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weird how people can often become depressed due to actual real-world experiences like grief or loneliness, but slap a magnet on em and they can go into remissio

weird how people can often become depressed due to actual real-world experiences like grief or loneliness, but slap a magnet on em and they can go into remission. Makes you wonder whether they'll go into remission for a while and then slip back into depression if the environmental factors are still there. I guess if it can knock you out of a depression where the trigger is no longer present but the trauma persists, that's incredibly valuable, even if the mechanism seems very strange.

treeman79 5y ago
At one point I was in ER close to death from large clot. Doctors had been treating my clotting disorder with Prozac. Since clearly I was just making up symptoms due to my “depression” Anyway Doctor was explaining the damage to lungs and odds of survival, but I was totally chill about it thanks to Prozac. Plus side doctors finally believed me that I wasn’t making up stroke symptoms. Sometimes depression has a real cause that needs dealing with.
teucris 5y ago
It’s not just environmental factors that cause chronic depression. Sometimes the environmental factors are the “trigger” that start depression in a person predisposed to it.
Nbox9 5y ago
> environmental factors Actually being depressed can worsen environmental factors. Depression can make it hard (or impossible) to maintain work, relationships, hygiene, sleep, diet, and exercise. Losing the things can make the depression worse.
- beaconstudios 5y ago
  Yeah I know - it's a vicious cycle. I meant in cases where the depression trigger was an event like a death in the family, but where the person managed to keep it together despite their depression. In those fortunate cases, the only problem that needs solving is the person being "stuck" on a trauma - not a self perpetuating cycle.
  - conqueso 5y ago
    What you're describing sounds more like grief than depression. While the profound sadness that comes from loss can certainly manifest itself in ways that seem like depression, they are not the same thing.
    - beaconstudios 5y ago
      Grief can certainly morph into depression.
tootie 5y ago
Depression can be acute or chronic but everything about what you think or feel is still just chemistry and chemistry is just physics. It's a bit surprising it can be treated with such a blunt instrument as external magnets but then again we use electroshock with some success.
- Ericson2314 5y ago
  Yeah I am not against this treatment, but I do think sometimes the mind--body relationship isn't treated very well in modern medicine. Every mind issue is also a brain issue, and so there is no actually boundary between the "real you" and an ailment --- it's an arbitrary division influenced by social norms. I am no expert but I understand medical ethics is more trolley problem type stuff than issues like this. Similarly is the fact the many psycological ailments are highly culturally specific but the DSM just sort of assumes American context and doesn't go into this.

treeman79 5y ago

At one point I was in ER close to death from large clot. Doctors had been treating my clotting disorder with Prozac. Since clearly I was just making up symptoms due to my “depression” Anyway Doctor was explaining the damage to lungs and odds of survival, but I was totally chill about it thanks to Prozac. Plus side doctors finally believed me that I wasn’t making up stroke symptoms. Sometimes depression has a real cause that needs dealing with.

teucris 5y ago

It’s not just environmental factors that cause chronic depression. Sometimes the environmental factors are the “trigger” that start depression in a person predisposed to it.

Nbox9 5y ago

> environmental factors Actually being depressed can worsen environmental factors. Depression can make it hard (or impossible) to maintain work, relationships, hygiene, sleep, diet, and exercise. Losing the things can make the depression worse.

beaconstudios 5y ago
Yeah I know - it's a vicious cycle. I meant in cases where the depression trigger was an event like a death in the family, but where the person managed to keep it together despite their depression. In those fortunate cases, the only problem that needs solving is the person being "stuck" on a trauma - not a self perpetuating cycle.
- conqueso 5y ago
  What you're describing sounds more like grief than depression. While the profound sadness that comes from loss can certainly manifest itself in ways that seem like depression, they are not the same thing.
  - beaconstudios 5y ago
    Grief can certainly morph into depression.

tootie 5y ago

Depression can be acute or chronic but everything about what you think or feel is still just chemistry and chemistry is just physics. It's a bit surprising it can be treated with such a blunt instrument as external magnets but then again we use electroshock with some success.

Ericson2314 5y ago
Yeah I am not against this treatment, but I do think sometimes the mind--body relationship isn't treated very well in modern medicine. Every mind issue is also a brain issue, and so there is no actually boundary between the "real you" and an ailment --- it's an arbitrary division influenced by social norms. I am no expert but I understand medical ethics is more trolley problem type stuff than issues like this. Similarly is the fact the many psycological ailments are highly culturally specific but the DSM just sort of assumes American context and doesn't go into this.