> There are days that I feel like I am the luckiest man in the world, technically speaking
The reality is that each person's needs are different, and just because you are the luckiest man in the world based off society's values doesn't mean your individual needs are being met.
I sympathize with the fact that you have depression but I don't really see how the article is dangerous. If anything I would think that it's good to try and find/fix any underlying issues which cause the depression if possible rather than just hoping medication will make everything go away.
We still don't have a good understanding of the brain and psychological disorders..
Yes. Exactly. And until you experience such a thing for yourself, or interact with someone like that you will 100% never believe it to be possible.
Yet it is.
Haven't been depressed or suicidal in the slightest since I came out here to SF and started living an autonomous life on my own trajectory. Was 100% circumstantial and situational for me, took zero drugs and professional therapy didn't do anything. Changing my life circumstances did everything.
I meant that for some people it has zero to do with environment, not that it was like that for everyone.
Be glad it was so easy to fix for you, not everyone is so lucky.
You have more foreign bacteria living in your body than human cells. "life flows on within you and without you".
No I am not.
And like I said, till it happens to you, or you are with someone like that, you will never believe it.
I certainly never did. For some people it's environmental - for other? They are depressed for no reason whatsoever.
The rest of what you wrote is just empty phrases and has zero to do with this subject.
Just because you have experienced it before does not mean that you understand the causes of depression any more than anyone else. After all, you don't assume that people who have cancer have a better understanding of what causes cancer (all else being equal).
As a society we still don't really understand much about depression. You could be right or wrong, but how would you even know? Your case could be environmental without you knowing or understanding it. On the other hand you could also be correct that it's something else entirely.
Without more studies, we just don't know. I would believe that depression is not necessarily a disease and instead a group of symptoms. That's not to say that you don't have a disorder, but that I think our idea that all cases of depression are the same is incorrect. This would explain why some cases of depression are environmental whereas others may not be; they could actually be different diseases that both cause these symptoms.
As someone who is bipolar, depressive episodes are extremely similar to depression. In fact, about 1/5 cases of bipolar are initially misdiagnosed as depression, reportedly. As far as I know though, we aren't actually sure if they were misdiagnosed or depression developed into bipolar.
Indeed some studies have shown there is a link between bipolar, schizophrenia, and depression. See here: http://www.nimh.nih.gov/news/science-news/2013/new-data-reve...
I don't think it's fair for others to say you are incorrect but it's also premature to say you are correct too. I hope that we will uncover the truth sometime in our lifetimes but it seems we are still pretty far away from understanding psychological disorders.
Sudden pain isn't itself a disease, but a symptom of some other underlying issue. Why can't depression be the same way? No one here is discounting the discomfort of the depressive experience.
I'd be pretty damn depressed if I were thinking in terms of how satisfied I should be with the status quo. A person needs more than having his/her needs taken care of -- what is it? That search is part of the whole life, and you won't find any answers at all for yourself unless you're harnessing the power of depression. Labelling it as a disease will not get you anywhere but just leaves you as a bystander who unfairly got sick.