The article clearly shows that in his case, his depression was caused/triggered by life events. Clearly in his case things weren't "going well", as he had just been fired from his job.
Calling it like I see it. You can blame depression all you want but his situation wasn't caused by depression-it was caused by pride. His depression was the result of his inability to admit the problems he had until a point at which his pride stopped him from dealing with things.
Depression might have "pulled the trigger" but pride "loaded the gun".
First, it doesn't matter why this person is/was depressed - it's not our business. Depression, like many other illnesses, is a private matter and only the person suffering has the right to decide who to tell and how much information to share. The fact that Dan Ha is missing does not change this.
Second, while the onset of depression can sometimes be triggered by one or more specific events, the truth is that many cases of depression have no discernible cause. When someone says that "depression needs no reason", they simply mean that there doesn't need to be any specific trigger. Of course there is something underlying the condition - whether it's caused initially by an event, some chemical imbalance in the brain, some combination of the two, or something else that we don't understand yet, the point is that it doesn't have to be caused by "some painful event".
Third, don't assume that depression is a sudden condition. It can creep up on you over time without you realizing it. Or maybe you do realize it, but you do your best to handle it, to get over it on your own, to hide it from others. You can have highs and lows (not to be confused with bipolar or manic episodes), rather times when you feel you are doing better or worse. Maybe you go a week or a month thinking it's gone, only to wake up one morning with depression making itself known again. It can be months or years before anyone else notices, if they ever do. And the ones who do? It's not necessarily your closest friends - it could be a casual acquaintance or a coworker who notices the change.
Depression can consume you. You might think it just means feeling bad, but it can be much worse than that. It can mean feeling dead inside, or not feeling anything at all.
Even when you make a choice to accept help (whether you seek it out or it's forced on you - hopefully before you do something extremely stupid), it can take a long time to recover. Medication often helps, even though we don't no exactly why - yes, we know approximately how the medication changes things in your brain - affecting dopamine uptake, for example, but we don't know why it does it. And it's not a matter of simply going on medication. You have to work with your doctor to figure out the right level for you - and that level might change over time. What worked for a time may be too much later, causing side effects that leave you feeling bad. Adjusting the dose can mean feeling worse for a couple of weeks while you wait for your body and mind to adjust! You sit at work feeling like you're about to fall asleep, and when you try to go to bed you stare at the ceiling for hours. You might be sitting or walking and feel a wave of dizziness. You gain or lose weight, seemingly without changes to your diet or routine. Even though you're not as depressed, it can be hard to go out and do things with people, leaving you feeling isolated.
Therapy can help at times, but it also takes time. You don't just sit down with a doctor and establish trust right away. It takes multiple sessions for a psychiatrist/psychologist to make a diagnosis. And they might not be the ones who can recommend medication either, so you still have to work with another doctor at the same time. Short term therapy ends up lasting for months, or years.
Finally, do you know what can be the worst thing about depression? People who tell you that there's no reason for you to be depressed. People who think it's easy to "stop thinking that way!" People who think that you ought to know why it's happening. People who say "get over it, you've got it good."
Don't believe you know what causes depression because even the people who spend their lives studying it admit that they can't really explain it yet - they can't put together the puzzle because they still haven't even found all the pieces!
I am currently suffering from a depressive episode. I am diagnosed OCD/ADD/Motor tic disorder... I also am in recovery after an addiction to oxycontin. I must say, reading the news was very sad, but at the same time, I know why he did it. I CAN understand why someone would do that to themselves, b/c I have considered it myself. But, I always remind myself that these feelings are transient and I will have good days.. You can't take life so seriously, you need to live and laugh regardless of who you are and how smart you are. Like the force of gravity, depression knows no socioeconomic boundaries -we are all susceptible to its effects.
Speaking as someone who has actually been suicidal, it does seem pretty clear that he was depressed. From his blog posts it seems that he typically had a lot of stress-related health symptoms over the years, including depression. It seems that he simply tried to do too much, got burned out as a result, and couldn't/wouldn't talk about it to anyone. Not all depression fits nicely into the 'clinical depression' pigeonhole.
This makes me think of Anthony Bourdain, the man who had probably the most envied job in the world, but still suffered from depression and took his own life.
A perfect job does not prevent or cure depression.
The depression results from failing to meet societal expectation. For example, he fears his wife and society at large thinks he's a bum now. Whether or not it's true, the depression is a result of the gender role.
The idea that a terrible life can cause depression is not the limb he's going out on. It's the idea that somehow depression is caused by being way more exploited than our ancestors in the 1700's who were working on someone else's farms and factories as children is the limb he's going out on.
I'm going by the testimony of a psychiatrist who had been following the trial. Depression can apparently push people into a mental world where everything is at rock bottom and what gets written is just an expression of that.
That's not fair. I mean, yes I don't believe what he had was depression as I know it but he still clearly had a bad time. Maybe he hadn't had experiences that would allow him to put it in perspective but he had it pretty miserable anyway and I feel for anyone going through that.
>because many people suffering from depression haven't been "done" anything to by anyone
Some may lack the tools to identify the reason for their depression, that's not the same as nothing having happened to them.
>it's not out of the ordinary or different to what's been done to other people who are not depressed
It's entirely possible that the people who are not depressed are in fact the ones who are sick.
>some react with extreme depression to the most ordinary and mild of life's occurrences.
Or, the mild life occurrence just serves as a tipping point that cascades and causes the person to reevaluate their situation and come to the conclusion that they are dissatisfied.
> Like, you get depressed when your partner leaves you, or you're fired from a job or death of a loved one. So, i haven't seen anyone getting depressed without any painful emotion. Maybe I am highly wrong in that.
There are normal emotions - such as as grief - that occur after a painful event. If those feelings don't dissipate over time; if they continue to interfere with day to day living; then you might want to call that "reactive depression".
But you do not need a traumatic event to suffer depression and it's more common to not have any one specific event.
> I was just curious about the reason,
That's none of your business. It's voyeuristic and intrusive.
> Perhaps someone gets depressed every three months near end of quarter when their hours get cut?
As someone who's been clinically depressed, your examples seem contrived to me. Are they based on any specific evidence, and if so, would you please share with the group?
reply