Quote:
Originally Posted by Lateralus
As for disorders... as a late teenager I started becoming very impulsive, aggressive, and physically self destructive. In most people the condition is provoked by an extreme trauma which occurs in childhood or teenagehood, and yeah when I was 17 something pretty extreme and traumatic happened to me so I guess that would explain it.
|
I had a similar reaction when I was 18, in my case after I was raped. It took me several years to stop being angry with myself, stop feeling worthless, and instead feel stable again. The experience and my reaction made me much more empathetic with others who have been violated in some way, resulting in them feeling self-loathing and choosing risky behaviors.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Paloma
I have bipolar I, I was diagnosed with it when I was probably 14/15, it didn't really manifest itself until I was 19. I take a combo of meds to deal with it now.
|
Someone I love is dealing with bipolar disorder, as well as psychosis (losing touch with reality, kind of like living in a dream, I think). The drugs have bad side effects, but living without them produces worse results. Luckily nothing like the Parkinson's disease reaction has happened...that must have been horribly scary, Paloma! I didn't know such a severe side effect was possible.
One area of recent research on depression and bipolar disorder that I've been reading about is whether increasing one's intake of the fatty acid DHA helps reduce symptoms. DHA is a fatty acid found in large amounts in the brain (and retina). Some studies find DHA helps. You can buy DHA that has been purified from algae, which is nice. Our bodies synthesize DHA from the essential fatty acid alpha-linolenic acid, an omega-3 fatty acid (in ground flaxseeds and canola oil)...but some people's bodies are not able to do this conversion well so may benefit from eating DHA supplements.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Tea Supremacist
I suffer from depression, always have done since I can remember, it runs in the family (Christmas dinner is just a barrell of laughs...  ) and a lot of my worry is what I'm doing to my family and friends.
I'm a pretty frank, open person and the type that hates those head-tilting, sympathetic looks, but my depression totally hit a new low this year when my other half and I lost a baby due to anencephaly |
I'm sorry, Tea Supremacist, about your baby. I had a cousin whose fetal baby died at 5 months in utero...she was a little girl...and her death was very hard for my cousin to handle.
Depression...I've got quite a few friends who deal with depression. One self-medicated for a while by smoking marijuana. Others took Paxil or Prozac and tried cognitive therapy to help practice altering their thoughts. I think it really is hard to imagine what depression or anxiety are like unless you experience them. I think people sometimes don't understand that our thoughts and feelings aren't always "under our own control."
The only disorder I've had...that is, a troubling psychological state that didn't result from a life event...is some
mild anxiety attacks. I had the first one a couple years ago, and have had one or two per year. Knowing what they are helps.
The first time I had an anxiety attack was at night: I woke up, my heart racing, feeling like I had to breathe in deeply but couldn't catch my breath. I didn't know what was wrong. I thought maybe I was going to die...I felt light-headed and not normal. Fearing I might fall if I walked, I crawled out of the room to find someone to tap awake so that I wouldn't have to die alone, in case I did die.
The second time this happened, I had done some research and suspected an anxiety attack, but I called an on-call nurse to discuss symptoms, and she said it did sound like an anxiety attack and I should tell my doctor, which I did. Now I know to remind myself that no one dies from anxiety attacks, take relaxed breaths, and remember that it will pass.