How prevalent is depression in the seduction community, do you think?

It’s obvious what the driving factors are likely to be in anyone with social problems that induce loneliness or frustration in this area of life. For me, I’ve had mood problems on and off for years. The catalyst is usually stress, such as particularly busy business times, or attempts at personal change.

The medical community is a little frustrating here. The accepted theory, if you can call it that, is one of chemical brain imbalance treated by drugs. Don’t get me wrong, if you’re in a deep hole and have to get out, take the drugs. I’ve resisted thus far although I’ve nearly gone down that route a couple of times in the last year or so.

Those of you who have had difficulty with this will implicitly understand what it can do to you mentally, physically and emotionally, but it’s a difficult thing to describe to others. No amount of “just snap out of it” type advice, will work.

If you’re reading this and have this problem, sort out your nutrition, get hydrated, get to bed early, get outside for an hour a day at least, lower stressors in your life…these little things can all add up. I don’t have all the answers, but these things alone have helped me thus far.

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I'm not that sure whether I believe that the anti-depressants work. I think it's all a scam in the pharmaceutical industry, that probably kinda works with the placebo affect. If somebody has a real deep seated issue, I don't think any drug can just magically make it go away.

In my past, I have found that the biggest reason I feel sad and depressed is because I feel like I have nobody to talk to, or hang out with, and just generally feel lonely in the world. It is these days, when I had nobody to talk to or hang with, that I felt like I really was "depressed", even though nothing was REALLY wrong in my life.

But generally, I have found the answer to be to go out more, do more things with friends, and just try to understand that shit happens in life, and you can either deal with it and move on, or sit and worry about it constantly.

An interesting post

Telling someone with depression to snap out of it is like telling someone in a wheelchair to just get up and walk. There is a physical, and physiological reason, why the person is depressed, and snapping out of it is simply not an option.

I have cyclothymia - a mild form of bipolar disorder. I won't say "suffer from" because, when I do have an episode, there's a 50/50 chance it'll be fucking amazing - manic episodes, however mild, are the most amazing feeling in the world, akin to MDMA (see below). However, with the smooth inevitably comes the rough, and at times it's been very, very rough. For a while, at university, I became so convinced I was a hopeless waste of space that I was actually going to end up a pitiful heroin addict. This seemed very probable to me.

Your advice to anyone suffering from depression is definitely valid. I found that my mood improved no end by going for a walk, playing the piano or going to see friends. My milder episodes of depression could even be helped by doing my weekly big-shop. I can't say diet really helped, and exercise (by which I mean the gym) just made it worse. But hey, each to their own.

But (and this is a big but), there comes out of this a Catch 22. And that is that, during moderate to severe depression, even doing those things you've talked about becomes unbearable. You feel absolutey, completely, hopelessly, wretched, and even going outside seems like an impossible task. Don't get me wrong, you know full well that it is possible, but you can't think of anything worse than doing it. And behind these problems is the fact that you are a cunt. You will never be loved, you will never be happy, and you will be lonely, disconnected and miserable whatever you do. And no-one will care because you're such a cunt. Can you imagine feeling like that? Having what feels like an inevitable realisation that these things are true? Nothing you do can stop this kind of depression - I've had it, in this severity, three times in the past, each for a couple of months, and it's awful - easily the darkest days of my life.

And now, children, a lesson in neurophysiology. Clinical Depression is a mood disorder caused by a decrease in central levels of serotonin over the course of several weeks, many months or even years. Serotonergic neurones are found, as we might expect, mainly in areas of the brain responsible for mood, appetite, motivation, empathy and alertness. They also modulate the response of dopamine, which humans tend to like very much. It's the main point of neurological manipulation when you take cocaine or do exercise (yes, exercise is almost as addictive as cocaine). So yes, Postscript, clinical depression is caused by a chemical imbalance in the brain (sort of), and DJ, if it is caused by a lack of a certain neurotransmitter (ie serotonin), drugs will put it right.

MDMA, for instance, works wonders on the human brain. Anyone who doesn't believe manipulation of serotonin has any effect on a person should try some and then get back to me. More mild examples that cause an increase of serotonin in the CSF include paroxetine (good stuff - we used it for my dissertation) and cipralex. They simply function by either pretending to be serotonin, or preventing serotonin being taken back up into nerve cells (or both in the case of MDMA).

smoking leads to depression I'm on day 3 clean and i tell you wat I'm pretty depressed but I know I'll come out feeling much happier.

Thanks for your honesty Blanca, it's a big and difficult topic to talk about. I tried to be respectful of the accepted view on brain chemistry and drugs, but I'm still cynical about it. There are people out there who have benefited greatly, but also a lot of stories of low efficacy and constant pill popping and other effects, one of which in my family. From a diet and exercise point of view, it's the finer points and a lot of the refinements are counter intuitive. For example, more meat and unprocessed clean saturated fat can help, contrary to normal dietary advice. Good quality fish oil high in EPA/DHA can help. Cutting out all grains (bread/pasta/rice) can help. Cutting out all the obvious crap and stimulants can help. Obviously plenty of veg and seasonal fruit. On exercise, I agree this can make it worse, in my experience, much worse. I'd just advocate getting outside and walking in the fresh air, getting in what little vitamin D from the sun that we can get in this country. Hitting the weights and treadmill could be a big mistake I couldn't agree more, depends on the person.

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I don't disagree that pharmaceuticals cannot help temporarily, but I do think it is not a permanent treatment. I think the deep seated issue would just come back to haunt said person in the future, in some way shape or form. All my non-professional opinion of course.

I sometimes notice that our reward system with respect to dopamine is quite screwed in the western world anyways, with everybody hyped up on coca cola, mcdonalds and processed foods.

I think a depressed person just having somebody to listen to can be a great help. Someone that actually cares, rather than telling them to just "be happy". Of course, admitting you are depressed in the first place is an achievement in itself. (Not directed at any poster, just in general).

Severe Depression absolutly destroys you inside. I couldnt even get off the sofa to empty the dishwasher it was an absolutly impossible task, so you sit there and ruminate about the things that you are obsessive over-- hurting you inside over and over again which spirals you further and further down.
Looking back my Severely Depressed episode lasted 6 months, every minute of every hour of every day was absolute hell on earth, i sobbed 20 times a day.
I was scoring maxium marks on the GPs depression scale.

Like you say if you somehow manage to actually do somthing, go out, speak to a friend on the phone, visit family--afterwards you feel better, but the ability to actually get up and do that yourself is impossible.
anyone that thinks they can 'just pull themselves together' has no concept of SEVERE depression.
I actually realised what being mentally ill was -- i didnt trust myself, how i felt or decisions i made anymore because i was up and down up and down.

My best friend would ring me everyday to see how i was and i would give him different answers about the same thing everyday--i realised that if you asked me the same question 20 minutes apart about everything that had happened.
I would give you a firmly believed DIFFERENT answer.

I also understood how commiting suicide could actually seem like a totally logical sane normal choice-- your ability to reason and use logic is totally fucked when severely depressed.

For me Anti Depressants where probably my savior -- i bounced around on some different ones and settled on Citalopram. Immediately i felt like the ups and downs got their peaks taken off and levelled slightly-- i actaully WANTED to go out and do things-- which also made me feel better.

They didnt stop me feeling depressed but they took the edge off it- i still had massive wobbles and i carefully had to control my thought processes, keep myself out of situations i knew would make me 'wobble'
i developed some affirmations i would say to myself when i wobbled bit like self hypnosis.

So here the happy ending bit...you ready?

no, no happy ending -- i am a hell of a lot better 2 years down the line, i still take citalopram although i am ready to wean myself off it as i have put many things in place with my life that will help me keep my head above water.
i still get the odd Wobble now and again but i control it well.

Things that helped my from a nutrient/drug point of view

Citalopram -- huge difference
Modafinil -- accidental discovery totally feel awesome on these, knock on effects seem to last for days
High potency fish oils
High Potency Vitamin D
i also drop the odd 5-HTP - has a very calming effect.

personally i developed a great deal of caring and compassion for others in this situation, you can truly never understand it unless youve been there.

Ive been going through this a little this year - thankfully now over the worst.
I think the most terrible part of it is the feeling of pure alone, that you can be surrounded by anyone/doing anything and yet somehow you feel totally disconnected and remote.
Genuinely feels as if there is no future and things will never improve,
a feeling I would never wish on anybody

I guess before I felt it for myself I was someone who to a degree was of the attitude of 'just get over' but like many things in life, we have to see for ourselves before understanding is possible.
Just another reminder in the long journey to not judge and empathise because we never know what the next guy/girl on the street is going through...

Educate me? Is this to do with genes? For example: Same event happening to two different guys. But two different reactions. 1) First guy got affected more. Got depressed. Felt that this life wasnt worth living for. Depressed. Suicidal. Started drinking. Started taking drugs. Got even more depressed. Started on anti-depressants. It was a vicious cycle. 2) Second guy got affected too. Sad. Depressed. Decided to bury himself with other things to keep him busy. Moments of Sadness. But moved on with his life. I know it is a simple analogy and possibly biased but I always wonder whether gene makeup has anything to do with how one responds to unfortunate events.

It's an interesting point, same stimulus, two men, why does one respond differently to the other? What's the earlier cause and effect going on? The first half hour or so of the 3rd Zeitgeist movie ("Zeitgeist: moving forward") linked below, gives a great description of the fallacy of genetics as a possible solution but talks about the related idea of pre-disposition. I don't like to make excuses that absolve anyone of responsibility, but it seems somewhat credible that it could stack the odds a little against you when forks in the road appear in front of you in life.

YouTube - ZEITGEIST: MOVING FORWARD | OFFICIAL RELEASE | 2011

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