5 ms·

Depression and anxiety are biological problems, at least to some extent, and people who have serious biological problems can't just "get out, get some sun and e

Depression and anxiety are biological problems, at least to some extent, and people who have serious biological problems can't just "get out, get some sun and exercise". The drugs work for a lot of people, although it's essential to make lifestyle changes (exercise, sun, healthy diet) in addition to using them... but the people who are in the worst shape can't muster the energy to get out of depression until they start taking the drugs. Anti-depressants are pretty amazing-- far from a panacea, but pretty effective.

swombat 16y ago
Open air and exercise can have effects pretty comparable to many pharmaceutical remedies, for a wide range of conditions - including conditions of the mind.
- chaosmachine 16y ago
  The problem with depression is even if you know doing activity x will make it better, you're too depressed to do it.
  - pw0ncakes 16y ago
    Also, anxiety and depression are often comorbid, so a person who is depressed may come out of the depression but still have anxieties about doing the things necessary to recover. An extreme example of this is agoraphobia, where a person's anxiety reaches such an extent that he becomes unable to leave his house.
- cmp 16y ago
  Sunshine is not the best disinfectant. Last summer I had my first panic attack. Saying that, I wonder how many people who say "I had a panic attack" have ever experienced a full on, face on the floor, depersonalizing / derealizing panic attack. It felt like I was losing my mind. $250,000 in debt, followed by the disillusion of an 8 year relationship, loss of a job, and a move across the country in a three month period. Chase that with years of outright poverty (earning less than $10,000 [net] over the course of two years.) 7 days of Xanax and the wounds inflicted by three years of prolonged anxiety began to heal. I probably would have killed myself if it weren't for the seven tiny pills that let me keep coding. My company launches in about two months. [not my real account]
  - pw0ncakes 16y ago
    I'm sorry to hear about this. I have had real panic attacks, and they're pretty awful. The worst part was the month during which I thought it was a physical medical condition, and the absolutely rotten quality of treatment I got in many cases. One example was (during the worst attack I ever had) a 7-hour ER wait, including 6 hours locked up in the psych ER, without being told why this was happening. Once I was able to see a doctor (1 doctor on staff for the whole psych ER) he was able to explain what was happening and why, but even then, all he could prescribe was Buspar, which doesn't do anything for panic. My experience is that the attacks don't go away entirely, but they become rarer and much more manageable. The depersonalizing attacks that feel like bad drug trips don't happen anymore for me (and stopped happening once I got appropriate medicine) because once I get to a 4 or 5 (heart racing, painful muscle tension, inability to concentrate) on the panic scale I can get it under control, taking a benzo if necessary.
    - cmp 16y ago
      Psych-ERs are some of the most dehumanizing places I've ever been, and given the start of social services in North Central Texas. shudder Unfortunately, without insurance, any prescription usually necessitates a trip. Luckily, I have my anxiety in check now that it has a name, but, I've seen too many discarded people laying on hospitals floors with sheets over their faces. My current girlfriend is a third year in med school, I've begged her to ask the other med students to be especially kind to the patients during their psych rotations.
      - pw0ncakes 16y ago
        I've only been in a psych ER once, thank God, and the experience was a lot more traumatizing than the panic attack (worst in my life) itself. To compound the badness of the situation, I went to the nearest ER, and I was living in Brooklyn at the time-- in a nice neighborhood, but 1 mile from serious ghetto territory. So the hospital was in the ghetto. Bad idea. The waiting room was about 10 by 10, with six chairs and twice as many patients. Even if you were self-admitted, like me-- actually, I didn't even want to go, but a girl I was dating thought I should-- you couldn't leave. It was 6:00 pm on a Monday and there was one doctor on staff. By the way, Monday afternoons in the spring are the busiest time in the busiest season for psychiatric ERs, so there's literally no excuse for there having only been one doctor on staff. The TV was extremely loud-- probably 90 decibels-- and some of the shows that played were rather violent. Since 2/3 of the patients were obviously there for anxiety-related problems, this was clearly a bad choice. You had to ask the nurses to use the bathroom, and if you pissed them off, they'd threaten to bump you to the bottom of the list. Since I was "compliant" and got out in 7 hours, I can't imagine how long the waits are for the people who were uncontrollable.

swombat 16y ago

Open air and exercise can have effects pretty comparable to many pharmaceutical remedies, for a wide range of conditions - including conditions of the mind.

chaosmachine 16y ago
The problem with depression is even if you know doing activity x will make it better, you're too depressed to do it.
- pw0ncakes 16y ago
  Also, anxiety and depression are often comorbid, so a person who is depressed may come out of the depression but still have anxieties about doing the things necessary to recover. An extreme example of this is agoraphobia, where a person's anxiety reaches such an extent that he becomes unable to leave his house.
cmp 16y ago
Sunshine is not the best disinfectant. Last summer I had my first panic attack. Saying that, I wonder how many people who say "I had a panic attack" have ever experienced a full on, face on the floor, depersonalizing / derealizing panic attack. It felt like I was losing my mind. $250,000 in debt, followed by the disillusion of an 8 year relationship, loss of a job, and a move across the country in a three month period. Chase that with years of outright poverty (earning less than $10,000 [net] over the course of two years.) 7 days of Xanax and the wounds inflicted by three years of prolonged anxiety began to heal. I probably would have killed myself if it weren't for the seven tiny pills that let me keep coding. My company launches in about two months. [not my real account]
- pw0ncakes 16y ago
  I'm sorry to hear about this. I have had real panic attacks, and they're pretty awful. The worst part was the month during which I thought it was a physical medical condition, and the absolutely rotten quality of treatment I got in many cases. One example was (during the worst attack I ever had) a 7-hour ER wait, including 6 hours locked up in the psych ER, without being told why this was happening. Once I was able to see a doctor (1 doctor on staff for the whole psych ER) he was able to explain what was happening and why, but even then, all he could prescribe was Buspar, which doesn't do anything for panic. My experience is that the attacks don't go away entirely, but they become rarer and much more manageable. The depersonalizing attacks that feel like bad drug trips don't happen anymore for me (and stopped happening once I got appropriate medicine) because once I get to a 4 or 5 (heart racing, painful muscle tension, inability to concentrate) on the panic scale I can get it under control, taking a benzo if necessary.
  - cmp 16y ago
    Psych-ERs are some of the most dehumanizing places I've ever been, and given the start of social services in North Central Texas. shudder Unfortunately, without insurance, any prescription usually necessitates a trip. Luckily, I have my anxiety in check now that it has a name, but, I've seen too many discarded people laying on hospitals floors with sheets over their faces. My current girlfriend is a third year in med school, I've begged her to ask the other med students to be especially kind to the patients during their psych rotations.
    - pw0ncakes 16y ago
      I've only been in a psych ER once, thank God, and the experience was a lot more traumatizing than the panic attack (worst in my life) itself. To compound the badness of the situation, I went to the nearest ER, and I was living in Brooklyn at the time-- in a nice neighborhood, but 1 mile from serious ghetto territory. So the hospital was in the ghetto. Bad idea. The waiting room was about 10 by 10, with six chairs and twice as many patients. Even if you were self-admitted, like me-- actually, I didn't even want to go, but a girl I was dating thought I should-- you couldn't leave. It was 6:00 pm on a Monday and there was one doctor on staff. By the way, Monday afternoons in the spring are the busiest time in the busiest season for psychiatric ERs, so there's literally no excuse for there having only been one doctor on staff. The TV was extremely loud-- probably 90 decibels-- and some of the shows that played were rather violent. Since 2/3 of the patients were obviously there for anxiety-related problems, this was clearly a bad choice. You had to ask the nurses to use the bathroom, and if you pissed them off, they'd threaten to bump you to the bottom of the list. Since I was "compliant" and got out in 7 hours, I can't imagine how long the waits are for the people who were uncontrollable.