Fear of Death?

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OP
OP
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vbc

Guest
Location
Bristol
An old friend of mine (we joined the RAF together aged 17) took his own life last year, just short of his 49th birthday, he was one day older than me. He'd suffered depression all his life and I guess that it eventually got the better of him. I'd only spoken to him on the 'phone a week beforehand, just after I was discharged from hospital and I guess it was his way of saying goodbye.

He had spoken to me of suicide about 12 years beforehand when I visited him and his wife in Oz. We had a road trip and over a few beers one evening I told him how lucky he was to have such a gorgeous, loving wife. He said that he knew he was and that he was so happy right then and at the peak of his health and fitness that he'd thought about ending it all, as he knew that it would be all downhill from then on. He made a joke out of it and changed the subject but I guess that he had felt that way for a long time.

I'm so sorry to see him go even if we could only see each other every ten years or so but I try to think that he didn't take his own life, rather that he lost his lifelong struggle with the disease that is depression.
 

Abitrary

New Member
I've always believed that it is natural to feel depressed, on a regular basis even, and am sure more people than we think do. I think the problem comes with how people communicate it, and how people react to it... there's nothing worse than someone who claims he never gets depressed. It's a problem with society.

Only the other day I was reading about a study that depression is a natural evolutionary trait that we utilise to put our current situation in perspective.
 

yenrod

Guest
Abitrary said:
I've always believed that it is natural to feel depressed, on a regular basis even, and am sure more people than we think do. I think the problem comes with how people communicate it, and how people react to it... there's nothing worse than someone who claims he never gets depressed. It's a problem with society.

Only the other day I was reading about a study that depression is a natural evolutionary trait that we utilise to put our current situation in perspective.[/QUOTE]

Interesting Abs. !
 

Abitrary

New Member
Flying_Monkey said:
Depression makes me creative. I have to live with it, but I have also learned that I can't really live without.

I feel the same, and I think it's a common viewpoint. Stephen Fry did an interesting thing about this recently.

So, if depression is perceived as unnatural by society, yet has a name and a definition... what is the opposite of depression?

Please tell me it's not 'de-depressed'.
 

Abitrary

New Member
Maz said:
Elation? euphoria? dunno.

That's along the lines of bi-polar, which is a real mental health problem.

The fact that the normal anxiety / depression most people experience from time to time doesn't actually have an opposite manifestation, proves that depression is a completely natural and instinctive way of rationalising the world around us.
 

tdr1nka

Taking the biscuit
I believe that the opposite of depression is a state in which an individual can accept the wrongs and failings of 'humanity', while happily being coerced by 'society' into a lifestyle that doesn't exisit for any other species on this planet.

Depression for me, as a sufferer, is best matched by the pacing of polar bears in zoos.
 

Speicher

Vice Admiral
Moderator
tdr1nka said:
I believe that the opposite of depression is a state in which an individual can accept the wrongs and failings of 'humanity', while happily being coerced by 'society' into a lifestyle that doesn't exisit for any other species on this planet.

Depression for me, as a sufferer, is best matched by the pacing of polar bears in zoos.

Your first paragraph is similar to how I feel. I think I was very depressed, and still am but less so, because I see the world as it really is, while most of those around me seem to be, as you say "happily co-erced into a lifestyle". Not sure how to describe that "lifestyle" but superficial add unrealistic, are some of the words that come into my mind.
 

Abitrary

New Member
tdr1nka said:
I believe that the opposite of depression is a state in which an individual can accept the wrongs and failings of 'humanity', while happily being coerced by 'society' into a lifestyle that doesn't exisit for any other species on this planet.

I reckon that a person who suddenly found himself alone in the world, would spend exactly the same amount of time depressed as someone in society.

It's a natural impulse like laughing or crying. It's just internal.
 

Valiant

Veteran
Location
London
I think about it quite a bit, but that's only becuase I come close quite a few times. I don't fear death though, it's a certainty sure, but you can't live in fear your whole life.
 

marinyork

Resting in suspended Animation
Location
Logopolis
tdr1nka said:
I believe that the opposite of depression is a state in which an individual can accept the wrongs and failings of 'humanity', while happily being coerced by 'society' into a lifestyle that doesn't exisit for any other species on this planet.

With the (presumably) desired effects of prozac on my father I would say this is a disturbingly accurate description of what the other "state" is for some people.
 

Fab Foodie

hanging-on in quiet desperation ...
Location
Kirton, Devon.
As depression and religion seemed to be a theme of this thread, I recall this piece of news from last week. As a long-term depression sufferer I find that having faith is of benefit to me. I could spend time trying to analyse why that is the case but I don't...it works for me and that's enough.


Religion 'linked to happy life'
headstones and steeple
Belief may make us more contented
A belief in God could lead to a more contented life, research suggests.

Religious people are better able to cope with shocks such as losing a job or divorce, claims the study presented to a Royal Economic Society conference.

Data from thousands of Europeans revealed higher levels of "life satisfaction" in believers.

However, researcher Professor Andrew Clark said other aspects of a religious upbringing unrelated to belief may influence future happiness.


What we found was that religious people were experiencing current day rewards, rather than storing them up for the future
Professor Andrew Clark
Paris School of Economics

This is not the first study to draw links between religion and happiness, with a belief among many psychologists that some factor in either belief, or its observance, offering benefits.

Professor Clark, from the Paris School of Economics, and co-author Dr Orsolya Lelkes from the European Centre for Social Welfare Policy and Research, used information from household surveys to analyse the attitudes of Christians - both Catholic and Protestant - not only to their own happiness, but also to issues such as unemployment.

Their findings, they said, suggested that religion could offer a "buffer" which protected from life's disappointments.

Professor Clark said: "We originally started the research to work out why some European countries had more generous unemployment benefits than others, but our analysis suggested that religious people suffered less psychological harm from unemployment than the non-religious.

"They had higher levels of life satisfaction".

Purpose of life

Even though churchgoers were unsurprisingly more likely to oppose divorce, they were both less psychologically affected by marital separation when it did happen, he said.

"What we found was that religious people were experiencing current day rewards, rather than storing them up for the future."

However, he said that the nature of the surveys used meant that undetected factors, perhaps in the lifestyle or upbringing of religious people, such as stable family life and relationships, could be the cause of this increased satisfaction.

The precise contribution of religion to mental health remains controversial, although there is other evidence that it does directly improve happiness, said Professor Leslie Francis, from the University of Warwick.

He said that the benefit might stem from the increased "purpose of life" felt by believers.

He said: "These findings are consistent with other studies which suggest that religion does have a positive effect, although there are other views which say that religion can lead to self-doubt, and failure, and thereby have a negative effect.

"The belief that religion damages people is still in the minds of many."

'Meaningless'

Terry Sanderson, president of the National Secular Society, which represents the interests of atheists and agnostics, said that studies purporting to show a link between happiness and religion were "all meaningless".

"Non-believers can't just turn on a faith in order to be happy. If you find religious claims incredible, then you won't believe them, whatever the supposed rewards in terms of personal fulfilment.

"Happiness is an elusive concept, anyway - I find listening to classical music blissful and watching football repulsive.

"Other people feel exactly the opposite. In the end, it comes down to the individual and, to an extent, their genetic predispositions."

But Justin Thacker, head of Theology for the Evangelical Alliance, said that there should now be no doubt about the connection between religious belief and happiness.

"There is more than one reason for this - part of it will be the sense of community and the relationships fostered, but that doesn't account for all of it.

"A large part of it is due to the meaning, purpose and value which believing in God gives you, whereas not believing in God can leave you without those things."
 

Abitrary

New Member
Fab Foodie said:
As depression and religion seemed to be a theme of this thread, I recall this piece of news from last week. As a long-term depression sufferer I find that having faith is of benefit to me. I could spend time trying to analyse why that is the case but I don't...it works for me and that's enough.

Religion 'linked to happy life'

Religion will have the same impact of eating 5 portions of fruit and veg a day in the grand scheme of understanding what depression is.

Depression is nothing but reaction to confusion. We'll always be confused whether we believe in Jesus, John Lennon or the Hair Bear Bunch.


View: http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=Hk9iP3-SJsM
 
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