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Depression ...so many people seem depressed.

2

Is it me..or does the whole of U.K seem depressed. I know we have the worst weather..but it seems like Depression is like the fastest growing disease in this country..or mental disease atleast??
Are people too quick to label themselves as depressed when they could actually be having a bad day? I mean in comparison to people living in third world countries we should be SO SO happy.
Don't you think people are getting depressed over stupid things...i mean the majority of us have a roof over our heads atleast, even if we live in a council estate. There are people dying and starving and Africa..surely they have more right to be depressed.
Or maybe our fast paced materialistic western lifestyle...isn't fulfilling enough???
I mean theres atleast one post a week in this forum about feeling depressed. Are people really depressed or mis-interpreting their unhappiness??? :confused:

Reply 1

Dolgeniog

I don't think it's the majority UK, but to me it appears members of this forum. As with GCSE's, this forum seems to have a much higher average than the norm for 'sufferers' of depression. There are countless threads on here every day about someone who has depression. It almost as if about half the people on here seem to have it, or imagine they have it, or say they have it for attention etc.

Reply 2

Monkton

Angelic_19

Is it me..or does the whole of U.K seem depressed. I know we have the worst weather..but it seems like Depression is like the fastest growing disease in this country..or mental disease atleast??
Are people too quick to label themselves as depressed when they could actually be having a bad day? I mean in comparison to people living in third world countries we should be SO SO happy.
Don't you think people are getting depressed over stupid things...i mean the majority of us have a roof over our heads atleast, even if we live in a council estate. There are people dying and starving and Africa..surely they have more right to be depressed.
Or maybe our fast paced materialistic western lifestyle...isn't fulfilling enough???
I mean theres atleast one post a week in this forum about feeling depressed. Are people really depressed or mis-interpreting their unhappiness??? :confused:

Your post is the kind of post that would be incredibly dangerous for a seriously depressed person, wanting help, to find. The reason people suffering with depression often don't talk about it, is because they worry that whoever they tell will tell them things like :" Don't you think people are getting depressed over stupid things..." and "Are people too quick to label themselves as depressed when they could actually be having a bad day?". The reason there are so many posts on this forum about depression, is because it is a place that people can talk about it, get advice, and people will help them, without it becoming a big issue in their life. Anyone who is unhappy deserves advice and help on how to regain happiness. Depression probably has always been as frequent as it is now, it's just that in modern society, it is more acceptable to talk about it, and suffer from it, than it once was. If you don't like the posts about depression, then don't read them.

Reply 3

Empyreal Rhapsody

8

I'd attribute the prevalence of depression to the enormous comfort and privilege that westerners enjoy -- people simply don't have many problems. Well, REAL problems anyway. I don't know if it's because we're becoming softer due to non-exposure to a harsher life (most people don't even kill their own food), or if it's because in the past people simply had bigger fish to fry, so either ignored depression or people simply were not introspective enough to be aware that they were depressed.

Reply 4

bunthulhu

14

I must say, I don't like this thread much at all. Firstly, no, there are not so many 'depressed' people, that is a vast overuse of the word. Secondly, you've totally missed the point of what depression actually is. Very unhelpful indeed.

People these days are largely ungrateful for what they have and complain more than they should, I'll give you that. But everyone knows that already.

Reply 5

bipolar_clown

From experience, I can say that it really doesn't help when people tell you that you shouldn't feel miserable because "there's so much suffering in the world" and label you as being ungrateful. It's a mental illness (although I don't like to call it that), and it's not something that comes from feeling a bit unhappy.
On the other hand, I hear a lot of people whining about how they're "depressed" and think to myself, "yeah, sure."
There's still a great stigma surrounding depression.

Reply 6

Margerie Dawes

She does have a point although in third world countries etc you can't afford to be depressed you just have to get on with it. Although there is obviously a difference between being depressed and feeling sorry for yourself.

Reply 7

DomTom

1

i havn't read the thread, but i completely agree with you. I don't understand how so many people can be depressed over not very much. My sympathies with those who have lost their jobs/house/wife/husband/a relative to death etc, but then you get those "oh i have exams, im depressed" i find it completely ridiculous that people get depressed over that. A lot of people now call being unhappy "depressed". it is possible just to have a "bad day, week or even a year".

we have so much, and so many people fail to see it. Even the poorest people in this country have much more than the average person in a third world country.

Reply 8

General Mullet

Not really sure why depression is more prevelent....Drugs companies want more money? people like to label themselves? advances in the medical field can help detect depression? the media's negative role in our lives? society becoming more open?

What I don't get is how 5 year old kids can be diagnosed as depressed, aren't they just unhappy? Is it a chemical inbalance or the result of experiences? so many questions....

Reply 9

bunthulhu

14

Margerie Dawes

She does have a point although in third world countries etc you can't afford to be depressed you just have to get on with it. Although there is obviously a difference between being depressed and feeling sorry for yourself.

But just because they 'get on with it', doesn't mean they don't suffer from it. There are people in this country who suffer from it but have to get on with it, too.

Reply 10

Zinck

1

There are larger amounts of depressed people at this time of year as it is Exam season.

Reply 11

puppy

Angelic_19

II mean in comparison to people living in third world countries we should be SO SO happy.

Yeah and there are loads of people who are much richer than me so I should be depressed in comparison to their lives. See why your argument is stupid? :rolleyes:

Reply 12

username47781

20

This is not at all a helpful thread as some people have geniune depression.

Reply 13

Evil Phoenix

2

Angelic_19

I mean in comparison to people living in third world countries we should be SO SO happy.
Don't you think people are getting depressed over stupid things...i mean the majority of us have a roof over our heads atleast, even if we live in a council estate. There are people dying and starving and Africa..surely they have more right to be depressed.

You will find that when you DON'T have a roof on your head you don't have the time to sit and sulk... thats why people dont "feel depressed" because their lifestyle is so hectic and difficult they dont have the time to ponder on their feelings.

Depression is not about wether something is actually missing in your life, but about an internal emptiness you feel, that stops you from appreciating the good things in life. You can be young, rich, beautiful, succesful, smart yadda yadda yadda and still wake up every morning and wish you were dead.

Depression is not something that you need to justify, it just IS and it sucks.

therefore...
:sucks:

Reply 14

Toy Soldier

3

Many people being "depressed"? An increasing number of people who like to sit around feeling sorry for themselves and self-diagnose "depression" (or get that diagnosis from an incompetent, or just lazy, GP) - yes, that's definately on the increase. So in answer to your question - SOME people are genuinely suffering from depression, but a large number of those who claim to be depressed aren't anything of the sort.

Reply 15

e-lover

16

The depression is down to two words: Exam Season. :frown:

Reply 16

Toy Soldier

3

Hafzal

The depression is down to two words: Exam Season.

Exam stress, for example, is not depression. :wink:

Reply 17

Anonymous #2

I, too, think this could be quite an unhelpful thread for sufferers of depression to come across. Saying that people shouldn't be depressed when there's so many people who have it worse off doesn't actually help - it just makes them feel guilty for feeling the way they do. Depression can't be rationalised - as someone has said, it's an internal emptiness, it doesn't have to have certain foci. You can feel like you have no reason to be depressed but still have those depressive feelings that you can't get rid of.

Yes, perhaps the word is bandied about a little too much, but I don't think you can just write off the way people feel as 'having a bad day.' I wouldn't say I have depression in the sense of the medical illness, but I would say that I am depressed, because the sadness and emptiness and helplessness I feel permeates my life more than simply having a bad day would. When someone continually feels down and they can't really pinpoint a reason for it, it's not just having a bad day, or week, or month. It's a state of depression.

Reply 18

Custer

1

Angelic_19

Is it me..or does the whole of U.K seem depressed. I know we have the worst weather..but it seems like Depression is like the fastest growing disease in this country..or mental disease atleast??
Are people too quick to label themselves as depressed when they could actually be having a bad day? I mean in comparison to people living in third world countries we should be SO SO happy.
Don't you think people are getting depressed over stupid things...i mean the majority of us have a roof over our heads atleast, even if we live in a council estate. There are people dying and starving and Africa..surely they have more right to be depressed.
Or maybe our fast paced materialistic western lifestyle...isn't fulfilling enough???
I mean theres atleast one post a week in this forum about feeling depressed. Are people really depressed or mis-interpreting their unhappiness??? :confused:

Its cause so many kids are having ****ed up childhoods, they were bullied/ostracised, went through some feelings of inferiority at an age that they probably shouldn’t have then that alongside some incompetent parenting, results in an emotionally unstable person.

Then they watch tv and get a ****ed up perception of happiness and the world in general.

I think this country should bring back military service....
:ts:

Reply 19

Ywiss

15

This is a ridiculous thread. Why the hell would people choose to have depression? It's a mental illness, and therefore it comes with stigma, and therefore anyone who says they're "depressed" when they're really not is doing themselves a really bad favour.

Depression does exist; it has specific symptoms which a specialist looks for, and different types of depression can be categorised. It may be true that we live in a more materialistic society which focuses on personal success and competition almost to an obsessive extent, than say, Uganda, but does that mean the depression in people in our society is any less severe? No. The cause of a mental illness does not always determine its severity.

Depression ...so many people seem depressed.

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