Comment by rip747 | Hacker News Reader

Comment by rip747 | Hacker News Reader

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this is the biggest misconception when it comes to clinical depression... that you can or did beat it. You can never or will never beat clinical depression, only suppress it. Beating something is finite and means that it can never happen again. The author gives great advice in the article about what steps he did to suppress this bout of depression, though if he doesn't stay the course chances are it will come back. The scary thing about clinical depression is, even if you continue to do the things that worked in the past to suppress it, it can still come back.

The one piece of advice that he doesn't give (or he might have and i'm just not catching it) is realizing that you have to listen to the people around you when they tell you that you look depressed. At that point, you need to get help immediately so you don't fall further down the hole.

btw... I'm not a doctor or anything. Let's just say that I have extensive experience with clinical depression and bipolar disorder.

> Beating something is finite and means that it can never happen again

Since when does beating an illness mean permanent immunity? You can beat cancer and have a recurrence. There's nothing in the definition of clinical depression saying that it's a permanent illness.

I came here to say something similar - you do not "get over" clinical depression caused by a biochemical imbalance in your brain. It does not get fixed without making biochemical changes to your brain.

The advice the author gives is very sound advice (exercise, for example, does indeed induce biochemical changes in your brain), but without first becoming convinced of the advantages of getting treated, and taking the time to understand how those treatments effect you and how you need to actively participate in them, the rest of his suggestions are near impossible to follow through on.

The stigma around psychological and psychiatric care do not help the situation; however, the numerous stories on these issues here on HN I do hope shed some light on those that are still suffering without help to know that there always is a chance to get better, and it can be as easy as calling your doctor or telling your friend you need help. Or even talking to one of us here who have been suffering from depression and suicidal ideations for many years - I certainly would be more than happy to talk with anyone who is struggling with these issues.

Except exercise _does_ make biochemical changes in the brain. One example: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3311131/

I don't know why someone downvoted you, that's an excellent point. I think that in some subset of people currently requiring medication, some may be able to replace it with exercise to successfully treat it. I don't know about other people, but though I need both medication and exercise, the latter makes me feel discernibly much better. The medication just gets me out of bed and into my running shoes.

Yes, and I said exactly that. I do appreciate the link to the journal article though; I should have included that.

No, the biggest misconception when it comes to clinical depression is the belief that clinical depression is a disease rather than a set of symptoms, many of which are idiopathic. There has been some luck in treating depression with SSRIs, SNRIs, SNDRIs, etc. but the exact cause of depression is still unknown and differs from person to person.

That someone can not cure their depression is impossible to know without understanding the cause.

There is no one type of clinical depression, and some types can successfully be treated with therapy. NB I certainly need medication and probably always will.

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