Depression as a cycle.

[Laneorexorcist]

I'm not sure if this has been posted here before, but I always have felt my depression as a cycle, as something that is not always with the exact same size or even the exact same color. Sometimes it's small and I'm able to tolerate it, but then it becomes progressively bigger until I literally feel like I wouldn't mind dying that day. When it comes to me, it's always the same cycle, thinking about the same positive things in order to cope with it, but it seems like it's always going to be back... and it does.  I'm not sure if there's someone out there feeling the same way as I do, because people with depression most of the times feel it like a constant state, not something that can actually variate.


What are your thoughts on this topic?


Have you felt that your depression is a cycle? 

 

[Aree Wongwanlee]

Let me think. No, I don't think depression works in a cycle for me. Maybe that's because my life no longer revolves around any kind of cycle. I don't earn a salary so there's no such thing as end of the month blues. I don't work a five-day week so there's no such thing as Monday blues. Don't I get depressed at all? Yes, I do. That's when it's time to see my doctor again. That's not a cycle either. I see my doctor irregularly. Sometimes I see my doctor twice a month. Sometimes I see my doctor once in two months. I get slightly depressed while waiting to see my doctor because I never know what bad news she might have for me. I don't avoid going to see my doctor, though, since I prefer to hear the bad news before it becomes worse news.

 

[Alex]

It's going to be different for everyone, but I see what you mean that it can seem like a cycle in that you feel better, and then it comes back. I think much of it depends on your direct environment and what your triggers are. I know that I once tried to 'get better' by going on a long break, but when I got back, the same environmental issues were there and built up again. Then I knew I had to do something else.


It can come back, but that's where you need to figure out the causes and what pushes the depression. That's why there at times needs to be drastic changes which are scary, but necessary.

 

[djanx]

Well, it is cyclical for many people. I mean there are a lot of people who do go in and out of depression on a regular basis. My thoughts on the matter are that once this cyclical depression is noticed, the person suffering from it must find positive triggers to ensure that as soon as they feel like they're going down the wrong path, they can point their minds in another direction.

 

[kgord]

Yes, I would say it definitely is for me. I have days where I feel good, normal, optimistic, and productive. I have days where I feel like I have nothing to live for. I guess my life right now feels like a lonely struggle, and it gets very demoralizing. I don't think that things are necessarily hopeless but I guess I feel like why should I care when no one else does? I mean it is tough when nothing is going your way.

 

[John Snort]

Depression can be a cycle if you let it. Often many people deal only with the symptoms of depression. Once they feel better, they do nothing else. That however doesn't kill depression. It merely goes under the surface for a little while. This is why when fighting depression you must go a level lower, find out exactly what it is that is making you feel depressed. Deal with those issues and you won't ever have to deal with bouts of recurring depression.

 

[sidney]

I consider depression as some sort of mood you know, like now you feel it, now you don't. So as with any mood, you know that there is gonna be some ebb and flow to it. Not everyone can be happy 100% of the time, so being in a negative mood is just natural and you just have to submit to it. It passes anyway, it's not forever.

 

[Choochoo]

I think it's both different and similar for everyone at the same time. In a general sense, probably the consistent depression you think others have might only appear that way on the outside but they may be going through the same waves and cycles as well without noticing it. What I find helps is not expecting or wishing to be happy all the time and just accept that some days I will be sad even for no reason and that's okay. It helps because at least I can rule out disappointment from the pile. 

 

[DDNatureLover]

Yes, I do believe for many it is a cycle. It seems some people have more of a tendency to be pessimistic, and others to be optimistic. We can work to develop coping strategies and learn to recognize signs and triggers, but I do think some of us will have the tendency to respond to certain situations by becoming depressed. If you look at Seasonal Affective Disorder, it's pretty clear when it will start showing back up, and so we can develop a plan for those times. As with SAD, there are other things that can prompt a depressive response, such as a death, the loss of a job, a break up, etc. I find it natural that people experience highs and lows, and that's what life is all about. When those highs and/or lows become too pronounced is when we need to take notice and work to even them out. Since I have unipolar depression, I don't experience the highs that those with bipolar experience, but the lows still need to be addressed. 

 

[kelden]

I had cycles too, but not specifically depression. Sometimes I feel more shy and anxious than other days, is strange, I swear I overcame a lot of it years ago.

 

[fuzyon]

It comes and goes for me, lately I've had a lot of good days so I guess that's part of my recovery process but I've still been depressed for weeks recently, I'm currently considering to go to a doctor in case I might be bipolar. My medication has helped tremendously though, I don't take a lot since I don't want to get addicted but even the small amount I use makes a big difference. It calms down my blushing, my thoughts don't go a thousand miles per minute and I'm able to focus on the present only.

 

[pwarbi]

Having suffered with depression myself in the past, I can say that for a lot of people it van run in a cycle if it isn't treated properly in the first place. That's what happened to me anyway.


When I first suffered I got the help I asked for but not really the right help that I needed and while I did come out of my depression for a couple of years, I slowly felt like I was slipping back again and I ended right back at square one and life got too much for me. I questioned if it was something I had done or if it was something that I was always going to struggle with but the key thing is dealing with what is causing the depression in the first place, not just treating the symptoms like I had done originally.


While dealing with why the depression as occurred can take a longer amount of time than just dealing with the symptoms and getting back to normal as quickly as possible, if you are going to beat depression for good and move on with your life, then you d have to try and make sure that you have worked out the main reason you got depressed in the first place, and even though that can take a long time, involve a lot of counselling and possibly bring up emotions that you don't want to deal with, to stop you repeating the cycle then it is something you are going to have to confront I think.

 

[WorkAtHomeGal]

I feel during times when my depression is really bad and out of hand even, those times are cycles for me. I have come to learn some ways to avoid those cycles though so I feel less depressed or have the cycle not happen at all. It is very hard though. There are times too when things are going bad, like one problem after another that I end up pretty depressed and every time something else bad happens the cycle continues. I guess I haven't found a way yet to just let things roll off my shoulders.

 

[joshposh]

My cycle comes at mid month, when they bills start piling up and you have no way to pay them off. That's my cycle.  It really sucks.  It's the only real thing that gives me a headache.