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And if you're doing all this and still depressed, there's no solution and you should kill yourself. That's how I read advice like yours when I was a college ath

And if you're doing all this and still depressed, there's no solution and you should kill yourself. That's how I read advice like yours when I was a college athlete. Fortunately, instead of walking in front of a bus I went to a doctor and got antidepressants, which helped tremendously.

psyc 9y ago
Advice to seek professional help has exactly the same effect for people like me, for whom it makes things much worse. From my point of view it’s just the “safe” advice to give in public, because it has the argument from authority going for it. People with major depression want to kill ourselves anyway. I don’t really see any style of tempered advice as being harmful in itself. What’s really harmful is socially pressuring anybody to stick to any approach they find to be harmful for themselves.
- zolthrowaway 9y ago
  I 100% do not mean to point this at you in particular. I do not know your situation. But, in a general sense, a lot of the reason for the pressure is because these thing take time. There is no magic cure. Going to a mental health professional requires time to see results. It also requires being with the right person. Medication won't instantly make you feel better (for longer than the short term), it requires the correct dosage, correct type, etc. The "working out, eating right, plenty of sleep" method may show results but it also takes a lot of time and persistence to see those results. I am not saying that any of these solutions will work for everyone. I am just saying that any of these solutions takes trial and error. Some people go see a therapist once, don't make a connection, and declare that it doesn't work for them. It will take time. It is a process. Again, everyone is different and need to find what works for them, but whatever it is, they need to stick with it. I know it can be overbearing, but it comes from a place of compassion and concern. No one who cares about you wants to see you depressed. How would you prefer that they approach it?
  - psyc 9y ago
    In my case, time and patience could not have been the problem, except in the unprovable Russell's Teapot sense. And that is the problem. I'd prefer that people did not place unwarranted high confidence in the medical model, such that after seeing 20 therapist, and trying 20 medications that all made you sick or did nothing, people were still saying, "But maybe the next one will work."

psyc 9y ago

Advice to seek professional help has exactly the same effect for people like me, for whom it makes things much worse. From my point of view it’s just the “safe” advice to give in public, because it has the argument from authority going for it. People with major depression want to kill ourselves anyway. I don’t really see any style of tempered advice as being harmful in itself. What’s really harmful is socially pressuring anybody to stick to any approach they find to be harmful for themselves.

zolthrowaway 9y ago
I 100% do not mean to point this at you in particular. I do not know your situation. But, in a general sense, a lot of the reason for the pressure is because these thing take time. There is no magic cure. Going to a mental health professional requires time to see results. It also requires being with the right person. Medication won't instantly make you feel better (for longer than the short term), it requires the correct dosage, correct type, etc. The "working out, eating right, plenty of sleep" method may show results but it also takes a lot of time and persistence to see those results. I am not saying that any of these solutions will work for everyone. I am just saying that any of these solutions takes trial and error. Some people go see a therapist once, don't make a connection, and declare that it doesn't work for them. It will take time. It is a process. Again, everyone is different and need to find what works for them, but whatever it is, they need to stick with it. I know it can be overbearing, but it comes from a place of compassion and concern. No one who cares about you wants to see you depressed. How would you prefer that they approach it?
- psyc 9y ago
  In my case, time and patience could not have been the problem, except in the unprovable Russell's Teapot sense. And that is the problem. I'd prefer that people did not place unwarranted high confidence in the medical model, such that after seeing 20 therapist, and trying 20 medications that all made you sick or did nothing, people were still saying, "But maybe the next one will work."