Posted by sid on February 2, 2002, at 12:30:39
In reply to Re: David Burns, posted by Elizabeth on February 1, 2002, at 17:53:45
>(BTW, I think that what cognitive-behavioral psychologists like to call "cognitive distortions" are more often a result of depression than a cause of it.)
I agree with you on this. My therapists did not stick to CBT liek a recipe book. Unfortunately, that's a lot of what people's experience has been, from what I read here.
> Anyway, I hope this clears things up. I really do agree with you about a lot of things; I'm just presenting my point of view.Yes, that and all the other exchanges we've had. I'm sorry for reacting so fiercely last week. I believe I was angry for a couple days and reacted too strongly to many things. Some people around me are still pushing my buttons and I need to find a way to better cope with them. Cutting them off my life would be ideal for me, but I need to consider other people around us that would be affected by it. Relationships are tough.
To answer some of your questions (perhaps they were rethorical, I am not sure, so I'll answer anyway)... I've had dysthymia for what I think is 21 years (since I was 13). I had a major depression in 1995 (at 27), which either lasted long or reccured in 1996. I got somewhat better and then worse again, with school pressures. I should have stopped grad school for a year or two, but I felt that's all I had going for me and could not let go of it. So it took longer to heal the depression. After that, I believe I had what you call residual depression - I was bitter, emotionally dulled, had no fun in life for some years. And in the past year, I got better: back to dysthymia only, which is kind of my "normal" state. In the past few months, I've been even better and it seems like the dysthymia is clearing. Some days not so much, but some days I feel lucky to be alive, and that has not happened since I was 13.
I think that my major depression was prompted by delayed grief (undelt with grief). However it did happen at a good time in my life: I was finishing my MS, had been accepted to the PhD program of my choice, with funding, I was inthe best physical shape I'd been in ages. And all of a sudden, I was in bed for a week, barely showering, crying and sleeping most of the time. I probably have the genetics for it too; my father had one major depression at 61 and he had all sorts of anxiety-related diseases (ulcers, insomnia, diarrhea, alcoholism), and most of his 7 bros and sis had depression, some of them most of their lives. Some had ECTs because nothing else would work.
All this to say that yes, my major depression was severe and that the probability of recurrence is very high, unless I fight it very hard with whatever works and feels comfortable to me. Acupunture has worked beautifully at one point, but since moving back home, I have not found an acupuncturist that can treat me as well as the one I first had. I think that's what led me to meds... I do miss her terribly! Acupuncture is also service-provider-dependent, just like psychotherapy. :-(
-sid
poster:sid
thread:17202
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/social/20020202/msgs/17726.html