Anxiety/Depression Tips & Tears

[bunnicula]

Is mental health all state-funded in England? Here in the US it is partially state funded, but many hospitals and treatment centers take private insurance, or out of pocket payments.

[Shi'ark]

Yes, every thing here is the NHS which comes from tax, though the NHS is a good thing it’s had a lot of trouble the last ten years and hasn’t been giving the public the best service. The government likes to say it’s because of a lack of money but many Journalists who have taken a look at things say that it’s being run be idiots who don’t know what they’re doing. It looks like in the next 20 years we’ll have a system very much like the one you have in the US. That way people can make money out of it.

[bunnicula]

That's funny because here in the US some people want the government to give everyone free (taxpayer-funded) healthcare- like in England or Canada. It sounds good in theory but with all the problems we have with insurance companies (not doctors) dictating length of treatment and hospital stays, etc., I can't imagine that the government (also not doctors) would do a better job.

[Wise Child]

Our health service is shite. Really, really don't do that, America!

[OnixxFilth]

I have something that's like the opposite of claustrophobia. I'm afraid of big spaces. When I was on vacation with my grandparents and we toured this building (some sort of convention center) designed by Frank Lloyd Wright and we came to a huge room that reminded me of a gym or of my local civic center's main arena, I pressed myself against the wall in one corner until we moved on. It's also why I can't eat in the main cafeteria at school- too big and scary.

[OnixxFilth]

I prefer smaller rooms- I loved this one room in my high school where the floor was carpeted and there was a carpeted rolling divider that could be retracted to make the two small rooms into one big room. When I encounter an ideal room like that, I say that "the room hugs me."

[OnixxFilth]

No, I haven't quite gone to that extreme ever.

[Deviant Kitten]

Originally Posted by Xnguela

Do you ever feel so overwhelmed by big spaces, even if they don't usually feel big, that you go into a closet and close the door, or hide under a desk and pull the chair toward you to block you in?

I hide in my airing cupboard sometimes! *grin*

My cat likes it in there too, so when I want to get away from the world for a while I tend to go sit in the warm, dark cupboard with my kitty. It must be a return-to-the-womb thing, I suppose!

[Oubliette]

Yeah so it's kind of like beating a dead horse, discussing this. But you know what it's more like a horse that won't die, all it can do is linger in a constant state of inner turmoil. There really should be a better name for it. Depression sounds so benign. Sometimes it seems like depression would be easier to deal with if there was no one that loved me. Anxiety is like the bright glaring day half of a night and day pair. I try to treat the anxiety and the depression gains strength. Was it Jimmy Buffet that said "I'm an under 40 victim of fate." Yeah so I digress, fuck it.

[Oubliette]

I was just about to make a thread about this when I found this one. I'm kind of glad I didn't with the reaction it got.

[Deviant Kitten]

Originally Posted by Xnguela

I spent Monday in my dorm closet amidst my shoes.

They smelled like shoes.

It wasn't pleasant, but it was oddly comforting.

There's something wonderfully relaxing about sitting in a small, dark space where you know you won't be disturbed. I actually feel sorry for anyone who doesn't have a hidey-hole!

When I was a kid I always used to hide under my bed surrounded by all my boxes of junk and read with a torch.

[OnixxFilth]

I used to sit in my closet and read.

[Queenofdarkness57]

Originally Posted by OnixxFilth

I used to sit in my closet and read.

I used to read under my blanket with a torch. It's was tiring, though.

[Queenofdarkness57]

Originally Posted by Xnguela

So, "torch" is british for "flashlight", right?

Yup, I believe so.

[Deviant Kitten]

Yup, torch=flashlight. It's only since I've been on this site that I've realised quite how many differences there are between British English and American English! It'd definitely be cool if there actually was a dictionary out there somewhere.

A few I know so far are:

Pavement = Sidewalk
Rubbish = Trash
Football = Soccer

Plus spelling differences like colour/color etc.

[tenet_2012]

I've learned that depression is merely anger without enthusiasm.

[Shi'ark]

Originally Posted by tenet_2012

I've learned that depression is merely anger without enthusiasm.

When depression hits me again maybe I should destroy some stuff. That might make me feel better. Or is that counter productive? Oh who cares.

[Shi'ark]

Ok then I need some help. My Granddad finally died today and I feel like crap. Any help before I go home.

[Sobeh]

Depression is often, for me at least, based in a fear of meaninglessness, by which I mean that, for example, the death of a loved one and my inability to communicate with them anymore, or about their experience of the afterlife, whether a reality or an annihilation... it all brings home to me a fear that there is absolutely no meaning in life when that unknowing is the end. Meaning seems so... contrived, and there then seems little usefulness in striving any longer for any goals at all.

When these moods hit, I find myself inclined to seek the company of others who don't share my depression; this often brings me out of my funk, because I see (a) that there are still things that, if nothing else, can bring happiness, if for however short a while, and (b) my own mood is transitory, because those I'm in the company of have felt depression and sadness before, and here they are happy with whatever they are happy with.

If such people aren't around, then the next comfort comes from being with those who share your specific catalyst for those feelings - those who share your loss, or what have you - and to be with them.

In any event, being alone is about the last thing that I find helpful in cases like these, even if my own fear (as mentioned above) makes me feel like I want some alone time to think. Thinking is for when you're at the top of your game, not when you're hurting.

[Empty_Purple_Stars]

Originally Posted by Shi'ark

Ok then I need some help. My Granddad finally died today and I feel like crap. Any help before I go home.

I'm so sorry I missed this today..

I feel your pain..

Just hang in there, and focus on how your Grandad would want you to feel right now.

Concentrate on the memories that make you smile, and try and believe that at least he isn't in any physical pain anymore.

It isn't much, but its something..

*Squeezy Hugs*

[Shi'ark]

Thanks X, Sobeh and E_P_S. It helps a little.

[OnixxFilth]

Depression is NOT just anger without enthusiasm! It is a serious medical condition and should be treated as such.

[Sobeh]

Originally Posted by OnixxFilth

Depression is NOT just anger without enthusiasm! It is a serious medical condition and should be treated as such.

I'm ringing the bullshit bell here. Natural emotional states are NOT 'medical conditions' that should be treated with chemicals! Life's highs and lows shouldn't be tranquillized; if anything is a sin, that is. I'm not saying some depression isn't extreme, but come ON.

[Ben Lahnger]

[quote=Shi'ark]

Originally Posted by bunnicula

‘Art Therapy’ I wish they had more money for this. It can work wonders.

That sounds wonderful. It's part of the therapy course they are treating my Mom with now.

Any chance a program of 'Art Therapy' can be privately funded as an independent entity there?

[Sobeh]

Originally Posted by Xnguela

/A/ chemical imbalance, /is/ as a medical condition.

I'm biased against the medical establishment for a number of reasons, not least of which is the fact that in defining certain 'imbalances' they get to dictate normalcy to the greater population. I'm all about discovering root causes, chemical or otherwise, for the sort of depression that forces you to live depressed day in and day out, in a maladaptive sort of way, but to claim all depression is a chemical imbalance, and then that all chemical imbalances are supposed to be treated, makes my heart sick.

Have a read of *this* to see what I'm talking about. Medicine as treatment in some cases, but rarely truly taking care of root causes, vis-a-vis life, stress, events that come naturally in life, and the possibility that abnormal depression is less chemical imbalance than maladaptive or poor coping mechanisms and low overall mental health.

'Blame the Chemistry' is NOT science.