Charlie Reid (came up a couple weeks ago from the SDSU area) posted this over on the CF site. Thought it was interesting. I am pretty much a believer that most depression is “curable” by simply deciding to get over it.
....just watched “what the bleep do we know?”...a movie on quantum theory and battling the question of reality. I highly suggest everyone go out and rent this. Really fascinating, especially those not exposed to quantum theory/mechanics/physics.Anyways, there was a fascinating part about how we age and how our physiology can change based on our mental state. If we are feeling down or depressed, our cells reflect this by decreasing protein synthesis. Certain protein receptor sites shut down, not allowing important receptor chains to allow the cell to function optimally. The mechanism in which we age is primarily due to decreased protein synthesis by the cell. When our skin becomes less elastic, for example, this is due to a lack of elastin (a protein). And if a continued state of depression or even slight mental illness is continued, the cells will reproduce daughter cells to have the same inability to absorb certain helpful amino acid sequences that allow for proper protein synthesis and optimal cell function.
This is just a small testament to how gaining control of one’s mind and remaining stress-free/mentally fit is so important to training. After all, how good is nutrition if our cells are too sick to even absorb the nutrients we are giving it?
Very interesting theory..
I have always felt that you decide how you feel/react and your attitude is adjusted only by you.
After a few months in 10th grade walking around in a giant super pout, someone reminded me of the fact that i got to choose what my perspective would be. I made a choice and never looked back.
If you decide that it is not under your control, then it becomes a conundrum, was it because you decided it or because it really is not ?
That is an interesting theory. Mental health is analogous to physical health when it comes to diet. If you eat right but allow yourself to live with high stress and high anxiety, you wont enjoy your life. likewise if you were to eat right but maintain a sedentary lifestyle…you wouldnt see improvement in your physical fitness level. it takes work to maintain mental health, just as it takes work to maintain physical fitness. Im not going to discredit medication too much (I have read a little on the subject, and am in no way qualified to give a truly knowledge based opinion, rather just an empirical), but it seems like medication is often used as a bandage to cure the symptoms of a given problem rather than the problem itself. “your a little depressed? take this and you wont be as depressed”. The cure of the actual problem arrives through therapy or some other method of changing a mental outlook, and often medication plays a role in allowing this to happen. A therapist may help steer an individual in the right direction, but in the end it is the individual that does the healing.
? and this brings us to the idea of SELF-MEDICATING; i.e. drinking, eating , attention getting etc. low self-esteem , family problems. crappy job, then the problem becomes circular because the more i eat the worse i actually feel because i cant lose any weight. the involvement of a neurosis. seldom can be SELF CURED. almost impossible to change life style if its job or family related and admitting you have a problem is even harder. and then add on the socially accepted means of self-medication drinking, eating, obsessive-compulsion problems. oh, forgot smoking. some we justify by naming them as habits, others o/c but then again, what ever the reason, it is damn hard to break that cycle and telling people that its their fault when they already either know it is or feel theres nothing they can do about only throws fire on the problem. i believe in some cases time, patience and simple conversation, persuasion, offering alternatives can open doors. depending on the personality of the person, maybe a direct in your face may work but that to me is a gamble of turning the person off. either way for some its a god awful problem they have to work through and i think thats what they say friends are for.
Dale,
Here is the interesting thing to me. From my point of view, everybody has something. How you deal with it is up to you. Let’s take working out. Here is a typical conversation I have. Complaining Person (Referred to from now on as CP) “I am so out of shape”. Me (Referred to from now on as Me) “Well you should workout. I’ll help you out and design some workouts for you. All you have to do is come to class”. CP “I’m to busy”. Me (What I say)“Okay, let me know if you change your mind”. (What I am thinking) “Do you work a 50-60 hour week at your day job? Do you have a night job as well? Do you make time to go to your kids games? Do you offer to coach their teams? I doubt your truly to busy. You just choose to live this way.” Which is really the point of the thread. How we choose to live and think is will affect our bodies on a molecular level. In the above conversation, I can input any number of things. “I want to lose weight” “I am so depressed” Most of the time I believe (Insert problem) is under the persons control. And it will end up playing out in their bodies.
The soul is dyed the color of its thoughts…..The content of your character is your choice. Day by day, what you choose, what you think, and what you do is who you become. Your integrity is your destiny… it is the light that guides your way.
-Heraclitus
Happy Hands, you’re starting to sound a wee bit like ol’ Thomas Cruise in regards to the medication. Are you sure you are not a scientologist?? I don’t like medication as much as the next guy, but in some cases it is absolutely appropriate to use.
The soul is dyed the color of its thoughts…..The content of your character is your choice. Day by day, what you choose, what you think, and what you do is who you become. Your integrity is your destiny… it is the light that guides your way.
-Heraclitus
Can’t really put it any better than that. Though, you can’t write off medication in a blanket way - it’s just that we go there too quickly in most cases.
Many times people, myself included, are so caught up in their effects of their circumstances they don’t realize they generated the circumstances themselves.
I didn’t address medication. I believe medication is entirely appropriate sometimes. On the other side however, I believe most people in our society are overweight by choice, in the same vein I think most people who are depressed are, by choice.
Most people are reward driven. Generally, and I do emphasize that word, I think people are overweight because the simple reward of over eating or eating the wrong food is greater to them than being slim. I feel the same way about many people who say they are depressed. I know its harsh, but I think they get some reward out of acting in the manner they are.
I don’t judge them for that, but I also won’t give them any reward for continuing to act that way.
Apparantly Tom has major issues with ADHD medications, I’ve heard.
I have to add, that without Wellbutrin, I would probably have one less sister. Clinical Depression runs in my family. A serious chemical imbalance helped only with medication. However, the majority of “depression” is a state of mind, in my opinion. I have had an alcoholic (ex) husband, been a single mom, lost my job, had no money, etc.. I have had many days of feeling sorry for myself, but I absolutely know, that which didn’t kill me made me stronger. I’ve always chosen to get on with life and try and learn some lesson from the experience. It wasn’t easy, but here I am. I’m sure a lot of you have had some of the same experiences. We CHOOSE to move forward and not let the situation control us or our mental state. I think this is another area where the Sheepdog analogy is appropriate.
i said often, not always, medication is used when its not entirely neccesary…and I also said that often medication plays a role in recovery through therapy. So unless your referring to fighting civil war veterans in ninteenth century Japan or flying airplanes lay off the association of me with Tom Cruise por favor.
) i love these kinds of discussions. my ideas were to explore awareness of people suffering from depressions and i agree depending on the level or depth of their problems they do have control if they are aware they are in the black hole of despair and can get out by either getting help or changing their life style. making excuses for what they are or how they look and being depressed about it is a face of self indulgance to me. attention getting most of the time. i do believe positive intervention and encouragement and awareness of an individuals needs is successful as shown by b-x’s clientel and the loyalty its people are and have shown to its hand- picked, home grown instructors. BUT; i would like a clarification of people that have made a life change or commitment to self improvement, that if they were truly depressed or just unhappy with the way they looked or felt? eating to much because your a glutton or mad at your kids is a lot difference than eating because it feels good and the satisfaction of a full and i mean full tummy means the difference of being up all night worrying, pacing, angry, self destructive attitudes or behavior , and a good nights sleep. i wont get into a self defence posture by dealing with suicides because i also dont want this to develop into a debated depressed thread. and by the way speaking of debating anyone want to discuss the affects of adhd, add and the meds they are forcing on kids? grrrr. no im not a scientologist but i feel pretty darn strong about it. will anyone please tell me i look like tom cruise? some people have all the luck ha ha.
