Pick yourself up and decide to be happy. When that's the response to someone saying they're depressed or unhappy, it's just plain cold-hearted. Or, horribly ignorant.
Most depressed people do pick themselves up and make the choice to be happy. But, between physical causes and the need to learn how to make the needed changes, It's just not that simple.
You're absolutely right about that. When the brain's chemistry is screwed up, then deciding to be happy just ain't happening. What worked for me was to first start taking a really effective antidepressant; for me, the last time, it was Effexor. Once I had been on that for awhile, a month or two, the therapy became a lot more effective, because I was actually capable of looking outside of the hole I had fallen into, and make plans for how to climb out, and then stay out of it. I was on Effexor for a couple of years, medicinally, then another year of very slow weaning just to get off of it without feeling like I was being randomly plugged into high voltage several times a day. Since then, I've got
thru some very hard times, so have had plenty of excuse to fall back into the hole, but somehow, I managed to stay upright -- probably because I did have some good therapy, and realized that I don't have to let those bad events drag me down. I shed my tears and did whatever else I had to, then got out of bed and carried on with life. Sometimes life really sucks, and it's easy to let the most sucking events
throw you into the hole -- you just have to fight it. Life goes on; everything changes; and very little is forever.
Andria
