Roast The Unofficial Marijuana Discussion (...Depression Thread? What?)

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Gutsy thread Tempest. I'd look to headspace for assistance as they are a federally funded youth (16-25) mental health agency. You can check the website to see which is the closest provider

http://www.headspace.org.au/

As for the gambling, it's a tough addiction to shake, particularly if you are gambling as a means of escape from everytthing that's going on in your life. Very few people in your age group actually seek professional help. Hence the establishment of an online service that caters to the more internet savvy younger demographic that can find face-to-face counselling/therapy somewhat daunting. You can check them out here

http://www.gamblinghelponline.org.au/

Good luck in finding the right assistance.

Please feel free to PM if you need to ( i work in mental health and problem gambling )
 
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Smokeyr67 said:
I'm in the opposite camp to you Pricey, as a former Soldier and depression sufferer I wouldn't be making any life changing decisions until my health was sorted out. I couldn't imagine getting through 3 weeks let alone three months of recruit training while suffering from clinical depression. A better course if Tempest is keen to join the Services would be to join the Reserve's.
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Have to agree Smokey. I'm an ex-digger and that life is certainly not cut out for everyone
 

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Everyone I know who has joined a military service has come out with great benefits and skills, excellent job prospects outside, even cushy well paid army desk jobs coupled with tidy pensions, and a group of mates for life.

I reckon Tempest just needs to claim his independence, being aged 20 is the most energetic and healthy stage of life, I don't reckon a young bloke placing a few $5 bets constitutes a gambling addict, everyone I know has had a crack and when you learn you will lose 90% of the time, most throw it away.

By all means seek professional opinions of doctors and counsellors but know there is a difference between 'unhappy' and 'unhappy with your situation'.

If you take steps to improve your situation and still struggle to get out of bed and get motivated to do things and socialise/work hard etc. then you may have a problem but Tempest sounds very active and is looking to improve his life already, so meds should be last option for someone his age.

Agree with drinking water calls, also any form of exercise will make you feel fantastic due to improved fitness and endorphin release, healthy body equals healthy mind.

At your age Tempest I would very strongly recommend youth counsellors, even though that's probably who you will be referred to, I reluctantly did this at same age and it wasn't really the counsellor who sorted me out, it was from the group activities and excursions hanging out with people my own age to realise I was not a one off hopeless poor me case but nearly everyone is the same. 99% of us start off with bugger all to our name and it's just those who work hard who seem to have everything 'handed' to them.

Keep us posted with updates on what you decide to do Tempest, we would all like to hear you have gotten yourself out of this rut somehow.

Remember, 'if it is to be, it's up to me'! ie. whatever hole you are in, you have to make the first moves or you will be stuck forever... so much help out there though, one of best things about being Australian IMO.

All the best!
 
I got told this when I was going through a very tough time, and constantly question myself worth.

Before diagnosing yourself with depression, step back and look at your life and make sure you're not entirely surrounded by assholes?
If you can confidently say yes too that, remove them from your life immediately, start again and reassess....see how much better or worse you feel for doing that.

It's doing that, walking away from my engineering degree and getting into doing something I loved in teaching and my life has completely turned around since that point.
 
Primetime Pricey said:
The lack of communication between us these days now makes sense
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Nah
You are a good bloke, I mean a lot of the "friends" I had throughout my engineering degree.
 
Tempest said:
A post I wrote to everyone that was concerned.

////////////////
A few things have changed and a few things have not, but I am feeling a lot better.
Annoying supervisor is still present but I try not to give her much ammunition anymore.
A few weeks ago I was late to work because there was an accident in the thick fog that was present around Melbourne and I pulled out my Samsung phone while in the accident and used the voice assistant to try to send her a message to say I was late but it wouldn't recognize her name so I sent the message to one of the other managers instead and I got into work 10 mins late and explained why I didn't send her a message and she said to me "That's too bad you should have sent me one, next time send me one" And she got real angry at me, I'm thinking well you guys are lucky I sent through a message at all cause I'm a green P Plater and there are serious consequences for being caught on your phone. Normally I would have arked back at her and said this, but it would have caused conflict, and people are saying to me not to hold back because I should express my opinion, but It's just not gonna happen with this woman.
So next time screw the messages it won't happen again i'm not sending anyone a message if i'm stuck in traffic. :/

Living conditions are alright at the moment, I am getting along much better with my mother because I am finding myself less financially stressed which means I am a calmer person and can communicate with her easier.
I am happily living at home and getting fed so that is all I can ask for.

I still down Energy Drinks at an alarming rate, I need to stop that. But it's easier said than done.

Plans? Hm not much at the moment, I definitely want to get out of this pathetic job, but the owner of the company has been really considerate of me at the moment and I don't wanna dog him.
He knows I had problems with gambling and he shared his stories with me, He has been very nice to me over the last month and has had weekly sessions with me counseling me on how to budget and how to stop gambling since he has lost a lot of money when he was my age as well.

He is also helping me look at other job opportunities, he offered me a sales position at my job but I don't think it's my cup of tea. So we're looking into Aviation and Computer Engineering (my two dream jobs)

I have put a limit on my sportsbet account for $250 a month, and due to this I can't gamble until the 10th of August now. I've actually not had a horse race bet for the last 2 weeks and I might just cancel the account altogether.
////////////////


At the moment I feel like i'm doing OK. But I feel more inclined to gamble when I am poorer because I want to get my hands on some money.
I dropped 10 dollars down at the tab today and didn't win but didn't go any further because I would have destroyed too much of my hard work.
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Well it seems like it's all going in the right direction, which is great news.

But the best news of it all is that you are looking into your dream jobs, even if you are just making a few calls and enquiries for now. Doing something you enjoy everyday would turn everything around.

Good luck with the job hunt. And lets hope the pies win today, because nothing kicks off a good week better than a pies win.
 
My last episode of depression has been nearly a year now. It's certainly been an ongoing battle since I was diagnosed in 2012, and a year before undiagnosed.

Currently, I'm in the best headspace I've been in a long time, and although I can't guarantee I'll stay this way forever, these are the things that I've done that have helped.

1) Talk to a professional. Whenever I hit a roadblock or my depression or anxiety is starting to get a hold of me, a counsellor is the first thing I book in. I love it because they don't know anything about you, so it's easy to talk about anything without getting judged, to a degree. They're also better than talking to friends or family, because they are trained to listen and show concern and empathy. If you talk to a friend or family, look at it from their perspective, they don't know how to act or say to someone who is depressed, and it will show.

2) Talk to a friend. Yeah, I'm already contradicting myself right at the 2nd point. But this doesn't have to be the same as talking to a professional, just let them know, hey man I'm going through a bit of a rough time. They'll reciprocate with empathy and care, and that'll go a long way in the future, just to know you have him or her. For example, I don't have a lot of close friends due to struggling with my depression in recent years. But I've been blessed to have 1 very good friend, who knows about my condition, and has been with me when I've been down the shithole. Now, I don't pour my heart out every time, nor have I ever, because I don't need to (personally [where that's a good thing or not, who knows]), but we catch up every week or two, and I know the support will always be there, even after not having a DnM every other week.

3) Continually monitor yourself. I'm always checking my mood these days. Any slight variation where I feel anxious, or a little down, is all noted asap. It's important for me, because if left unchecked and nothing is done about it, then I know it'll be a tough climb back in the near future.

3) Find the source of your depression. This is tough. Sometimes it's just hard to locate, sometimes you're too scared to venture down that road. But I know that whenever I'm anxious or feeling a little depressed, that there's a reason for it, and I look for it immediately. And I either talk about it, do something about it, or convince myself that I can't do anything about it, and move on from it.

4) Note what are your triggers for depression. For example, for me, exams are no good. My depression usually occurs a few weeks or a week before exams, and that's because I just crumble due to the constant anxiety I have. So what I do is, I ensure that I get my s**t done on time. Sometimes s**t happens, and I can't keep up with the uni work all the time, but I make sure it doesn't get out of hand, and if I'm a week behind I damn well do what I can to catch up. Because I know if I slip up, by week 8 of uni and I'm 5 weeks behind, I'm absolutely ****ed leading up to the exam. Now, this comes from multiple experiences, but hopefully you won't have to suffer like I did.

5) Don't be afraid to change your lifestyle. For example, I never thought I'd start drinking water. I never thought I'd wake up early in the morning, or go to bed before 2am. I never thought I would actually set a schedule for myself, and follow it for more than just 1 week. I never thought I'd go to the gym and exercise, stick to a plan, for more than 2 weeks. Well you know what? At one point, I just went, * this s**t, I'm doing it, because I know doing this will make me happy, even though it sucks doing it.

For you, * the energy drinks. * the gambling. It's as simple as that. It won't be as easy as me saying it, but it won't be as hard as you'll be telling yourself it is.

6) Prioritise. Find out what's important in your life. What are your goals? What is it, that will make your lifestyle so much better?

For me, the 3 most important things in my life right now are the friends who matter, the course I'm studying, and my dream to play local footy.

So basically, my day mainly consists of studying and exercising, and catching up with important friends here and there. Things like, bigfooty, even Collingwood, TV shows, movies and video games, they all take a back seat until I've met those 2 or 3 main requirements. That, when I've studied enough and exercised for the day, then I'll fill the time in my day with free time things like video games and tv shows.

I think that's a real important mentality to have. I used to place too much importance on menial things like Bigfooty, like video games, like TV shows. My day was centred around these things, and everything else took a back seat. It was always, s**t I gotta get to this level on this video game, or I've got to finish this season by Wednesday. Nowadays, I view these things as things to do when I've got the time for it, and don't place any requirement as to when I need to have watched them by.

7) Lastly, be comfortable and confident with yourself. Personally, I think this may be one of the most important things you can do. Maybe I've always had a bit of a lone wolf in me, or maybe it's come about from being lonely, but I make sure that my company is the best company. And what I mean by that, is that I'm not reliant on anybody. Yeah, support systems are important, friendship is important, relationships are important, but I don't rely on them to get me through the day. I'm content with staying at home on the weekend, watching a few movies by myself. I'm human, and yeah I lament the fact that I don't have many close friends that I can just call on hand to come over, but I know from personal experience that during depression, or even outside of an episode, you can become your worst enemy. Watching a movie, would purely be something to do to pass the time and to take your mind off things. These days, watching a movie by myself is something enjoyable, something I don't need to do with someone else (although it is preferred).
 
Thanks TheFreshBanana for the very helpful post. I too have been in a dark spot, and luckily found light at the end of the tunnel. My story is long, but this resource was helpful during those hard times:

Mindspot

As Tfb notes seeing a professional is vital.
 
That's a great overview TheFreshBanana and it's really impressive of you, both to have such good awareness of all that and be happy to share that with us all.

As someone who has experience from both sides - having been there myself several times and also being fortunate enough to have a job where people come to me for help with this on almost a daily basis - there's just one more thing that could be suggested, and that is medication.

It links back to your point 4 a little bit - re look for a cause...

In loose and maybe simplistic terms, there's main two types of depression - one is a reactive type where the depression relates to adverse life events, where, as you suggest, you should look for the causal factors and address them.

The other type is one where it's thought that your brain hormones, principally serotonin, fall to low levels. Often there is a inherited reason for this - ie it's out of your control and sphere of influence and " just happens". In these cases, everything in your life may well be going just fine ...except you feel like s**t because your serotonin levels are too low. This is more regarded as an endogenous or biochemical type of depression.

Think of a pancreas producing the hormone insulin which keeps your sugar levels normal.

In a similar way, a brain produces the hormone serotonin which keeps your mood and thoughts normal.

Just like a diabetic can't function normally around meals etc, the other guy gets lowered mood and confidence and feels everything is too hard etc.

Insulin is your sugar processing hormone; serotonin is your feelgood and coping-with-life hormone.

Medication ( and exercise) are the best ways by far of lifting a low serotonin. They are a mainstay of treatment, especially in the second type.

In your case, you sound to be going well - but if you or anyone else that you know, or who happen to be ploughing through this, ever feel really down, please please don't turn your back on the option of medication. The drug class called SSRI's are the best in the great majority of cases.

Hope all goes well my friend.
 
Yeah, I can definitely say that antidepressants helped me a lot.

However, it took me almost 2 weeks to get over the initial side effects, which mostly inluded lethargy all day. I was fortunate enough that I was in high school, where missing most of my morning classes for 2 weeks was viable.

It's why I'm reluctant to take antidepressants because I know it will take at least a week to kick in.

But then again, at the time, I was so far gone and so new to depression that there really was no alternative.

At the time, the depression was like a massive fog around my brain. My psychologist would tell me this, but it would never penetrate that fog, and no advice in the world would have gotten through. Antidepressants definitely helped in a way that it cleared the fog, just a slight, enough for me to start working through my issues.
 

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Yep, same here, medication was a vital component of my return to "normal self". My depression was triggered by a very stressful business situation. My doc said that living with high anxiety for months altered my brain chemistry (please forgive the simplification). SSRIs (thanks for reminding me what they are called Swoop ) and lots of exercise were a key part of rehab.

My circumstances changed (thank goodness) and when that happened my mental robustness (or mojo if you prefer) returned in short time.

When we're in a dark spot we tend to think of temporary problems as permanent. Rookie mistake. :) We're on this beautiful planet for a very short time. Most of the crap we fuss over has either come and gone or only occurred in our minds. Cognitive behavioural therapy helps people challenge unhelpful thoughts that amplify anxiety and create our own personal demons. Everyone has them, and everyone can beat them. So, counselling and mindfulness meditation were also very helpful.

Oh, and get a dog! :)
 
Swooop said:
That's a great overview TheFreshBanana and it's really impressive of you, both to have such good awareness of all that and be happy to share that with us all.

As someone who has experience from both sides - having been there myself several times and also being fortunate enough to have a job where people come to me for help with this on almost a daily basis - there's just one more thing that could be suggested, and that is medication.
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Just outa curiosity Swoop, whattaya do for a crust?
 
No, you got the tough gig I reckon CLUBMEDhurst :)

Hate the co payment idea. Will deter lots of poorer people from coming to the GP and lots of other people who aren't so poor but who are bulk billed anyway - it will be a disincentive for them as well.

The end result may well be that instead of issues being nipped in the bud for a $36 bulk billed visit, the problem will get worse and then escalate to a hospital case or an emergency surgical or psych issue - will then cost the healthcare system serious bucks. So they'll need to save a lot of $36 visits to cover these cases. Also, it will divert people away from their GP and toward the already bursting hospital Emergency Depts, where some poor intern who is unfamiliar with all the complexities and recent medical investigations and trends over the years, tries to make sense of the patient's woes, that the GP would have known what was likely to be going on in two seconds.

That said, I get where they're coming from in one way - you'd have to say a fair few visits that are bulk billed are pretty unnecessary in a strict medical sense to be honest. I often get asked for a script for A, then ask the patient would you like item B as well, knowing they're running low - they say, Nah, I'll come back next week for that.

Loneliness is a huge problem, especially in the isolated elderly population - and a visit to the Dr, with the friendly receptionist, chat in the waiting room with other patients and then the doc - so an outing to look forward to, as well as to check how things are going, is an important thing for many of these people.

You and I know that's important for them to have that, but I can understand the bean counters don't. I'm afraid I just see the co-payment as being a disincentive to go the the Dr - I'm sure the Govt know they'll save more $ by patients having fewer GP visits and pathology tests and Xray rebates, than what they save by the actual patient contribution saving them $5 or so per visit.

It won't pass the Senate in it's current form. The vast majority of GPs hate it and do not support it. It will be watered down, the more the better.
 
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Thanks for the considered response Swooop. I've always felt that the "useless visits" line was slightly overblown. My concerns with the co-payment are that they woulkd defeat the whole idea of early intervention, which would result in greater costs to the health system further down the track.

These days I work predominantly with problem gamblers (who generally don't have two pennies to rub together) and it can be difficult to get them to engage with a GP at the best of times. My concerns are also for those with a mental illness, as it could lead to reduced monitoring of mental state and non-adherence to treatment regimes and a greater vulnerability to relapse.
 
Yep spot on IMHO with those concerns.

There's an endless list of examples aren't there. It's the compromising of possible early intervention that most worries me be it psych issues, or chest pains or bit of blood in the urine or chest pains or whatever.

But the extra cost of late presentations and the suffering they cause is harder to impossible for the health economists to measure.

Sad really but at least they're listening to the AMA so hopefully some common sense ( a dirty word in the health industry!) will prevail :)
 
Tempest said:
I went to centrelink today to see if there is any extra money I could pull from them while I'm in such a tough financial situation (I'm not getting any benefits at the moment)

They are such bastards, I queued up for over an hour only for them to tell me to apply online.
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It's not an easy job Tempest, they're stuck between a rock and a hard place. They're ruled by legislation and policy (which changes at the whim of the Pollies) and because they can't just give everyone all the free money they want, they get abused when they're only doing the best that they're legally able too do.
 
Tempest said:
It's almost the end for me....

I can't do this much longer.
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Hey man, how are you doing?

I haven't read through the entire thread but have you spoken to you GP yet?

It takes some courage to do but just seeking the help can be a load off.
 
You don't have to tell them everything that's going on, just let them know that you're struggling at the moment.

I struggled with bi-polar for 15 years before I sought help, if anything I'm angry with myself for wasting all those years.
 
Tempest said:
She will seriously think I'm a headcase.
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Mate, they've heard it all before, and what your after IS for her to think you're a head case, that way you'll get treatment:)

I went to a Dr I'd never seen before, only just fearing the appointment less than death, and I walked out of there with a heap of weight lifted off my shoulders - not all of it, but a significant amount. Now, 12 months later, I look forward to my appointments!
 
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