Blank Mind

[aladdin77]

Does anyone feel as if you get dumber when you're depressed? I feel like a complete idiot that can't hold a basic conversation with anyone (friends or family) when I'm normally the talkative upbeat one. On top of the lack of concentration, every time I try and think, my mind draws blanks. This problem has made me incredibly self-conscious and prevented me from wanting to socialize and do anything for that matter. I'm now wondering if this awkward, thoughtless, shell of a person is really who I've been all along.

[Hidden]

Hi, no this isn't the real you, the real you is the chatty confident person you are normally. Last year I felt exactly the same as you but now I have finally come out of depression and am back to being me. Keep holding on to the person you know you are. I didn't and I'm sure that made it harder for me to get better because I lost the sense of who I really wS and believed that the depressed me was the only version of myself. It's hard work but really worth fighting to get back to being you. Keep going you will get there xx

[welly10]

Yes it does make your mind go blank.you feel like you don't want to talk or get involved in things but you have to try.you feel your not connected to anything devoid of emotion.its hard but keep trying seek help if needed.good luck

[Muunie]

Hey Aladdin

so check this out; when you are depressed the brain kind of shuts down, or at least parts of it do. From what I have read this is partly to do with a reaction to stress. If you want to learn more about this research stress and the effect it has on the brain. Not everyone is the same, for some its a chemical imbalance and more complicated than just a case of a stress reaction however I have come to believe that stress and depression are inseparably linked.

Nature is infinitely clever and the brain is extremely sophisticated. Perhaps this shutting down is a protective mechanism to shut out the stress. At present nobody really knows.

As for personality, people with things like Parkinsons and traumatic brain injury undergo changes to their personality as a result of the condition in their brain. So in the end what is personality? Is it just the wiring patterns in our brain, like a manifestation of our biology in the environment. I kind of think we have a nature, which is who we really are, something deeper than personality.....anyway I'm not a psychologist or a doctor, I just tried to figure out what this depression is.

So if you can imagine that your brain is an organ and the organ is not functioning too well due to something that is poisoning it (probably a result of stress) and this manifests in how you feel about the world and yourself, then these symptoms are an indicator that you need to fucus on protecting your brain from stress. In other words you need to make your strong and healthy again.

Motivation is a function of the brain so this can be difficult, however armed with knowledge you can begin to nurse this organ back to health or at least protect it against further damage. Like all your organs it needs proper nutrition a good blood supply rest and it particularly like prayer or meditation.

Sorry for harping on, I hope you find it in yourself to go and learn about depression, its the only thing that has really helped me and I still get the black depression but I kind of know what it is.

All the best!!

[waitingfortoday]

This is definitely a problem I've experienced. Like I want to speak but don't know what to say. I had a bout of depression in exam season last year and just couldn't call anything I had learnt to mind. My brain just wouldn't focus long enough. It sucks. I don't know how to help. But I guess sometimes it can help to know you're not the only one