Is it 'brave' to fight depression?

[Druidic]

Well, the thing is if you’ve never experienced major depression you can’t really sympathize with someone who has.
Remember when anorexia was a staple for the media? Remember those incredibly emaciated women and girls looking into a mirror and saying, “I look fat. I’ve got to lose more weight.” And you’d just want to grab them and shake some sense into them?
Well, it’s like that.
If you haven’t suffered through that kind of blackness you can’t understand it. Healthy people just shrug and say,Why can’t they just shake it off?”
As Dick Cavett once said, If you’re in deep depression and someone tells you there’s a cure for it right there on the table…well, you might not even have the desire to reach out for it.
But Cavett had experienced it and he knew.

Don't be too hard on your Grandma, Clown Puppet. If she can't sympathize it only means that, in one way, she's a very lucky woman.

[Druidic]

There’s a story my old Fourth Way Teacher used to tell:

A man says to his psychiatrist: “My boss claims at the end of the day, when he’s half-crazy from all his responsibilities, he drives to the park, lets the peace and beauty wash over him and in fifteen minutes he’s feeling on top of the world. Why can't I do that?”

To which his psychiatrist replies:

“Your boss rakes in ten times more than you do annually, has a pretty wife, a beautiful home and two mistresses on the side. You live in a crummy apartment you can barely afford while going through a nasty divorce. Do you think that could be a factor?”

Chronic depression is undoubtedly genetic but environmental factors can also play a part.

[DoktorH]

Quote Originally Posted by miguel1984

I am facing depression right now, and let me tell you this: In my view, is not a brave thing to fight it; it just something you need to do, if there are people who care about you. In my case, not for myself, but for because the hardships you can cause those around you. That is the main thing; if you can't do it for yourself, do it for the others, if there are any others. It kills me to see how concerned my family is, so to put oneself in their shoes could be helpful. It is not an easy thing to fight depression, but I am trying to do it for them, more than I do it for myself.

I think doing something difficult that you rather wouldn't do because you know it would hurt others if you didn't counts as doing a brave thing. I don't think standing up to any chronic illness will make a person feel brave and will probably be tiring and painful, but facing that willingly is a very brave and commendable act.

[Malachi_Constant]

I'm a school counselor, and have suffered (I could say suffer, but over the last year I feel there is a vast improvement) from anxiety and some depression. I also work with many teenagers who have depression, anxiety, and all sorts of problems.

I absolutely think it's brave to fight it. Some suffer from it because of hereditary problems, and some because of their environment or other factors, and despite it being hard it is possible to adjust one's views, and make attempts at changing situations.

It's not easy to do at all, and many who don't understand depression themselves can make it worse with their comments. As for the grandmother thing, it seems many elders don't understand it. They didn't grow up in a world where people put as much of an emphasis on mental health. If you were feeling depressed you were expected to "man up" and "get over it." They didn't have children being diagnosed with ADHD, autism, or anxiety: many of the things that seem to have become more prominent but in fact are probably just being diagnosed more, since a lot of psychology was still experimental back then (and let's face it, it's still got a long way to go).

At the end of the day I think it's worth fighting. Suicide is a permanent solution to a temporary problem. Even if temporary lasts a long time. Sometimes the constraints of modern society and social norms and expectations combine to put a lot of pressure on people, and I think this makes dealing with depression much worse, but I think it's a good thing to try to make your life work for you in a better way, and fill it with what makes you happy.

[miguel1984]

I generally consider bravery to do something or fight for something you don't have a stake in, like going against a bully who is bullying someone you don't know. In my case, I think I have to fight against my depression. But your arguments are changing my perspective or, at least, making me consider other points of view.

[Malachi_Constant]

I think bravery is simply courageous behavior. It could be standing up for others or doing something for yourself. You can be afraid and still show bravery by stepping up to a challenge.

[Knygathin]

I don't want to sound like I have a fix for depression, since it is a complicated thing.

Nevertheless, here is my view on what depression is, my personal view:

First of all, I don't think you can "fight" depression. It can't be attacked. Because depression is not a thing in itself. It is rather a lack of something. It is an empty hole. Don't give it the honour of being something independent. It can't be fought, like fighting a tumor.

The way I see it, there are definite reasons for depression.

1. As for the genetic factor, that may be so, likely, as confirmed if one observes the similar symptoms suggested in a parent or a grandparent; but it is still dubious as an explanation, and impossible to tell from early conditioning caused by emotional deprivation in the baby and young child. Parents always want the best for their children, but the unability to perfectly provide this is only human and has exusable or at least understandable reasons. Every human being feels frustration and lack, in one way or another, to more or less extent. Depression is a deeper symptom of emotional loss, a longing for emotional comfort.

2. Lack of action develops or increases depression. Too much free time. That is a challenge in a society that has developed so far that we no longer have to struggle to find food. Our bodies are meant for action, to be creative, to struggle, and solve things. Not doing so, frustration starts boiling within us, and eventually over time develops into depression.

3. Eating the wrong food, too much sugar, instead of protein, fibers, and vitamins, increases the feelings of depression.