what does depression feel like: i want to understand.
Discuss matters related to personal health and relationships in this forum. However, please keep it sensible and remember that people of all ages can view these forums. Remember, all advice is unprofessional.
what does depression feel like: i want to understand.
i just don't understand depression too well, and i'd like to.
people who i know personally have self harmed, and had addiction problems and other general depression type stuff. i've tried to help, but i can't fully relate to them: i've had a few hours of "sadness" at a time, perhaps when alone at night at 3 in the morning when i can't get to sleep and am thinking about things in my life which frustrate me a bit.
but it's never got me depressed.
is there any way anybody out there could describe it.
people on tv shows and stuff have said stuff like "dark hole of despair which you can't climb out of" when describing it, but that doesn't allow me any understanding. is there any way to induce depressed feelings in yourself?
i'd just like to know what it's like, so many people claim to suffer from it, and i've always been very happy. perhaps it's my lifestyle with loads of exercise and healthy food. don't really know?
Re: what does depression feel like: i want to understand.
just thought i'd add, my life's far from perfect.
i'm 23, a virgin, have only a few friends, and have never had a girlfriend. i don't have any amazing talents or skills. i have a degree now in biology, but i struggled with it, and didn't do amazingly in school. i have experienced mediocrity and failure at times, in other words. it's just never got to me.
am i just not intelligent enough to experience depression: is there any correlation between depression and intelligence?
Re: what does depression feel like: i want to understand.
it's a truly subjective experience, perhaps looking at the symptoms and causes of it may assist understanding; but to "understand" it fully, you would have to go through a period of genuine depression
Re: what does depression feel like: i want to understand.
I've been told that true depression is the feeling that you would rather die than get out of bed in the morning.
But obviously there are different types of clinical depression, each with their own symptoms and such.
Re: what does depression feel like: i want to understand.
It's like living in a world with no colours, it's like feeling extremely sad continuously. It's thinking you want to die in every thought. Self harm is an outlet, sometimes you're mentally hurting so much that you just need something to ease the pain, seeing the blood run out of your skin can be the best cure, it's amazing. Depression is like wanting to lay in bed all day, not because you're tired but because you see no point in life. Every day you ask yourself why are you alive. You feel so alone, even if you're around people. You feel like no one understands you. You feel like you are the only one in the world feeling the way you do. Depression is the worst feeling in the world, but it can also become addictive imo. Hope this helped a little.
Re: what does depression feel like: i want to understand.
Having actually felt my worst ever on Sunday, I think I can actually give a reasonable answer to this. For me, it's... at its worst it collects all my darkest thoughts about how pathetic I am and worthless my life is, and then succinctly translates them into a feeling that I have no ability to ever be happy again. And then you sit under your duvet and you beg the God you don't believe in to make you fall asleep and never wake up.
Re: what does depression feel like: i want to understand.
Everythin falls down around you. You loose the ability to be rational and put things into perspective. Everythings so dark, you can't even imagine a light at the end of the tunnel let alone see one. Immense self hatred. The want to be normal and happy like everyone else but unsure how to be makes things worse. All memories of being happy fly out of the window. Sometimes i cry so hard i cant even walk or drag myself up off the floor or out of bed and somedays you feel as though you just can't face the world.
It's difficult to put it into words, i've tried it's not a nice thing. So probably good you havn't experience this OP!
Re: what does depression feel like: i want to understand.
I'd like to understand what it is. What it truly is to break an arm. How does it feel? Can anyone explain it to me? People say it hurts a heck of a lot, but that isn't really enough. I see those guys with the slings and I wonder... why can't I imagine that kind of pain?
Re: what does depression feel like: i want to understand.
^^^thanks, helps a bit. i've got some idea now. not entirely sure though.
is there any feeling you could liken it to? how could i experience it just for a bit?
Re: what does depression feel like: i want to understand.
Originally Posted by Anonymous
^^^thanks, helps a bit. i've got some idea now. not entirely sure though.
is there any feeling you could liken it to? how could i experience it just for a bit?
Re: what does depression feel like: i want to understand.
It can be different for different people.
Some people are triggered by certain events or complexes, are crippled by insecurities and hypersensitivities, that people must have a hidden agenda and every day is an onslaught of hatred against them, or personal feelings of incapability or helplessness, uncontrollable crying.
Personally I wasn't 'sad' per se. But I wasn't happy either, I wasn't anything.
You know how you're never totally quiet because there is an inner monolouge inside your head that everyone has?
a song stuck in your mind, or just thinking "hmm, i'm bored, maybe I'll go to the shops, ooh I want a mars bar, no I'll get fat...today was fun, I need to tidy my room. blahblah" etc. running on and on, buzzing away inside your head.
well that just was gone. I couldn't even make simple "yes/no" desicions if asked, my brain just didn't process it. I just say "i dunno" because I don't. There's nothing going on up there.
Just chronic blankness. No thoughts, no creativity. Can't daydream, can't occupy myself or motivate myself. no emotion, no idle thoughts or memories wandering into your head.
you're just .... conscious. and that's it. Chronic unfulfilment. If I didn't force myself into some kind of activity, there was literally silence, and a wall in front of me.
Re: what does depression feel like: i want to understand.
One thing that when I've felt depressed I liken it to is the video for numb by linken park. The one where theres the girl going about at normal speed and everyone rushing past her just feeling so separate from everything else. Its not the whole thing but its prob one of the easiest ways to show it visually and might help you understand.
Re: what does depression feel like: i want to understand.
Depression feels like there is a large weight pushing down on your shoulders. Your insides feel squashed and your body slows down. There is a longing mild cramp in the gut which for some reason make you breath deeper (but not get out of breath).
The stress that comes with being depressed means that headaches and sore eyes are common, and a general feeling of apathy which in some instances can render you lifeless, laying flat on a bed unable or unwilling to move for example.
Re: what does depression feel like: i want to understand.
There's nothing like it, no other feeling.
Myself, and others, have tried to explain what it's like to you. Its an awful thing to live with. A constant feeling of not being good enough, living in darkness, constantly alone no matter how many people are beside you, not even being able to get out of bed in the morning, hysterically crying - listing reasons why you are even alive.
Why anyone would want to experience this is beyond me
Re: what does depression feel like: i want to understand.
This thread is so incredibly offensive. I can't believe I posted **** in here for sadistic people to stare at. I thought you were trying to empathise, not get entertainment or satisfy curiosity.
Re: what does depression feel like: i want to understand.
For me it was hopelessness. Like everything seemed to have no future yet that future was coming at me rapidly and there was so much stress and the feeling I had no control.
Re: what does depression feel like: i want to understand.
User 1#,
The way you are talking is slightly disgusting. Why may I ask are you so interested in finding out what it is like...or even 'trying it'?
Only if you go through such a horrific thing such as this can you really understand it. My depression got to such a stage it caused me physical pain in the chest and the world around me became dream-like for a number of weeks. Everything i saw, it was as though it was not real, and part of a dream...a very strange experience. To get out of this I had to deal with my emotions rationally, I have got to a stage now where I am healthier and the dream-like quality has gone away for now, but if I start getting bad thoughts again, it tends to come back. So i really do worry about bereavments and how it is going to affect me.
No-one should ever wish to experience such a thing as depression. For those with 'real' depression, its a living hell.
Re: what does depression feel like: i want to understand.
Originally Posted by Anonymous
i just don't understand depression too well, and i'd like to.
people who i know personally have self harmed, and had addiction problems and other general depression type stuff. i've tried to help, but i can't fully relate to them: i've had a few hours of "sadness" at a time, perhaps when alone at night at 3 in the morning when i can't get to sleep and am thinking about things in my life which frustrate me a bit.
but it's never got me depressed.
is there any way anybody out there could describe it.
people on tv shows and stuff have said stuff like "dark hole of despair which you can't climb out of" when describing it, but that doesn't allow me any understanding. is there any way to induce depressed feelings in yourself?
i'd just like to know what it's like, so many people claim to suffer from it, and i've always been very happy. perhaps it's my lifestyle with loads of exercise and healthy food. don't really know?
with depression there's a chemical imbalance in your brain. So people have something wrong person whos brain is fine can be happy brain imbalance person not happy....of course some people whos brain is fine can still be very unhappy but actually 'depression' from medical point of view theres chemical imbalance in the brain
and it's not really a dark whole of despair...more like an abyss and of course when you stare at the abyss it only stares back at you
you can't see anything good in anything theres no hope...at all
it's actually really really hard to explain.
and...to be honest? you don't want to understand, trust me
xoxo
Re: what does depression feel like: i want to understand.
Right, screw it. I was going to write up a proper post, but if people are just going to take the piss out of such a debilitating illness then the thread can be closed instead.
For what it's worth, though, anybody who's ever experienced it wouldn't hesitate in telling anyone else that they don't want to experience it.
Discuss matters related to personal health and relationships in this forum. However, please keep it sensible and remember that people of all ages can view these forums. Remember, all advice is unprofessional.
Useful Resources:
what does depression feel like: i want to understand.
Re: what does depression feel like: i want to understand.
