There is an end to it all

Its our next stage in evolution.
Its the point where we realise:
I am you and you are me--we are the same all part of the same source
that point forward you will never be alone again

and as a whole we will become infinitely powerful

Do you believe this? It would seem the human race is intent on destroying itself, via wars, global warming, nuclear weapons, greed for energy, and of course murders etc...

If anyone has seen Avatar, I think this accurately portrays the human race..

My belief is that we are all heading for a massive world changing fall and nothing will ever be the same again

Touche!
And insane
in all seriousness i dont have wobbles very often now so i would say i am well on the way out.
I sparingly take anti depressants now


ps dont tell girls about it! they will run

Too many posts, didn't read a lot of them.

Jesus boys! I'm away for 5 minutes and we're onto the paradox of choice?! Heavy shit, blew my mind when I read about it. We're only free to choose if we don't realise it. Anyone who realises they are free to choose for themselves has their choice rendered meaningless, making it impossible to choose one course of action over another for any reason. Action and consequence. Read Nausea by Sartre. Fucked up book. Still haven't actually experienced "The Nausea" yet though.

Right. Choice in depression. I understand you chaps are wondering whether, in a depressed state, it is possible to "choose" to get out of it.

This is a complex concept, but I'll do my best to break it down for you guys. Bear in mind also that, as someone who writes with his train of thought, I'm still working stuff out as I write.

The way I see it, depression can be alleviated by raising serotonin levels (and a couple more minor things). This can be done one of two ways - endogenously (ie, serotonin levels naturally come back up over time - could be after 2 weeks, like mine, or after 10 years) or exogenously (ie by using external stimuli such as drugs or serotonin-boosting activity - exercise, seeing friends or even something as simple as leaving the house). We have no control whatsoever over endogenous control of serotonin (hereafter referred to as 5-HT), and lots of control over exogenous stimuli - we have control over whether to go for a run or to the pub but no way to make our brain spontaneously make loads of 5-HT.

Thus, if there is a choice, the choice centres around what exogenous activities we can to to alleviate the situation. Therefore, I suppose that in theory, even someone scoring a 60 on the Beck Inventory could choose to go out and approach some girls and help themselves feel better again. The problem with depression is that it greatly reduces the chances of you actually wanting to choose this option. I can't really explain the feeling to someone who's never had it, except by referring to MDMA again.

Anyone who's ever had it will have experienced a comedown. I've never had them that bad but I know people who have. It's that feeling of wanting to curl into a ball, shut yourself off from the world and die. Depression is like the worst comedown you've ever had, but combined with a bottomless pit of sadness. Not for nothing is it so often called a "black cloud" - it is almost exactly like being covered by a black cloud. It is all-crushing, all-consuming, and most importantly, it makes you want to do anything other than socialise and feel good. It's akin to being offered a shot of gin when you're having Satan's own hangover. You feel utterly repulsed by it - you can think of nothing worse.

So what I'm saying is, yes, there is an element of choice to make yourself feel better, and doing these things would almost certainly help a little bit, but depression makes the chances of you actually wanting to make this choice significantly smaller.

Good talk anyway, turns out it wasn't as complicated as I thought.

At my worst i could NOT have chosen to just pull myself out of it - i truly realised what mental illness was.

I found the who thing ironic because my entire life i had always been the 'Rock' that everyone leans on, when the shit hits the fan im always the one left there in hero mode

We are all made of matter and sub-atomic-particles, spat out from the big bang, as are rocks in space. Do these particles have choice? What is so different about us? We are just a congregation of the same substance.

I have of late
--
but wherefore I know not
--
lost all my mirth,
forgone all custom of exercises;
and indeed it goes so heavily with my disposition that this goodly
frame,
the earth,
seems to me a sterile promontory,
this most excellent canopy,
the air,
look you,
this brave o'erhanging firmament,
this majestical roof fretted with golden fire,
why,
it appears no other thing to me than a foul and pestilent congregation
of vapours.
What a piece of work is a man!
how noble in reason!
how infinite in faculty!
in form and moving how express and admirable!
in action how like an angel!
in apprehension how like a god!
the beauty of the world!
the paragon of animals!
And yet,
to me,
what is this quintessence of dust?
man delights not me:
no,
nor woman neither,
--
nor woman neither....

Just a short note of thanks for the sufferers who have spoken up thus far, your comments didn't go unnoticed. Not to mention the wider dialogue about what is going on here. All I can say is talking about it is good, and it does subside. A degree of action does sow a seed, maybe it's just getting out of bed, maybe it's just eating natural food, maybe it's just considering that you're not such a bad person in some ways...just any little seed is the start of a habit which can lighten your self perception.

PS

Can you elaborate on this? Give an example perhaps?