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Do you suffer from depression as part of your addiction?

Do you suffer from depression as part of your addiction?
5/29/2007 1:09:00 PM cynru_am_byth
84 Posts cynru_am_byth's Avatar
A natural cause of depression is not being in total control of one's life. A natural cause of depression later in life stems from not learning proper life coping skills as a child/adolescent and/or discovering the lack of control of one’s life – even as an adult. An additional cause of depression is due to having an event or events keep us from moving forward in life. Allowing one’s self esteem to be predicated on those events often saps the life out of many individuals.

How does depression effect you through your addiction?
Re: Do you suffer from depression as part of your addiction?
5/29/2007 4:30:16 PM randle
231 Posts randle's Avatar
I can agree with that to some extent. For some though, its a real sickness something that can't be controlled because their chemicals just won't balance themselves. We have to understand that once you get used to a certain state of mind thats where you get comfortable being. Our thoughts control our health wether you believe it or not.
Re: Do you suffer from depression as part of your addiction?
5/29/2007 4:52:47 PM itsme24
18 Posts itsme24's Avatar
I dont think depression leads to all addicitons. Many people who are very happy in life start doing drugs because they enjoy them, and then become addicted to them and depression has nothing to do with it.
Re: Do you suffer from depression as part of your addiction?
5/30/2007 3:17:22 AM randle
231 Posts randle's Avatar
That is true it doesn't people mistake addiction to depression but for most it is the case. SOrry to say. People try to numb themselves with drugs which is never good because thats how you end up trying harder drugs as your problems get worse.
Re: Do you suffer from depression as part of your addiction?
5/30/2007 2:16:29 PM cynru_am_byth
84 Posts cynru_am_byth's Avatar
Addiction and depression come hand in hand I believe. If you do not complete your addiction for any reason then it becomes a form of depression because you are not recieving or completing your addiction. that leads to other things, which I will not go into.

Does that make sense?


Re: Do you suffer from depression as part of your addiction?
5/30/2007 8:16:37 PM kheyanne
138 Posts kheyanne's Avatar
I guess depression only hits when the person sees the bad side of his addiction. But if he or she enjoys it well, I don't think depression would occur. But that's only how I look at it.
Re: Do you suffer from depression as part of your addiction?
5/31/2007 5:02:06 PM phaedrus
53 Posts phaedrus's Avatar
i think that often these two are reversed. Someone who is depressed and does not realise it, or want to admit it and seek help for whatever reason, may start to use some drug as a form of self medication. it helps, for a while. But soon they end up with two problems. The depression is still there but now the have to deal with the drug addiction as well.

If during the recovery process they only focus on the drug addiction they will always have an uphill battle because the inial cause is still there.
Re: Do you suffer from depression as part of your addiction?
6/1/2007 3:12:25 PM cynru_am_byth
84 Posts cynru_am_byth's Avatar
Agreed phaedus one leads to the other. Depression does not have to be full blown ........as in jumping off a cliff. It could just be a low before your next high ....????????
Re: Do you suffer from depression as part of your addiction?
6/1/2007 4:59:14 PM totallybliss
14 Posts totallybliss's Avatar
I think it depends on each individual, depending on how they deal with their addiction. It's best to go through recovery with a positive attitude and a lot of hope, but some people have it a lot harder than others and not necessarily depressed people, just poeple who've lost a lot of their hope and need a little extra support.
Re: Do you suffer from depression as part of your addiction?
6/1/2007 5:21:40 PM mikeyikie
18 Posts mikeyikie's Avatar
Depression comes from all sorts of different problems. If a person has an addiction and they enjoy it and dont have many other problems in their lives then depression wouldn't affect them. However drugs usually lead to major problems so they cause depressions.
Re: Do you suffer from depression as part of your addiction?
6/2/2007 1:36:30 PM cynru_am_byth
84 Posts cynru_am_byth's Avatar
Agreed but what is the definition of depression? Would you know if you had it? And how would you know? I certainly would not know for definate whether I had depression or not????
Re: Do you suffer from depression as part of your addiction?
6/6/2007 4:40:04 AM phaedrus
53 Posts phaedrus's Avatar
Cymru Am Byth wrote
Agreed but what is the definition of depression? Would you know if you had it? And how would you know? I certainly would not know for definate whether I had depression or not????


There are several tests that are used by the medical profession to rate a persons level of depression and therefore indicate what treatment may be required. Some that I know of are at BeyondBlue
Re: Do you suffer from depression as part of your addiction?
6/6/2007 1:26:08 PM cynru_am_byth
84 Posts cynru_am_byth's Avatar
Thanks for that info phaedrus. thinking about it I think I had a depression score after I had my son years ago. I can not remember what it was called but I think it was to do with post natal depression or the babby blues.
Re: Do you suffer from depression as part of your addiction?
6/6/2007 4:01:34 PM totallybliss
14 Posts totallybliss's Avatar
Many women suffer from post partum depression, but there's many treatment options for it like medication or special therapy. Brooke Shields, the actress, went on Oprah talking about her experience with extreme post partum depression and how it took her a long time to recover, and in her case she may have never recovered without treatment.
Re: Do you suffer from depression as part of your addiction?
7/9/2007 3:39:16 AM hazephase
317 Posts hazephase's Avatar
I had a friend of mine who used to go into depression every time she had a fight with her boy friend, we used to talk to her but she would not listern
Re: Do you suffer from depression as part of your addiction?
7/14/2007 12:17:44 AM sacback1
192 Posts sacback1's Avatar
It is hard to say which comes first, the depression or the addiction. If someone's life were going great, would they start an addiction? Or would they become depressed if they weren't addicted? I think it goes hand in hand
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Do you suffer from depression as part of your addiction?

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