jesus2dot0 comments on How to Deal with Depression - The Meta Layers - Less Wrong

26 Post author: ShannonFriedman 26 October 2012 06:44PM

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Comment author: MixedNuts 27 October 2012 09:50:46AM 7 points [-]

This is the exact opposite of my experience. Mood tracking just makes me focus on how bad I feel. Thinking "this too shall pass" of bad moods and "carpe diem" of good ones makes me go "I know I'm biased the other way, but come on, at least pretend to be consistent". I know low points go away, but I know they'll come back worse so it's even more depressing. I know high points will come back, but I know they'll be weaker each time and that soon my best mood will be my current worst mood. Actually curing the depression is the only thing that helped.

Comment author: jesus2dot0 28 October 2012 04:16:54PM 1 point [-]

Sometimes to get better, things have to get worse first. Just because something makes you focus on how bad you feel doesn't mean it can't be productive in the longer run. Though I suppose if you're depression is so severe that that extra focus might tip you over the precipice, I can see why you might not want to risk it.

I am curious to know what "Actually curing the depression" required for you?

Comment author: MixedNuts 28 October 2012 06:14:24PM 5 points [-]

Sometimes to get better, things have to get worse first.

Sure - the operative word was "just". The forms of it I could sustain didn't help over five years or so.

I am curious to know what "Actually curing the depression" required for you?

Meds.

Specifically, things got so horrible that I was forced to drop my plans of getting medical insurance in order beforehand, and to go to a doctor, who promptly handed me off to a psychiatrist, who put me in the loony bin for a few days and on meds. The meds turned out to make it worse, so I was put on a different med, which worked so quickly and miraculously that the psychiatrist feared I was going hypomanic.