I have had a lifelong problem with recurrent severe depression. I'm not in complete agreement with the solutions proposed in this article but if you are clinically depressed don't ignore it. It may not go away by itself. https://www.theepochtimes.com/healt...ople-in-the-us-know-the-symptoms_5208458.html
Two thoughts on depression: 1-Exercise helps in so many cases, but when you're depressed, it's hard to motivate. 2-Depression is often caused by a lack of control in one's own life. While no one has absolute control (which is likely a good thing), some people live in circumstances that cannot be rectified and that others either cannot see or that get diminish as "not that big of a deal."
I believe that in older people, depression stems from many possible things... poor health, pain, loss of physical and mental acuity, loss of control of one's life, finances, etc. I have mentioned in another thread that I am struggling with what I call "low-level depression", dealing with the unpleasant pain and after-effects of an illness. My life is changed forever and I have had to face the fact that this is my new normal. I wake up every day feeling like I am weighed down. And I'm not asking for any advice here.
Thanks for the thoughts, John. Both apply to me. I stay physically strong with my work but get NO aerobic exercise. It's so damned boring. I bought a single speed bike a year ago, thinking I'd ride it to the Food Lion once a week or so - hasn't happened yet. Also, I have a very stressful situation at home that's been going on for about a year. Without going into detail, I don't feel safe or comfortable in my own house. However, this will resolve itself very soon. In years past I would get so depressed that I was frozen in place, unable to work or even care for myself for months at a time. Meds didn't help at all. I could never finish college.I guess that's why I'm a carpenter instead of a nuclear physicist. I seem to have outgrown this without deliberate effort. Freudian slip - I mistyped the first sentence of this paragraph, starting it with 'In tears past'. Some have described depression as anger turned inward or anger not expressed. I generally have no problem expressing mine so that's not it. In those earlier years I think my negative self-esteem, dark view of people and the world and my personal loneliness was much of the cause of those deep depressions. All is much better with me these days. That's one reason I haven't minded getting old.
Yeh, there's always the struggle to find someone who will just listen without hearing an implied invitation to fit it.
I had posted this elsewhere but it seems appropriate here as well. “The most well-educated and intelligent people are also those most afflicted with issues like despair, depression, and existential crises. Reality is a nightmare of horrors lying just beneath the surface, and the more aware of how things really work you are the more truly miserable you are, generally.” We can probably accept the above as a truth because we all know the opposite is, “ignorance is bliss”.
I left out a big one... loss of a loved one. Seems like my father folded in on himself when my mother died. Also, loneliness.
I think pain is a big one. It can be unrelenting and it just plain wears you down. I think back to my martial arts instructor saying, “it’s only pain”. Then it was tolerable because it was temporary, just get through it. Old age pain is a constant though, every waking moment.
I ride a stationary bike, listening to news or discussions, or audio reading of a book, or songs. Any one of those take about half an hour for me. I usually do two, to make a full hour. Was doing two hours at the gym. Vision loss and leg problem reduced that to one hour at home. For the sake of my leg, I should probably be doing only half an hour; for another health issue, I should be peddling the whole day. Bike was inside in the winter. A stationary bike at home is much easier for me to get motivated to use. I wonder if that could be something to consider in your case.
Agree about easier at home. We have a recumbent bike exerciser and it’s so easy, there is just no excuse. Easier on old joints too, it’s much more gentle than walking or a treadmill.
I had suffered from depression, on and off, for many years of my life. I am not willing to go into details of my depression, BUT I finally won out over it when I discovered that what I felt I needed, was not, in fact, needed. I am not a big believer in meds that supposedly help with depression. It's rather like taking pain med to mask a physical disease. It may mask the depression/physical diseases, BUT IMO does nothing to address the underlying condition. Talk therapy is one way of uncovering the cause of depression. I am a big believer in talk therapy. However, this can take many years of weekly sessions. Sometimes, the root cause of depression is hidden, even from ourselves. This is especially true if the root cause of depression has it's roots in childhood.
Yup. I pretty much agree with that. Lots of folks go off those meds because the side effects are as bad as (or worse) than the depression. One good thing about talk therapy is getting the outside perspective, but I believe the larger benefit is having someone (in a confidential environment) to just listen as we identify stuff and organize the chaos between our own ears through the process of explaining it to another human being.
One interesting thing about talk therapy is that the therapist often sees/hears things that others miss. There is a method used in psychology called "talking to an empty chair. The client is supposed to talk to the the chair as if there was someone sitting in it. Like for example husband/wife/mother/father etc. This can often uncover things that the client is not even aware of.