Posted by sweetmarie on April 13, 2001, at 11:58:48
In reply to Re: treatment resistant depression-- » sweetmarie, posted by Shar on April 12, 2001, at 23:26:16
Ram is Ram Dass who wrote a book called "Be Here Now."
They bloody nicked it (Oasis)! I knew they were too stupid to think up such a profound title.
I know his approach is not western; I believe he is a guru or yogi or something similar.
I have heard of him, but never read his stuff. In general I don`t read `self-help` or philosophical stuff, which is probably fairly silly. I imagine that I am missing out on quite a lot. >
> .......to me dissociate means that I am not in my body. It is more like a trance-like state, or staring a lot; definitely not in the moment. But not a complete loss of function. One instance is arriving at work and remembering nothing about the drive into the city. And crossing my fingers that all the lights I went through were green.....
I know that one. I frighten myself sometimes when I am driving (on the very rare occasions that I am well enough to leave the house), as I find that my eyes are sort of `glazed over` and that I am staring at the adverts on the side of the road, or at the car next to me, or the car behind me through the rear view mirror. I kind of drive on autopilot, and constantly miss things, e.g. cars stopping in front of me etc. It`s not such a good idea to drive when you`re poorly.
Is this kind of what you mean?
> > When you say `blue`, do you mean `sad` or `mildly depressed`?
>
> .......I use blue as "mildly depressed." I use colors to describe my depression, from black to clear. Clear is the absence of depression. I felt clear on Zoloft until it pooped out (much to my great dismay). 'And what color are we today?' a former pdoc of mine used to ask.You use the expression `pooped out` - can this happen with all meds? The colour thing is a good guide; my psychiatrist used to get me to draw a graph, but I gave up as it looked like I was constantly flatlining at zero! Not very encouraging.
> > One more thing about Dysthymia: the professor that will be treating me, wants me to do a course of CBT when I am well enough to do it.
> .......What does CBT look like in action?
CBT (Cognitive Behavioural Therapy) is about changing ways of looking at things.situations etc. The theory is that people who have long-term problems with depression, have learned negative trains of thought (or, from another angle, negative trains of thought have produced depression). My understanding of CBT is that it is a way of intercepting negative thoughts/feelings simultaneously they enter the mind, and replacing them with positive thoughts/feelings. It certainly SOUNDS good, but I am very skeptical of it`s effectiveness. Basically, I wonder if those walls that we have been surrounding ourselves with (well, me anyway) for so long (34 years in my case), are actually open to that kind of change. I mean, they feel pretty inpenetrable to me. I`m cynical though - I`ve had lots of therapy over the years, and can`t be bothered really. I MUST go into this with an open mind, though (repeat 100 times!) So that`s it basically.
> > p.s. Had you been `looking` for a long time before you found this combo?
>
> .......I had been looking for quite a while. Probably total time was 7 years before now. During that time I had used some meds with limited success, but kept trying for more relief. Thank god(s) for Risperdal, the last thing that was added to my cocktail.What a relief. I`ve been on different meds for nearly 11 years now, and all but the first one have totally failed to work. I myself haven`t worked (done a job) for 3 years now. Even ECT didn`t shift it. Hopefully, my `time` is not far away. >
> ......I read your post about going in to the hospital and would like to encourage you for stepping toward some potentially very helpful stuff. If you are scared, my thoughts are with you. On this board we have many people that have been in the hospital and come out just fine. I'm holding your hand.
Thanks, Shar - just what I needed to hear. >
Cheers,
Anna.
poster:sweetmarie
thread:55847
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20010411/msgs/59685.html