sharing because you don’t want to undermine your existence.

I believe I understand what is happening here.  I experience it as an immensely powerful force of negativity like a spiritual cancer. 

Connection with caring others -whether people or cats or clouds - here and with others known or unknown or never to be met -because of different times or spaces - is the spiritual medicine.

Bravo to you and to all on the miracle of courage to be vulnerable and connect 

Setraline helped me 

How'd you start drawing. I know this sounds silly, but I want to learn to draw & my skills are "stick-man" level lol

[spam removed by mod]
 

Ladybird,

The easiest way to reduce anxiety is to focus on the present moment to be aware, pure awareness and anxiety can't coexist. 

Unfortunately not many people are aware that gratitude is a remedy and prevention of depression. 

Whenever you get the chance think of what in life you are grateful for, like your children and what joy your children can bring you, like as you've thought about your children it's made you restrain yourself.

Think of every thing you're grateful for on a regular basis, gratitude can even work as a replacement for anti-depressents and make you more optimistic and hopeful. 

I would report to your GP if I were you to seek professional help.

The GP is not allowed to tell anyone because all must be kept private and confidential.

The NHS will always take suicidal thoughts serious.

They won't ignore you.

It's certainly worth mentioning, your life is worth just as much as anyone else.

If you tell your GP you've tried CBT he/she'll try something different.

The NHS will provide medication or therapy as they see fit.

If they provide you medication and side effects begin to occur, stop consuming them and report back to them.

If they decide counseling, openly tell the counselor what in your life seems to be missing or out of place.

It's wise that you're seeking help.

I've absolutely been there. Got my exit kit together years ago, but now for the first time in my life I find I don't think I'll ever need it...

You've probably realised you are really very much on your own in this, whatever anyone else tells you, but the good news is that with the right information and procedures you can get past this. I did really quickly once I found all the tools that I needed.  

I've used illegal medication for 42 years to mitigate the most socially unacceptable parts of my being, and chiefly because the main side effect has been to dull my rage to manageable levels. Didn't stop me wanting to kill myself, did stop me wanting to kill others, so very good stuff, that cannabis in my estimation, although it is savagely habit forming as is anything that markedly improves the perceived quality of your life. I tried Prozac, but it did NOT work at the pace or in the way that I was told it would, so against advice, after I did a bad thing that upset a great deal of people I decided not to try dangerous misdescribed drugs from my family doctor, and stuck with the safe but illegal stuff form my dealer who always knows exactly what a strain is likely to do to a person...

However, I can't help feeling that whilst there MAY be better more Autie compatible meds available than my pot, it's only treating the symptoms like an oncologist "treats" your cancer. (Rick Simpson Oil WORKS for that condition, but that's another thread I guess...) what you need is the cure for your unhappiness that I got.

For me, and I hope this helps, it was the realisation that far from being a failure or at best near success in life, I did it all effectively with one hand tied behind my back!!

I also understood at last that bemused look the normies get right before they start giving me ***, and I can sympathise with their "struggle to understand" because I feel it myself. I can see how easily bowled over they are by someone "moving their cheese" and we don't suffer that anywhere like as much except in very specific situations, no wonder they are so grumpy!

This is far from the panacea I rather hoped I'd be able to put down, but I hope you can understand that it IS possible to be a happy little aspie a LOT more of the time than would otherwise be possible, simply by finding your power, rather than focussing on the many issues we all have. 

Normie society is set up to make the likes of us fail, usually at our own hand. It doesn't have to be that way, even the normies are starting to figure out that it is wrong what happens to us. 6

OH, and since quantum physics currently only works if there are about 11 dimensions, according to the maths, and those dimensions are real but not available to us, that leaves a hell of a lot of space for an after life. (Possibly, heaven and hell, the whole works, or something even more challenging) It struck me that bailing out of this life because it's consistently kicking my *** perhaps would NOT be the best way to enter the next one. That horrifying hypothesis means I could not be QUITE CERTAIN that death would be the long dreamless sleep I was so desperate for, and in fact if my luck was anything to go by FAR WORSE, I decided tto try my best to beat this life into submission before leaving it, just to cover my back.. 

The gifts that come with Asperger's have actually allowed me to live a life some normies seem to envy, and it's a pity that for the first 59 years of my life I was so distracted by the struggle of trying to understand the seemingly inexplicable consequences of living with an unknown condition, and so consumed with depression due to the constant failures to be "as good as any one else", that I didn't really enjoy much of it as much as I should have, 

IN medieval times I rather fancy, we Aspergers types would have been the hermit or witch at the edge of town. Alternately persecuted or consulted by the villagers, of course. There's a very good reason cats are associated with such people. My last one helped me in so many ways and the one who noow shares my life, has taught me some different thiings. They are always honest (although this one has an actual sense of humour, adn has been known to play tricks on his unsuspecting humans) Definitely have interesting little minds that feel an express a range of straightforwards emotions, and they are as discerning as any Autist! I grieved more foor my last cat than I have for any human being, but that's because frankly he treated me fairer, and loved me more fully than any human being has... 

*Mod, if this video is not allowed-please remove*

What do we think about this? This video is for educational/scientific studies purposes. I find this is an interesting discussion...

Ladybird said:

And now to my questions.

Should I go to GP? 

Will they tell anyone? 

Are they going to make a big deal out of it? 

Or maybe ignore me? 

Maybe it’s not worth mentioning at all? 

Will I be sent to CBT again? 

Offered medication? 

Can I choose medication or therapy? 

What about side effects of medication?

I’m worried about side effects.

Oh my friend, I feel your pain!

Yes you should go to our GP, and they should rightfully be very worried for you.  They won't tell anyone in your family or peer group if you don't want and they will most likely refer you to their crisis team.  This is a really Good Thing. They will not ignore you. Yes it's worth mentioning! No, they won't send you for a therapy that clearly has been tried and doesn't work. Probably offered medication, yes, definitely worth trying anyway - I'm not amazing by any stretch but citalopram means I function at all.  It's not either/or.  You should be offered both. In an ideal world you'd be referred directly to psychiatry but it ain't - so you won't.  They'll say take xyz drug (best in GP's experience usually) and given a way to get talking therapies, you will have a choice.  Medications side-effects are weird, multiple and varied - you have to try to find out.  This is not always a bad thing.  My lucky husband was given one that made him permenantly stoned.  He loved it but couldn't work so he had to change to another one.  I got lucky - citalopram works.  I went onto fluoxetine for a while but it did nowt at all for me so I changed to a higher dose of citalopram again.  I'm going onto venlafaxine at some point soon, so that'll be fun . 

It's a guessing game really so there's gonna be some trial and error but under UK law you're protected under the DDA if you're under medical care for a psychiatric condition so it's not something you need to worry about *too* much as long as you keep your employer informed.

This is really good advice. I went off gluten again after eating it for about 8months. I've been gf fro 6+ years, but it pisses me off. Truth, is I need to be honest with myself & after all the crap they do to it--it affects everyone.....still, I don't have to be happy about it. Alot of days...a pastry or something was all I could look forward to. Now, I'm back gf--but I'm grumpy. There's a really good documentary I just watched, called "What is up with the wheat?" I highly recommend....talks about damage effects of glyphosate etc. Ok, off gluten soapbox.

Herbal remedies make me feel worse so be careful with them.  I've heard that people with autism struggle with CBT because they have trouble identifying their emotions -maybe you could ask if there is therapy available that is more tailored to autism.

I was diagnosed with severe depression in January, offered NHS CBT which really didn’t help me much. Ended up missing a session due to having a hospital appointment and then got booted off. Not allowed to have that support again. I have been offered anti-depressants in the past but since I have a chronic condition, was told that flair-ups were more likely and since that is triggering for me, I ripped up the prescription note for them.

Thinking of you. I’ve been suicidal in the past and tempted to end things on a few occasions. For me, working in a voluntary setting helped since I never found myself in a severe depressive spell when I was working.

My sister takes zoloft and swears by it for her insomnia as well as depression. I luckily didn't get hit with insomnia. We're all hoping moods improve for you & you feel better. I tried supplements for awhile like St. Johns & 5-http, after researching they seemed perfect, but they never quite hit the mark.

Thanks for warning. I’ve got rid of st.johns wort and 5-htp  for now. And grapefruit.

I was so scared of side effects that I’m taking half of the dose for now, I’m planning to take full after 8 days.

No side effects so far (but maybe it’s because I’m on baby dose)

Sexual dysfunction doesn’t scare me, my marriage’s sexless, has been for years.

Whatever you do, do not take the st johns wort and sertraline together.  They dont mix together well and the result is an unpleasant condition called serotonin syndrome.  thats from past experience of a doctor giving me sertraline when i was taking OTC st johns wort.  Spent the night in hospital.  So please avoid.

Oh and you will probably experience sexual dysfunction and some other interesting but annoying side effects.  Some of them go with time, but initially they can be a pain in the ass.

It is a lot to take in, I freaked out too when given a prescription. You will be fine! And I'm happy to chat any time you need or want.

That is such an big emotional demand to open up about how you are feeling to your GP - I would feel totally wiped out by that. Sorry to hear that your anxiety has got really bad and that you are freaking out. I hope that you manage to get rid of some of that tonight. I hope you manage to get some sleep tonight and that the sertraline doesn't give you any bad side-effects. Take care and stay safe.

Glad you've made contact with them - I hope this helps you.