Depressed?? Read this -

[Bazza1234]

and never feel sorry for yourself again!!!

dailymail.co.uk/news/articl...

[turnturtle Graduate]

That is a truly amazing and inspirational story Bazza, but to say that her story is a reason people shouldn't be depressed doesn't make sense to me. And to equate depression with 'feeling sorry for yourself' is not helpful to people who may be depressed right now. It is the equivalent of saying 'Snap out of it' . Very often people with depression acknowledge that they have no apparent reason to be depressed. To others and to themselves , their life may look pretty cushy, certainly compared with this poor lady. But depression is no respecter of privilege. It strikes at random. More and more it is accepted that depression is caused by a chemical imbalance. It is NOT a weakness of character. Looking at how much worse off other people are does not help relieve the depressed person's symptoms at all. What does help is counselling, support and drug therapy.

[Bazza1234 Graduate in reply to turnturtle]

TT - can't agree with you regarding this. Everything in life is relative to everything else - there are no absolutes. There is such a thing as "survival of the fittest" - and this lady is obviously a strong survivor, while others are not!!!

[turnturtle Graduate in reply to Bazza1234]

?? I don't follow your argument Bazza. Of course she is a strong survivor. But I repeat, being depressed is not as simple as feeling sorry for yourself.

[secan Graduate in reply to Bazza1234]

The "survival of the fittest" concept has been frequently and grossly misunderstood; being the "fittest" has nothing to do with will power and conscious choices.

In the process of (co-)evolution, being the "fittest" is a matter of pure accident: you *happen* to be the best fit for a given environment in a given time, you do not *chose* it.

Obviously you are free to have and express your own idea, despite the fact it is plainly wrong and possibly insulting...

[secan Graduate in reply to Bazza1234]

By the way, you are contradicting yourself: if everything is relative and there are no absolutes, you cannot say that people shouldn't feel sorry because that lady made it... that lady is not an absolute, is she?

[miss_august Graduate in reply to turnturtle]

Exactly. And also it's true of many people with depression that they are well aware that there are people 'worse off' than them and all it does is add to the guilt and shame already felt by having an illness you can't always control.

[turnturtle Graduate in reply to miss_august]

True. and to talk about survival of the fittest in relation to depression seems particularly callous. Would you dismiss diabetes sufferers say, in similar terms? I think the problem is that Bazza is confusing depression (a clinical condition) with feeling a little down in the mouth and sorry for oneself as a result of an unfortunate life event. If that's the case,then I understand where he's coming from. We need to get our petty first world life 'disasters' into perspective. Nobody would argue with that. And from that point of view, reading this brave lady's story when you are feeling down about being a slow runner, or have just pranged the car, could help you get a grip. But don't put true depression into the same category please.

[miss_august Graduate in reply to turnturtle]

I joined this forum because it seems really friendly, but I will have to avoid this person's posts because I find it quite stressful. But happens everywhere, I guess!

[Bazza1234 Graduate in reply to miss_august]

Please do!!!!!!

[GoogleMe Graduate in reply to miss_august]

It is extremely rare for it to happen here. I think Bazza is still recovering from his long 'incarceration' on a cruise ship.

[Sandraj39 Graduate]

Oh my goodness, how inspiring! What a very brave and strong lady. Thank you for posting this Bazza.

[nhs2015 Graduate]

I have read her book Bazza, the happenings are very disturbing, her survival story is very amazing. A very frightening experience. This young lady has refused to be defeated. She was also lucky to have a good and loving partner who stayed by her always. I think it is inspiring she could pick herself up and carry on with life.

Yes, when I see myself and think I am worry about this and that, ( and it can be depressing at times ) I find my issues very minute compared to what hurdles she still has to conquer.

[davelinks Graduate]

I had a friend who made similar comments about my depression, hence he's no longer a friend!

[ju-ju- Graduate]

Thanks for sharing, what a fabulous lady!!

[GoogleMe Graduate]

I'm on a no Daily Mail diet (very healthy!)