[pritchke]

Originally posted by Aelia Jusa: You can tell by going to a psychologist and being diagnosed. You're certainly not going to be able to tell by asking on a message board, knowledgeable and well-meaning though the members are.

Not necessarily my dad had severe depression the psychologist saw was full of crap and tried to pin the way he was behaving on my Mom. A doctor who came said he just had a creative imagination.

We diagnosed his depression using our home medical books. We didn't have the exact type of depression right but were very close. Suffice to say I placed my Dads arse in the car and took him to a larger medical facility to get a 4th opinion. He broke down as I was driving him to the hospital for no apparent reason. He had really bad abnormal breath as well which had something to do with his chemical imbalance. When he got to the hospital he was all honky dory and smiley saying nothing was wrong. This Doctor had more sense and said something was definitely not right upstairs, and got the ambulance to take him against his will to a facility that could better diagnose the exact problem.

Having a degree means nothing if you don't have the wit and cajunas to use it properly. A degree just means you are learned in that field, doesn't give you the wits to apply what you learned. There are some really bad doctors out there who in some cases know less than us, well it is pretty much all in books if your willing to read. If you can read and do a little research you can make an approximate diagnosis. A psychologist can only offer advice and good many of them are full of crap, you want advice listen to Dr. Phil as he is good at is job although pretty much what he says is no more than good common sense.

You want to diagnose yourself. Start by asking your close friends, or family members have you been behaving slightly of what is normal for you or said anything they thought out of place. It is a little hard for us to tell if you are depressed because we don't see you on a daily basis. Do a little research on the subject, go to the library to look at medical books, if you think it is a real problem see a real medical Doctor not a psychologist, and get a second opinion if necessary, because if you have depression and don't get help it could get much worse and even affect your family and friends.

My uncle had a different kind of depression were he could go to sleep at the drop of a hat. Just wanted to sleep all the time no matter how much sleep he got.

Some people have to stay on there medication for life as there body chemistry will revert them back into there state as is the cast with both my uncle and dad. This is more of a phisical depression, people with mental depression as a result of loss of loved ones etc, can get off meds again if they can learn to cope with the outside force causing it.

[ 02-10-2005, 04:53 PM: Message edited by: pritchke ]