Depression.... What do you think?

[Butterfingers]

Both Lincoln and Churchill suffered from depression, they were both great men, I see no weakness in them because of their affliction.
From what I recall having read their are basically two reasons for depression, "clinical" which I believe is caused by a chemical imbalance and can be controlled with medications.
Then there is a "Psychological" depression, medications along with therapy are used to treat this type.
In any case depression is no cause for shame, it needs to be treated so the victim can move on to a better quality of life.

[Rareboy]

Maybe.... I was silly...
I put this under the category "Debates" Yet no one is discussing anything... Thank you to those who actually did read my post, then answer accordingly. All I wanted was to know what you guys thought... I was NOT, claiming that Depression is a weakness. I was merely stating an opinion, and I wanted to know yer opinions on the matter. When I first came to this forum, I was looking for advice, That was a few months ago... and now, I wondered If I could get a few opinions, on this topic, I didn't ask for the definition of Depression, Or a personal attack, I just wanted yer opinions.
I would have liked to see both sides of the argument, but as far as this thread goes... this debate is one sided, and I believe if anyone said anything that they disagree with the other posts in here, they would also be attacked. Bombarded with Biased arguments... Everyone has an opinion... They have a right to that opinion...
Thanks....

Well ...you're very young...so you might be forgiven for asking for a debate on an issue like this...with expectations of a different outcome. In the first instance, some people who will answer have been living with depression more than twice as long as you've been alive, so they will have a very personal and insightful viewpoint on the subject.

Next...I guess I'd have to ask the obvious question.....why do you think a debate on this wobbly hypothesis is even warranted? If it is just to get off the cuff opinions....that isn't a debate. Debates are structured on logical arguments and facts. Many people have offered clinical reasons underlying depression and experiences dealing with it that clearly demonstrate that they don't believe it to be a weakness...or if they do...that it is a weakness in the same way that any other physical dysfunction is a weakness.

From your response...it actually looks more like what you wanted was an emotion based argument based on personal opinion only and it seems that you are vaguely disappointed somehow that it didn't become an all out donnybrook. As you say, everyone is entitled to an opinion. But everyone is not entitled to automatically believe that their opinion has intellectual authority or that it is equal to opinions based on fact and experience. Maybe the reason you aren't seeing a lot of 'debate' on this topic is that opinion on mental health issues has matured....and it is understood to be inherently pejorative to argue a position based on an uneducated gut reaction.

And please...it is 'Your' not 'Yer'. Only one extra latter to type.

[Virge]

In my first reply I started to say something that I thought would be taken the wrong way. After reading what East wrote I have to say it.

Depression is contagious.
Ask anyone who's had a loved one or close friend commit suicide in their own depression. I understand East's feelings about his brother because I had a good friend do it 4 yrs ago. I still haven't moved past thinking I could have stopped it and don't know if I will ever go a day without that on my mind.

[East]

In my first reply I started to say something that I thought would be taken the wrong way. After reading what East wrote I have to say it.

Depression is contagious.
Ask anyone who's had a loved one or close friend commit suicide in their own depression. I understand East's feelings about his brother because I had a good friend do it 4 yrs ago. I still haven't moved past thinking I could have stopped it and don't know if I will ever go a day without that on my mind.

(((Virge)))...I know the feeling..well...and I have come to the conclusion that there was nothing I could do.... I want to believe that I had the power to do something but in the end..I know I was powerless....

I was also ashamed of what I felt about it.....I talked about it here once

https://gayspeak.com/showthread.php?t=17245

It is a very difficult subject for me

[Virge]

Mine was a 17 y/o kid who came by to talk when I was too busy to listen and asked him to come back. Connect the dots from there. it still has me fucked up. It has a lot to do with all that I do in life. I'm not ever going to put myself in that situation again. I have time for anyone who wants to talk. That's all I know to do to compensate for it.

I won't be back to this thread. This is not the way to start a morning.

[trywait]

collectively we can share our experiences on how each of us, in some way, have overcome depression. it is definitely, not a one shoe fits all, but from different perspectives, someone in a similar predicament wont feel so hopeless. depression is a weakness, but you cant let your weaknesses overpower you. easier said than done because not everyone has the same strength of will.

[Jake]

And please...it is 'Your' not 'Yer'. Only one extra latter to type.

Have you noticed the boy was from UK... "Yer" is principally UK slang... Might want to ask Londoner. If you understood it as "Your" why do you feel the need to correct him. Is this going to turn like a YouTube kind of thing where people get discredit because they make mistakes in their spelling? English isn't my language and trust me I do my share of spelling errors, but if the message I wanted to say get across 75% of my objective are met... the rest is just spelling.

We speak with an accent - it doesn't mean we think with an accent!

* It's letter not latter

[Rareboy]

^ I was wondering if anyone would seize on it. Too early in the morning and typing too fast.

If it was a 30 year old...I wouldn't even bother....but for heaven's sakes...our good friend the OP deserves having some guidance in this. Even in the wildest outreaches of England... I believe they may still use the Queen's English. And the reason that I make the suggestion is that for such a serious topic...if one is looking for an actual serious debate on the issue....it provides a measure of credibility for the question and the person positing an hypothesis. To simply toss of 'yer' for 'your' immediately makes me think that I'd be debating a subject with an intellectually lazy opponent.

For those people for whom English is obviously a second language...one makes greater allowances.

But as you will note....it wasn't the spelling that caught my attention insofar as the difficulty I had with the OP's response....the observation was a mere footnote; so one wonders why you feel that we should start to debate about it in this thread. I would much rather that we focus on the actual topic raised.

[Virge]

I have to tone down when typing cuz (hahaha) I like to make fun of accents. If you guys could hear StingRay's southern accent you'd die laughing. Then with Jay -- he either speaks with a dignified educated Australian accent or breaks into into a rat-tat-tat animated rant of Aussie slang that's hilarious to anyone who hears it.

Ray: Ef yewar gunna torn on the Arkundishener Isle clozzup awl th'winders before yewdew.

[LJay]

Go get 'im, Ray!

For that, my dad would have said he needs "a good slap up side de head!"