Mental Health How to recover from and possibly even prevent depression

[dalpat077]

YouTube's algorithm in its infinite wisdom and for reasons beyond me somehow decided to squeeze the below in between my usual suggested viewing preferences (no prize for guessing those).

Given the oddity I decided to watch it.

If you are suffering from depression or want to understand it and want a decidedly different take on the topic then I assure you that it's worth the hour of your time. And I do not say this lightly i.e. I've watched and listened to enough on this topic, from previous and ongoing research, especially as it relates to pharmaceuticals and big pharma. and depression, to last a lifetime.

The default action, especially on a drug forum, is to reach for the bottle (whether it be pharmaceuticals or alcohol). This will give you something to think about.

Furthermore: it's practical information as opposed to some theoretical pie-in-the-sky type nonsense (there's way too much of that floating around on this topic).

I'll admit that the dude isn't the most riveting of speakers. But hear him out. And this of particular value to those who have resorted to the usual suspects and with limited success or, as I've seen more than once around these parts, those that are depressed as a result of their not being able to pull themselves out of it due to beating themselves up over past actions or behavior patterns. It's all explained very well. In my humble opinion.

Hope it helps somebody anyway (even one person will do).

"Leading depression expert and clinical psychologist Dr Michael Yapko draws on research and shares his insights from 40 years of working with those suffering this common mental health issue. Learn the simple skills that research shows can help you or a loved one to recover - and even prevent depression occurring - in this heartwarming and uplifting speech for the Australian Psychological Society."

Full Transcript

 

[Jabberwocky]

Will watch for sure. Thank you my southern friend. Hope that is all calm and quiet where you are located. I read some news of unrest going down there...

 

[dalpat077]

I read some news of unrest going down there...

Yeah. It's depressing! But nothing to worry about.

Lemme know what you think of this. Seriously. Of course I could be overplaying it. But for some reason this particular lecture stands out (as plain and as simple as it is) (possibly even boring) (no offense to the good Doctor is meant). And struck some chords based on personal experience.

My own default action or advice on this topic (as he jeopardizes big pharma.'s commission checks) is to reach for the pills. It's simply not enough. Not if you really want to no longer be depressed i.e. pills (enough of them) easily blot out depression. But that's not sustainable. And at some point: you end up right back where you started and still having to deal with the exact same issues. All you've done is waste time and have accomplished nothing.

And while what the good Doctor says is probably common sense: sometimes one just needs to hear it put into words (type of thing).

Anyway. Like I said. It was an oddity in my feed. Who knows. Everything happens for a reason? Dunno.

Maybe YouTube figured that I must be depressed due to my viewing preferences and habits e.g. law enforcement body cam footage, Russian feeds, and so on and so forth! Or BL membership!

 

[Jabberwocky]

Maybe this is the YouTubes algorithm call for help due to it being depressed how YouTube is censoring people left and right.

But yeah, I heard of cases where algorithm finds out woman is pregnant even if she isn't suspecting at all. "Just" by changes in her behaviour and all data that has been collected on all sites/apps and shared with "third parties". As they say - google is searching us at this moment. I try to clear all cache and histories very often and limit use of apps to essential one's for tech functioning + take a bit of time not to accept cookies I don't have to. And I try to visit sites/channels whith which i intuitively disagree to center myself. I do what I can. It's a battle but don't want to live in a smaller bubble than necessary.

 

[dalpat077]

It's a battle but don't want to live in a smaller bubble than necessary.

But I was happy in my (Kremlin) bubble and watching half wits failing to comply with American law enforcement! And now?

 

[Jabberwocky]

But I was happy in my (Kremlin) bubble and watching half wits failing to comply with American law enforcement! And now this?

I love you man and Im afraid that you're not even joking.

But on the serious note, although some of us will be less disturbed than others we are all effected with this covid world wide type of life change. It can get depressing.

So to combat that I'm off for a swim. Its a beautiful sunny day on beautiful island of Hvar I went to for vacation. I have to echo the Suns message and use it for joyful action.

 

[dalpat077]

I love you man and Im afraid that you're not even joking.

But on the serious note, although some of us will be less disturbed than others we are all effected with this covid world wide type of life change. It can get depressing.

So to combat that I'm off for a swim. Its a beautiful sunny day on beautiful island of Hvar I went to for vacation. I have to echo the Suns message and use it for joyful action.

Yeah. We're joking about this.

But this dude even addresses the ills of social media and smartphones. No secret there. Easily forgotten though. Forums?

But you've got the exact right idea there i.e. sun and being joyful. Sounds simple. But sometimes it's a concerted effort that's needed. And easy to not even realize this when you're depressed. (Not saying you're depressed i.e. just using your words for context).

It's a pity that this dude missed the pandemic i.e. the lecture is dated 2018.

Interesting to note though that the WHO predicted that depression would be the number one cause of human suffering by 2020. Fuck. If only they knew at the time how right they were!

Enjoy and look after yourself my good friend.

 

[prince_igor]

YouTube's algorithm in its infinite wisdom and for reasons beyond me somehow decided to squeeze the below in between my usual suggested viewing preferences (no prize for guessing those).

Given the oddity I decided to watch it.

If you are suffering from depression or want to understand it and want a decidedly different take on the topic then I assure you that it's worth the hour of your time. And I do not say this lightly i.e. I've watched and listened to enough on this topic, from previous and ongoing research, especially as it relates to pharmaceuticals and big pharma. and depression, to last a lifetime.

The default action, especially on a drug forum, is to reach for the bottle (whether it be pharmaceuticals or alcohol). This will give you something to think about.

Furthermore: it's practical information as opposed to some theoretical pie-in-the-sky type nonsense (there's way too much of that floating around on this topic).

I'll admit that the dude isn't the most riveting of speakers. But hear him out. And this of particular value to those who have resorted to the usual suspects and with limited success or, as I've seen more than once around these parts, those that are depressed as a result of their not being able to pull themselves out of it due to beating themselves up over past actions or behavior patterns. It's all explained very well. In my humble opinion.

Hope it helps somebody anyway (even one person will do).

"Leading depression expert and clinical psychologist Dr Michael Yapko draws on research and shares his insights from 40 years of working with those suffering this common mental health issue. Learn the simple skills that research shows can help you or a loved one to recover - and even prevent depression occurring - in this heartwarming and uplifting speech for the Australian Psychological Society."

Full Transcript

1:10

"when I was a young psychologist back in 1829"



Although I am very interested in this subject all I want to know now is his trick to immortality

 

[dalpat077]

1:10

"when I was a young psychologist back in 1829"



Although I am very interested in this subject all I want to know now is his trick to immortality

I will admit I never picked that up! Well done to you!

Well. At least they never tried to cover it up i.e. I see it's in the transcript as well.

Maybe he is Biden's personal and private psychologist on the quiet (didn't Biden's political career start 180 years ago something like that?)!

 

[prince_igor]

mate your all good.

just finished watching it.

I have entire journals of psych (mainly for looking for new drugs ;P)

it is as you said extremely good.

I like how he brakes it down so you actually have some simple problems to be solved.

he is telling us that the problems we have are not really the problems we have but

really just the way we reflect on them.

he then goes on to tell us some simple exercises to fix this and then gives reference to research

and practice that had been done on the topic.

I bet he actually said it on purpose so he could test his students on there ability to focus on the lecture.

thank you very much.

ill send this link to a few psychs I know.

 

[dalpat077]

mate your all good.

just finished watching it.

I have entire journals of psych (mainly for looking for new drugs ;P)

it is as you said extremely good.

I like how he brakes it down so you actually have some simple problems to be solved.

he is telling us that the problems we have are not really the problems we have but

really just the way we reflect on them.

he then goes on to tell us some simple exercises to fix this and then gives reference to research

and practice that had been done on the topic.

I bet he actually said it on purpose so he could test his students on there ability to focus on the lecture.

thank you very much.

ill send this link to a few psychs I know.

It's my pleasure. And I really thank you for your additional and serious comments. Especially meaningful coming from someone such as yourself who has a keen interest in the topic and I imagine is well versed in the topic.

Like I said. Just something about this lecture that stood out for me and was a bit different from the other psychobabble. So figured it was worth sharing.

Thanks again.

 

[finitelifeform]

Depression for me is living in a reality that isnt aligned with the reality I want and then persisting in maintaining the unsuitable conditions in order to illicit change. Who I am and who I want to be are completely out of sync. The default mechanism is to defend the current paradigm even though that is the one that brought me down so in my opinion you have to have insight and then a certain level of creativity and visualization to see the paradigm you want and push it into reality. Insight is the deep introspective investigatory work, creativity and visualization being the building/transformation stage. You have to really believe you know what it is you want and who you want to become and that itself is hard because it requires previous experience and knowledge of what works and what doesnt. And, well, life experience cannot be bought and as much as it sounds detrimental, I believe in order to really understand mental health and really know the depths of your psyche, and in relation to this, what reality means to you, you need the darkness to know what the light is. In our society, we favour the light (which is a good thing and healthy) but we dont seek to gleen a sense of self, others and the world from the darkness. Darkness isnt real, its not a *REAL* state of being, its just noise, just irrelevant, just a part of us that we reject and disown. Or, is it part of us in this way of thinking? And so we are naive, ignorant and in denial when it comes to facing very important areas of life we actually need to integrate if we are to be healthy. Our obsession with consciousness and human experience in general being rigid and black and white is itself a sickness. So we cure sickness with sickness. Or, should I say, we dont cure sh*t in actuality. We pretend to but we only skim off the surface. Our means of dealing with these experiences in life are fundamentally flawed.

The mind and body will follow suit if all lines up with how see yourself and how you actually are, how you see your life and how your life actually is.

Thats an awful lot of responsibility but in our responsibility absolving society where only acceptance of what is considered normally and socially acceptable is acknowledged (leaving out the biggest part of life itself - self awareness and mastery) the cost of not taking on this responsibility, in my opinion anyway, creates consequences we see around us today with mental illness ever increasing and with our methods of understanding and treating it relegated to purely pharmaceutrical interventions. Models that do not facilitate a broader awareness of what is really involved.

So it all comes back to the individual and his/her desire to see themselves as more than just a victim of unchangeable circumstances and the defining factor, the star role, the driver, the most important asset in the whole story.

 

[Jabberwocky]

Just came here to say to @dalpat077 that I have watched the presentation. Regarding missing the century at the beginning I believe that it was a joke that didn't land. Just as the one with how "eating ice-cream is helpful to deal with depression.". Only joke that truly landed (as it should have cause it was true in the moment joke, not prepared beforehand) was when someone sneezed and he said "depression is nothing to sneeze at" (or something like that).

Having said all this, from "5 main reasons that someone develops depression", I truly have problems with one - ruminations. This gets bad when I try to lower dose of benzos. When I was trying to get off last time I had closed loop ruminations that were almost identical and never-ending. Literally - they didn't end until I caved (from a myriad) of very uncomfortable symptoms and went back to 20mg of diazepam. 20-30mg of diazepam doesn't seem much to kick, but after more than 10 years back then and 20 years on now, it's tough, to say the least.

Good, logical and intuitive lecture. Pharma companies might not like it but he is a psychologist not a psychiatrist so he can talk more freely as he doesn't prescribe meds. With psychiatrists, in my country at least, only real talk is "what medications will suit you best". Fuck those kind of psychiatrist. And I will not apologise to any psychiatrist reading this cause medications are good thing but nothing really can replace talk/psychotherapy. Maybe if one is too psychotic then there is a place for "medications first approach" but in case's like depression, anxiety and such "mood disorders" medications are secondary to talking-listening called psychotherapy. And if person has problems in living and not some biological problem medication will do more harm than good in vast majority of cases.

All this made me realise that after having to pull myself AGAINST (and because, but in non helpful way) psych community I have learned a thing or two
about psychology and psychiatry. I was misdiagnosed, locked up against my will, tied and drugged, cause amphetamine (sleep deprivation caused actually) acute and very transitory psychosis. Diagnosis schizophrenia (F20) and stigmatised cause of it. It took me 15 years to reverse things and diagnosis was overruled and now I have only "opioid use disorder" and "GAD". It is again very sad cause, although I was addicted to amphetamines 20 years ago I am not addicted to opioids and anxiety stems from constant low level benzo withdrawal. The only drug I became dependent on cause it was shoved in my mouth (or bloodstream). No mystery why so much ruminating about it when I try to taper off.

Its time to abandon psychology, psychiatry and philosophy. My work is done in those fields (I know it is never ending learning, especially if you are really interested in some topic). I should start to learn some chemistry and more pharmacology. That could come handy if the world "goes Mad Max".

Wow, the kratom really kicked in.