At least that's what my T said. Mine has become progressively worse with little let up for years. It's more than I can handle. I was dx' d as bipolar2 along with a dissociative disorder but this depression is now the main problem.
Has anyone been told that depression will run its course(with or without meds)? It's unbearable, as not a day goes by without sui thoughts.
Nothing helps.... I don't feel like I can recover from this.

[falsememory7]

I used to think that depression was time-limited too... then you see people, such as Robin Williams, who have struggled with it for decades and in the end, losing that battle. The thing is, depression isn't time limited. It's more like something that we have that we learn to live with. We can come up with different tools and mechanisms to deal with it, and we can even look at the positive aspects that it may have given us (for example, you've met so many beautiful people on PC!), but it's just yet another life-long challenge. However, the farther we travel down the path of life, the easier depression gets. You just have to keep... going.

[Fuzzybear]

((((((((( Calista )))))))))
I'm feeling the same

[gma45]

Calista+12, Sorry you are having to deal with depression. I don't believe it runs it's course. I think it takes counseling and talking about it and learning how to change our thoughts and sometimes medication to help us think more clearly so we can work on changing old thought patterns. It is not just a sad feeling that goes away. I hope you can get some relief soon. You are not alone!

[regretful]

I certainly wish it was time limited...mine feels a bit endless; but I'm taking it one day at a time, and that's all that I can do.

[Altered Moment]

For me it does run its course. But I have very cyclical depression. It is a certain type. It runs its course and then comes back over and over again. I am grateful when it lifts but I dread it returning which it always does.

So I think there are different types and for some it is very long term and chronic. I really hope you can find a way out.

[Creative1onder]

The truth is that depression affects people in different ways and the way people view it and experience it varies a lot. Some people experience depression from early age, in teens or as a young adult or have their first experience of it later on in their lifetime. There are also different reasons why people get it there isn't just one correct standard way. It can be for just short duration of time following a stressful event or difficult change etc or happen now and again, it can come and go, reappear. Others have it more severely, for much longer ongoing period of time and affecting their everyday life.

[shabur]

It can be a single episode, but if you have a 2nd episode you will continue to have them. This can be controlled by meds, talk therapy, and a few other options. I've never heard of anyone just riding it through.

[Creative1onder]

Depression is not continous never ending for everyone. People have different experiences with it. It can vary in degree of duration and severity,lasting a week, few weeks or few months or go on for a lot longer, years. It is not predictable when it will occur or reappear. The way someone percieves, understands and deals with it is varied, no one particular set correct way. People can live a depression-free life, can overcome it, liberate self and transform. Some people have said that they have managed to.

[Velouria]

Mine gets better . . . and then it gets worse . . . and then it gets better . . . and then it gets worse . . . and then sometimes it gets really bad and I wonder why I'm even paying for meds . . . and then I talk about it in therapy and I get a new med . . . and then it gets better . . . and the cycle goes on.

I've talked about it with my therapist and she's helped me come to terms with the fact that I'll have to be on meds for depression for the rest of my life, likening it to diabetes, which actually helps me feel better about it even though that may sound strange. But what she means is that it can be a manageable condition given the right treatment. Don't worry, you'll be okay.

Have you told your therapist about those thoughts?

I recently went through a week of hell with that as I waited for a new AD to kick in (Wellbutrin). It was awful. I felt like I was literally fighting off the thoughts left and right, they just kept invading my head. Then, at the end of the week, the Wellbutrin kicked in and it was like night and day. However, a week after that I had an allergic reaction to it and had to go off it.

Are you on an antidepressant?

[Creative1onder]

People don't experience things in the same way. Each person is different. People may experience severe depression at some point in their life but it doesn't mean they will have it continously for their entire life. Some people may claim to have it for long time and that it will last, but others have had it for some duration of time but managed to overcome it, to see the light, feel freer and change positively. That is a really pessimistic picture if you believe that It will continue to be there for whole life- its not like a physical illness like diabetes which has to managed each day permanently. It is stress related largely.At the end of the day the aim is to help you as a person, not the depression. That won't work if you think that ur powerless to depression.We aren't the depression. It isn't part of our true self. We can learn to be more in control of our own selves, be our own best guide, overcome things manage factors better that could trigger depressive episodes,to live more freely happily without feeling vulnerable to getting depression again and again. Even make depression your friend rather than your enemy so you can liberate yourself . I believe it has hidden underlying messages that we need to listen to and take on board. For me anyway it has.

[Velouria]

Originally Posted by Creative1onder

People don't experience things in the same way. Each person is different. People may experience severe depression at some point in their life but it doesn't mean they will have it continously for their entire life. Some people may claim to have it for long time and that it will last, but others have had it for some duration of time but managed to overcome it, to see the light, feel freer and change positively. That is a really pessimistic picture if you believe that It will continue to be there for whole life- its not like a physical illness like diabetes which has to managed each day permanently. It is stress related largely.At the end of the day the aim is to help you as a person, not the depression. That won't work if you think that ur powerless to depression.We aren't the depression. It isn't part of our true self. We can learn to be more in control of our own selves, be our own best guide, overcome things manage factors better that could trigger depressive episodes,to live more freely happily without feeling vulnerable to getting depression again and again. Even make depression your friend rather than your enemy so you can liberate yourself . I believe it has hidden underlying messages that we need to listen to and take on board. For me anyway it has.

I'm gonna get philosophical for a moment: If it has hidden underlying messages that we need to listen to and take on board, wouldn't that make it part of our true self?

I definitely agree with you, I think it does have hidden underlying messages that we need to listen to and take on board. I've learned a lot in my depressions.

Depression is different for everyone. Some have it temporarily, it's situational. For others it's a mood disorder, and it's not as simple. I'm not saying full recovery isn't possible -- I honestly don't know -- but if anything, due to brain chemistry, it's a harder road.

[vonmoxie]

I'm currently in my 40's and in the midst of a very long and distressing episode of major depression. My very first episode was also years long, during my childhood, but I haven't had a major episode like this since I was in my mid-twenties. But even though I was lucky enough to enjoy that 20 year stretch without a major episode coming on, there's no doubt in my mind that the episodes are connected. That if I'd never had the episodes I did from when I was a young child, I'd have been far less likely to have one now. In that sense, I do think it can be lifelong (but agree there are all different kinds, that work differently for different people); that it's a fallacy for someone who has ever been depressed to imagine themselves entirely immune, and potentially take greater risks with self-care that could bring on another episode.

That's my story anyway. Previous to the episode I'm having now, I was working doubled full-time hours week after week, was sleep deprived, recreation deprived, sanity deprived. Relationship deprived. There wasn't time left for anything. Looking back, it's only that I powered through things in the way that I did that I ran myself into this episode. Short-sighted of me. But it had been so long, I'd forgotten that I'm really not invincible.

Edited just to add: It's my personal experience that episodes do run their course. Mine have simply ended when they have ended, always with some element of mystery for me; none of my earlier episodes involved the care of anyone in the psych industry though. And while I can't yet speak to what will eventually end this one, based on the length of time it's been and it being "treatment-resistant" (a term which only refers specifically to when depression doesn't respond positively to full rounds of anti-depressant treatment), I can only hope that it too will "run its course".

[Creative1onder]

Depression can be like an illness bt not everyone believes or agrees with that. It is not due to a person's character or part of who they are. You have to distinguish /seperate true self from the depression. You aren't defined by depression. You don't say I'm depression. You say I have /have had depression. I don't like hearing or using term your/im depressed, anxious as if its to do with the person, that's the way they are.I prefer to say I have depression or anxiety or depressive, anxious periods .

[Velouria]

Originally Posted by Creative1onder

Depression can be like an illness bt not everyone believes or agrees with that. It is not due to a person's character or part of who they are. You have to distinguish /seperate true self from the depression. You aren't defined by depression. You don't say I'm depression. You say I have /have had depression. I don't like hearing or using term. Your/im depressed, anxious as if its to do with the person, that's the way they are.I prefer to say I have depression or anxiety or depressive, anxious periods .

Oh, I totally agree that it's not due to a person's character, and it doesn't define a person. Absolutely. But it is an illness when it starts interfering with your life.

For instance, I have Major Depressive Disorder, but I don't always experience symptoms of it. When I do, when they get bad enough, I say I'm sick.

[Creative1onder]

I don't like to say I'm 'mentally'ill, sick either. I just say I am suffering with/affected by depressive illness and that's it. If I say I'm ill, it feels like its me who's ill,as a whole, and it erases all the good positive aspects and potential opportunities I could take

Originally Posted by Velouria

Mine gets better . . . and then it gets worse . . . and then it gets better . . . and then it gets worse . . . and then sometimes it gets really bad and I wonder why I'm even paying for meds . . . and then I talk about it in therapy and I get a new med . . . and then it gets better . . . and the cycle goes on.

I've talked about it with my therapist and she's helped me come to terms with the fact that I'll have to be on meds for depression for the rest of my life, likening it to diabetes, which actually helps me feel better about it even though that may sound strange. But what she means is that it can be a manageable condition given the right treatment. Don't worry, you'll be okay.

Have you told your therapist about those thoughts?

I recently went through a week of hell with that as I waited for a new AD to kick in (Wellbutrin). It was awful. I felt like I was literally fighting off the thoughts left and right, they just kept invading my head. Then, at the end of the week, the Wellbutrin kicked in and it was like night and day. However, a week after that I had an allergic reaction to it and had to go off it.

Are you on an antidepressant?

Do you mean me? I have told T all of what I've said here. I am on meds. Zoloft, Dexadrine, Ambien, Klonopin.
I keep trying but honestly wonder why.

Originally Posted by Creative1onder

People don't experience things in the same way. Each person is different. People may experience severe depression at some point in their life but it doesn't mean they will have it continously for their entire life. Some people may claim to have it for long time and that it will last, but others have had it for some duration of time but managed to overcome it, to see the light, feel freer and change positively. That is a really pessimistic picture if you believe that It will continue to be there for whole life- its not like a physical illness like diabetes which has to managed each day permanently. It is stress related largely.At the end of the day the aim is to help you as a person, not the depression. That won't work if you think that ur powerless to depression.We aren't the depression. It isn't part of our true self. We can learn to be more in control of our own selves, be our own best guide, overcome things manage factors better that could trigger depressive episodes,to live more freely happily without feeling vulnerable to getting depression again and again. Even make depression your friend rather than your enemy so you can liberate yourself . I believe it has hidden underlying messages that we need to listen to and take on board. For me anyway it has.

For me, it IS a physical illness since brain chemistry is involved. Sorry if I sound pessimistic, but uummm...I'm DEPRESSED. I have to manage it daily I.e. take my meds and have them adjusted periodically. I am not depression but I DO have depression. My illness does not define me. I would love to "take control" and be rid of it once and for all. I can control many things but I can't control the workings of my brain or the loss of people who meant the world to me. I can pretend everything is fine; I've done that before and I can only do it for so long.
I wish it was as easy or "user friendly" as you make it sound.
This really strikes me as blaming the victim(though I hate the word"victim")

[Velouria]

Originally Posted by Calista+12

Do you mean me? I have told T all of what I've said here. I am on meds. Zoloft, Dexadrine, Ambien, Klonopin.
I keep trying but honestly wonder why.

Of course you

I know I'm not a doctor, but maybe you should alter your meds. SSRIs never did anything for me -- Zoloft is an SSRI. They also fail to be effective after a while. You might want to try an SNRI.

So what did your T say, including about the ideation?

Keep trying. You can make it through.

Originally Posted by Velouria

Of course you

I know I'm not a doctor, but maybe you should alter your meds. SSRIs never did anything for me -- Zoloft is an SSRI. They also fail to be effective after a while. You might want to try an SNRI.

So what did your T say, including about the ideation?

Keep trying. You can make it through.

There were so many people commenting, I wasn't sure....
SSRIs are the only meds that work for me. The dose has been adjusted. SNRI's work on norepinephrine, right? What are the names of some?
The ideation has been my norm for so long, everyone is used to hearing it.
Thanks!

[vonmoxie]

SNRI's work on Serotonin and Norepinephrine. Cymbalta, Effexor, and Pristiq, are some I know of; tried Cymbalta personally.

NRI's are what work on Norepinephrine only; Wellbutrin is probably the most well known of them, and Strattera is one although I don't think it's prescribed for depression.. more for ADHD.

[Altered Moment]

SSNRI's work on serotonin and nor epinephrine. I believe dopamine too to a much lesser extent. Effexor, Pristiq, Fetzima, and I think Cymbalta. Not many. Wellbutrin is in a class by itself and mainly acts on dopamine and nor epinephrine. NDRI

It's important to remember the exact mechanisms in a living human brain are really not known. How each one of us metabolize them can be very different. What works for one person does not work for another.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[vonmoxie]

Wellbutrin used to be considered an NDRI (norepinephrine dopamine reuptake inhibitor) but research that just came out this year indicates the effect on dopamine in humans is not significant. So now it's an NRI.

I guess it worked differently on rats or something.

[Creative1onder]

Originally Posted by vonmoxie

I'm currently in my 40's and in the midst of a very long and distressing episode of major depression. My very first episode was also years long, during my childhood, but I haven't had a major episode like this since I was in my mid-twenties. But even though I was lucky enough to enjoy that 20 year stretch without a major episode coming on, there's no doubt in my mind that the episodes are connected. That if I'd never had the episodes I did from when I was a young child, I'd have been far less likely to have one now. In that sense, I do think it can be lifelong (but agree there are all different kinds, that work differently for different people); that it's a fallacy for someone who has ever been depressed to imagine themselves entirely immune, and potentially take greater risks with self-care that could bring on another episode.

That's my story anyway. Previous to the episode I'm having now, I was working doubled full-time hours week after week, was sleep deprived, recreation deprived, sanity deprived. Relationship deprived. There wasn't time left for anything. Looking back, it's only that I powered through things in the way that I did that I ran myself into this episode. Short-sighted of me. But it had been so long, I'd forgotten that I'm really not invincible.

Edited just to add: It's my personal experience that episodes do run their course. Mine have simply ended when they have ended, always with some element of mystery for me; none of my earlier episodes involved the care of anyone in the psych industry though. And while I can't yet speak to what will eventually end this one, based on the length of time it's been and it being "treatment-resistant" (a term which only refers specifically to when depression doesn't respond positively to full rounds of anti-depressant treatment), I can only hope that it too will "run its course".

You might get depression at some stage in your life, not necessarily from young age, could be much later for first time, it doesn't mean you'll get it again and again in future. We can't say how long it will last when it arises or if /when it might come back. It is possible to overcome depression,liberate self, transform.. If you wait for it to go, passively wishing it to stop,run its course it may never leave you. You have to be the one in charge not the making the depression control, create fear, trap you . Like anything you can choose how you percieve and respond/deal with it, whether positively, constructively or negatively.

[Creative1onder]

Depression is a mental illness for many as its stress related which can lead to physical effects too. Depression is not just linked with brain chemistry, it isn't just physical illness otherwise everyone who has ever had it would be on meds evry day for the rest of their life. That isn't the case for everyone. As I said no one is right or wrong in how they view perceive depression or experience, deal with it, just differs a lot. Who said its due to chemical imbalance for sure..its more likely stress induced which can affects people mentally and physically. We have to be in control take charge if we are to liberate and transform. If not then we'll likely carry on staying stuck in difficult place or vulnerable. Some people have learnt to change their view of depression in a more helpful way to them and have been able to overcome it. Depression tells us something's wrong that needs attention , addressing and changing. A lot of people now are learning about how negative thoughts, beliefs and behaviours,unhelpful habits we have can lead to depression and anxiety issues. You can see this in different therapies or positive psychology courses/workshops on how to challenge and change way people percieve and respond/deal with things.