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Comment by noonespecial | Hacker News Reader

Get outside, enjoy the green grass, the birds in the trees. Talk to people you know. Talk to strangers! Drive to Wisconsin, and find out whatever it is they do there. Build a treehouse. Park on a parkway and drive on a driveway. Make a macaroni necklace. Visit a dairy. Climb a rock. Seek life.

This is advice for someone who had a bad day. This is not advice for someone who is depressed! These suggestions assume that the person has hope. Or even considers the possibility of ever having hope again. There's just no way I can tell someone who hasn't been on this train what it's like to ride it. It's like being dead in a way. Would you tell a dead man to get out and enjoy the grass? It's a bit like that.

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You sound like someone personally familiar with depression?

If so, may I ask a question?

I imagine it is true that people who are depressed may have a mental blockade to self-diagnose and independently coming to the conclusion that they may be suffering from depression. But is it also true that people who are depressed may also (always, sometimes) be resistant to the suggestion from others that they may be suffering from depression? ie: Is it common that depression may be accompanied by a self-defense mechanism whereby the afflicted may be highly resistant to the suggestion or any discussion of the topic?

Secondarily....if you are worried about someone, what would be a good approach? Talk to them on one of their "up" days, hoping that they may be thinking more clearly than usual?

>> But is it also true that people who are depressed may also (always, sometimes) be resistant to the suggestion from others that they may be suffering from depression?

I had a girlfriend once, who suffered from bipolar disorder. The problem is the feelings that you have while having a depressive episode are real problems to you, in the sense that they affect you very deeply at that point. When someone suggests to that person that maybe you are just depressed, it often seems to them that you are trying to ignoring the issue and instead trying to shift the blame on them. This infuriates them further and they either lash out against you or shut up. After screwing up a couple of times,every time I realized she was possibly having an episode I tried to put it very gently to her and only after talking about whatever is bothering her. I will also suggest going through this link to understand how people having a depressive episode feel(Even though the article is about lupus). http://www.butyoudontlooksick.com/articles/written-by-christ...

But is it also true that people who are depressed may also (always, sometimes) be resistant to the suggestion from others that they may be suffering from depression?

Independently of the effects of a disorder, most people don't easily accept any kind of criticism exposing a weakness.

Depression makes people, ok made me entirely too passive to hear anything. Do rocks have mental blocks against seeing that they are rocks? It took an actual physical intervention involving my parents, friends and one of my professors to reach me. I wish there was something easier to tell you.

Many depressed people realize they are depressed, and lack the will or energy to do anything about it.

Some clinical trials have shown St. John's Wort is effective for relieving mild depression - and you don't need a prescription to get it.

Get some, then literally beg the person to take some while you have some too.

>Get outside, enjoy the green grass, the birds in the trees. Talk to people you know. Talk to strangers! Drive to Wisconsin, and find out whatever it is they do there. Build a treehouse. Park on a parkway and drive on a driveway. Make a macaroni necklace. Visit a dairy. Climb a rock. Seek life.

This is what becoming a parent is like!

Have a kid and you'll do a lot more of this stuff!

I am depressed (clinically diagnosed as major depression) and I am a parent... a stay at home dad, owing to my lack of employment (which is the root of my hopelessness). It's awful. I hate it.

Thanks in no small part to the kid, I'm getting more outdoors time, more exercise, better diet, and socialization with the kid's friends. My mood is still inching downward.

My mood is still inching downward

This, too shall pass.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/This_too_shall_pass

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