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View Full Version : Of Course You're Depressed


HerbVerbage
14th June, 2008, 07:21 PM
Hey everyone, I just thought I'd take a few minutes to share some of my own philosophy and studying of life i.e. musings with you all. I trust that some here might be able to relate and hopefully take refuge in the fact that they're not alone.
The main point that I'll present to you today is this: Of course you are depressed and/or anxiety-ridden ...... it's the normal human response to times like the ones we're in. We are in a sick world today, and contrary to popular belief, I do NOT think that we are evolving up from a primordial soup, but rather de-evolving down from a Garden of Eden of sorts. Allow me to illustrate this point a bit.....
World War III, I think we're living in it today right now. What is happening in the Middle East is genocide and I for one am not okay with it, nor do I agree with the war-mongering attitudes displayed by the masses. I feel there is a very real threat of countries teaming up with eachother to invade America now, due to this (mainly China, India, and Russia). Our choices for jobs now are basically any combination of these 3: Law enforcement, military, or Walmart. Ok, now that's depressing. Television propaganda as follows: Marriage is hell, love is nonexistant, and family is a sham. What a nightmare, I for one have cancelled the cable and am only using netflix now. Medical nightmares being conducted in the name of "healthcare" and done with profits in mind: 110,000 pharmacuetical-related deaths each year (and that's just the deaths from taking them "according to doctor's orders" and within those guidelines [that's twice as many annual deaths as there are automobile accident-related deaths each year] ). We are denied healthcare coverage for alternative treatments and have to pay out of pocket for our sanity. Education: It's at an alltime low, once again contrary to popular belief, the test scores now prove that Americans are THE dumbest people on the planet. It is my belief and indeed much evidence shows that this is not by accidence or just simple arrogance, the public school system is designed to keep us dumbed down and dull. Do you doubt it and think that academia is safe from corruption? Allow me to illustrate: Why are you being taught the english system of measurement in school rather than the metric system? Meanwhile the whole scientific community (universally acrost the globe) is using the metric system. Do they want the masses to be confused when they try and read a medical journal and/or scientific research paper and scratch their heads when they see mg/L and words like "metre" and "litre"? How about your calendar? The word "month" translates as "moon", right? Then why are the masses stuck with a flawed Gregorian calendar of 12 months of uneven days when the truth is that the moon circles the earth 13 times a year, not 12 (within regular 28 day intervals). You don't think that people "in the know" are using this calendar which sunconsciously disrupts an individual's sense of time/balance do you? Organic fruits and vegatables cost buckets of money, but you can go to McDonald's and experiment with the dollar menu for pennies. Kids in the suburbs are taking their good fortunes for granted and are sagging their pants like the gangbangers on the other side of town because it is the thing to do (to die). Gangster rap is the music of choice by a people who, given the real situations of the law of the jungle, are not lions at all but are sheep, fodder, and prey. All we hear while walking down the street is arrogaonce booming from someone's car stereo system, instead of the peace that should come naturally out of a life lived in balance. Sodium flouride has had scientific evaluations done on it since the 1930s which prove that when consumed by humans, causes: Cancer, bone fractures, and brain damage (20 points knocked right off the IQ, for example), etc. yet it is still being poured by the lb into your water supply in the name of "clean teeth". Surely there are safer and more effective ways to clean one's teeth than to kill someone with a tap average of 2 mg sodium flouride per litre of water (2 parts per million), which roughly adds up to 1/3 lb - 1/2lb of flouride that a person consumes in their lifetime. We are getting the leadership that we deserve. It's no wonder that McSame, Ghoulli, Hitlerry, and Osama are our official "choices". Do we deserve anything better? I look at the arrogance in the world today and see that we're getting what we deserve. It is hard to be alive today, we live in a time of war, not a time of peace. It's no wonder at all that you and I are depressed. Comments more than welcome.

"In a time of universal deceit, speaking the truth is a revolutionary act." ---George Orwell

sheephead
15th June, 2008, 05:54 AM
I like your starting point -- Of course you are depresssed and / or anxiety-ridden. It's the normal human response....

-- and I thought that instead of heading off into a 'glass half-empty' view of the world at large, you would be examining how we, as humans, react to our immediate environment / relationships / life events, and the part that depression and anxiety play as we live out our lives and sort through the challenges that life throws at us.

I agree with you that the world is a shabby place. Humans have the capacity to be wonderful, creative and inspirational, but we also have a terrible dark side and the ability to inflict enormous suffering on each other. That has been the case, however, since the dawn of time.

My feeling is that most people's depression and anxiety is not fuelled by the 'outside' issues that you describe, but by considerations much closer to home - it was for me, anyway.

Interesing post, though, HV. :talkface:

sheephead
15th June, 2008, 10:49 AM
...in fact, the more I think about it, the more I now conclude that my depression was a "normal human response" to the pressure I was putting myself under at work and in my personal life -- and the unreasonable goals and targets that I was setting myself.

At the time, I saw my depression as a monster that had taken hold for no reason and was stopping me 'living my life', but in retrospect it was probably a "normal human response" to my unsustainable life-style and disfunctional outlook and beliefs.

In fact, viewing depression in this way (i.e. a normal human response to normal human problems - as opposed to a raging illness or a medical condition) is quite empowering.

Nice one, HV...:talkface:

Sheephead.

SkulkyGirl
16th June, 2008, 10:16 AM
Have you read much history - more of people's every day lives, rather than dates of wars?
I also do not agree with our invasion of the Middle East, and a bunch of other things, but relatively speaking, we are living in a time of unprecedented wealth and prosperity. And health.
I had let myself forget about the flouride - right now me and my kids are trying to sell our little condo and live in a 'normal' house. When we move, I will get bottled water to keep us away from flouride.
I have drank tap water all my life and have low thyroid and of course am a depressive type.
Thank you for this very interesting post, tho'. Yes - the pharmaceuticals companies are scary. So many people trust them - about a month ago I was considering going back on Zoloft. but I found this site, and I am so grateful!
We don't watch TV because we can't get reception without cable. And it is a drug itself, and as I remember shows nonstop comercials for pharmaceuticals.
Anyway, good post - I love philosophical musings!
S.G.

JasonInDallas
6th July, 2008, 11:55 AM
Sure, but the thing is that everyone deals with the same world and most people do not end up becoming clinically depressed.

I could win the lottery on the day world peace was attained and I'd still be depressed.

HerbVerbage
25th July, 2008, 11:01 PM
Those are some interesting points. What I'm really getting at though is that I've been looking at the topic of depression for a time, and from many different cultural perspectives. Chemical imbalance in the brain is mainly a western govt-funded scientific perspective, but to look at the shamanic cultures in the Amazon and the rest of the world, Ayurvedic medicine in India which is 4,000 years old at least and still going very strong, etc. take a different look at things. It wouldn't take long for an Ayurvedic doctor to give an entirely different "diagnosis" then what we're being given by western medicine. They might say that our sense are overtaxed, we've been doing too much, for too much of the time. Too much fast food, too much sex, too many stimulants, too many depressants, too many poisons in the food and water supply, etc. Yes I've read history and I prefer the unauthorized version of it, so to speak. In the west we are fed a constant diet of propaganda. Take the issue of anti-psychotics (the secret of NIMH - national institute of mental health) prescribed to schizophrenics, they are being sold by the boatloads on the assumption that schizophrenics have excess dopamine in their brains, an assumption which long ago was proven to be false, if anything schizophrenics have an excess of adrenochrome not dopamine, yet the anti-psychotics like zyprexa are still being sold, big business. Let's face it folks, we've been getting lied to for a very long time. St. John's Wort and Rhodiola Rosea have helped me tremendously and still are. In addition to this, I've found some promising information lately about thyroid imbalances, either too active or not enough. Either way is corrected by supplementing with iodine apparently. So I've added a product called "Iodoral" to my daily regimen, I take 4 daily now and am feeling much better. Try searching on "Iodine deficiency as the cause for mental illness" and see what comes up. Also I've been taking something called "Silymarin" which is a milk-thistle extract designed to cleanse the liver. These things are important in my opinion. Also, anyone who is drinking water that has these things in it is going to feel severely horrible: Fluoride, chlorine, lead, aluminum, copper, arsenic, mercury, asbestos. Some of those things, especially the fluoride, can be found even in many bottled waters. I recently have eliminated this problem by getting a "Berkey Light" water filtration system with black berkey filters and pf-2 filters as well. The iodine and silymarin is essential to detox from the fluoride and other things, that are soft-killing us, poisoning us all the time. Genetically-modified foods is another big issue, who the hell on earth's idea was that one I wonder? So, no wonder you're depressed, basically, everyone is lately. The economy is in a nightmarish state, and not just financially.

SkulkyGirl
26th July, 2008, 09:56 AM
Hi Herb
Very interesting post!
I had thought we now got enough iodine, as so much salt is in everything, and it is iodized. I take Armour thyroid. I had to find a doctor to provide it - my HMO doctor would not. They would only prescribe Synthroid. I feel much much better on Armour.
I have also heard Vitamin D is very important. Do you feel better with your purified water?
And how do you know your herbs are good, anyways? What brand of Milk THistle do you take?
S.G.

everything&more
9th September, 2008, 01:11 PM
Have you guys ever seen the episode from 'Two and a Half Men' where Jake looks so depressed but by the end they find out it was the pizza and pancakes that they were feeding him. it was the only thing they fed him. have an energizer guys. I personally like grape and cranberry juice mixed together. You'll like the tingle on your tongue too. want a chocolate bar? eat a bell pepper! jk jk but eat some fruit if you want that chocolatte.

DW23
9th September, 2008, 02:24 PM
Nice post Herb. Of course you could ask someone who lived through the great depression, WW2 and the cold war if life is better now. Better yet, ask someone who is black, gay or a woman if they would rather be alive in 1950 or 2008. What about smallpox, Tuberculosis and leprosy? What about children working in factories, men working in steel factories and coal mines being indebted to the company their entire lives? What about women being locked in sweatshops until they met their quotas? What about the Irish and Chinese immigrants who built Americas infrastructure who got killed and maimed for their efforts.

Back in the day they did have certainty though. God was much more real then. Evolution and science hadn't challenged long-held beliefs. The family unit was much stronger justice was much more swift.

Today we have Global warming and Terrorism both of which are being used to scare the bejessus out of us. Its hard to say how serious either threat really is, as careers and big money are being made off of scaring the crap out of us.

I get your point though. I do believe however that our quality of life is in large degree what we make of it. Personally I think gangster rap will eventually die down like all music fads. Once GW Bush and his cronies are gone life will lighten up a little. Remember how much better life was under Clinton? Even if you have a crappy job, there are things you can do to make your life livable. The best advice I have is to turn off your TV (like it seems you have) Mass media thrives on sensationalism now, not truth so whatever message they can push on us that will get our attention they will.

DW23
9th September, 2008, 02:40 PM
A couple more points I just thought of. Often depressed people find something to cling on to to justify their depression, something that can't be proven as a cause and can't be fixed by the depressed person. Think global warming, irradiated and genetically modified food, war in Iraq, hatred and ignorance.

Another is that depression can be caused when we aren't living the lives we could. If you want to be a musician but became an accountant because you had no faith in your talent then you could have problems. Think a feminist, liberal woman who wants to be a housewife, an evangelistic preacher who wants to be gay. These people have identities that are clashing with who they really are. If your real identity and the life you are living don't mesh then you will most likely have some rough times.

sheephead
10th September, 2008, 04:18 AM
A couple more points I just thought of. Often depressed people find something to cling on to to justify their depression, something that can't be proven as a cause and can't be fixed by the depressed person. Think global warming, irradiated and genetically modified food, war in Iraq, hatred and ignorance.

Another is that depression can be caused when we aren't living the lives we could. If you want to be a musician but became an accountant because you had no faith in your talent then you could have problems. Think a feminist, liberal woman who wants to be a housewife, an evangelistic preacher who wants to be gay. These people have identities that are clashing with who they really are. If your real identity and the life you are living don't mesh then you will most likely have some rough times.

Great points, DW -- agree with both. I'm sure the second paragraph described me perfectly -- stuck in an office all day playing Mr. Housing Manager, when I wanted a bit of freedom and spontaneity. Hence the fact I'm now a van driver.

It reminds me of the Monty Python sketch about the accountant who wants to become a lion tamer. His careers advisor says he could make the transition in easy stages via, say, - banking! :talkface: