Has Anybody Cured Their Depression?

[Dopamine]

Caffeine makes my anxiety and depression 10x worse. Can't even tolerate a few sips of it without my panic levels and heart rate skyrocketing.

Me too I think. Lately I have been cutting down on coffee and eating more dark chocolate and decaf instead

 

[encerent]

I like to try to find young people my age who are going through the same thing. I think depression in old people is a completely different thing, and it's not helpful talking to them for me. There are support groups here I used to go to from time to time, but they are mostly populated by older people.

 

[amethyst]

For me, avoiding dwelling on negative topics...like MOST of what is posted in the media (mainstream and alternative) and not getting caught up in the circus of other's opinions on things. At least I try. In other words, not letting what someone else says, writes, dictate to me how I should think. We are way too influenced by the media and what the media, popular culture "says" we should think about things. That keeps me in the "positive' for the most part. But practically speaking, sunlight makes you feel great. As far as supplements go, I use Alpha-lipoic Acid on occasion. It really gives me energy, and when a person is less tired, they are more positive. Don't know if that is a Peat supported supplement or not. Also, trying to get to bed at a decent hour is better for you than staying up late at nite. That will wear you out after a while...probably leading to depression.

 

[Regina]

Ya I think about things way too much and it winds me up like crazy. This forum doesn't help with that though

Hah! That's what your motorbike is for. (Not for driving into a brick wall). But geez, you're 20. Go ride your motorbike on some fabulous Canadian Pass.

 

[barefooter]

Even little things like making my bed and getting dressed in the morning in nice clothes have helped in the past.

This is a great observation, and I've found it so true. I recently started making my bed everyday, dressing nicer, and shaving most days, and I definitely notice the mood boost. I think it's especially important to take care of these little things in the morning, because it really gets your day off to a good start. Just spending 15 extra minutes each morning taking care of your hygiene, appearance, and living space a little better can give you lots of extra motivation that will carry through long into the day.

Last time I took psychedelics was probaly 9-10 months ago if I am remembering correctly. I am probaly still recovering from the experience but I think things will get better. I can relate to the paranoia.

Part of the lead up to my serious depression was a series of bad psychedelic trips (mushrooms and LSD) and extreme emotional stress and it took me over a year to recover, and in some ways I'm still slightly haunted by those trips. You are indeed still recovering and will continue to get better, so try not to worry about it too much. It's just one of those things that can scar your psyche deeply and take time to heal. I wish I'd been more warned against psychedelics before trying them. I think they can be great for a lot of people, but are potentially very dangerous for people with existing anxiety conditions. I like to think of a metaphor for them that I heard once comparing it to mountain climbing. You need to be very physically resilient to climb mountains, and you need to be very mentally resilient to be experimenting with psychedelics, as they are every bit as intense of an expedition. Weight lifting was probably the most important thing I did to heal the trauma of my bad trips. It gave me renewed confidence in the way I carried myself in the world, got me out of my head, and put an end to my paranoia.

 

[Simonsays]

Youre an intelligent guy and therefore you tend to intellectualise your way out of your problems. Its very common. We are all guilty of this.

Intellectualization is a transition to reason, where the person avoids uncomfortable emotions by focusing on facts and logic. The situation is treated as an interesting problem that engages the person on a rational basis, whilst the emotional aspects are completely ignored as being irrelevant.

You can read a thousand books and understand all the concepts. You can read all the advice and take all the supplements. But.....

You need to get in touch with your emotions and ask yourself why you think and act the way you do. This is a difficult process and you need to see a good therapist who you can really connect to (many therapists have issues too). Its not easy or quick necessarily.

You may have some attachment issues and experiencing abandonment depression. This stems from early childhood and often first manifests itself in adolescence and the transfer to adulthood. ( Do you notice when youre depressed, its like returning to a helpless child again. Lying on the sofa, inability to act, waiting for others to help/take away the pain? ) Im not criticising you here, its a terrible condition to suffer from. I know. You are not to blame, so dont guilt or shame yourself.

In the mean time, little things like those suggested will help. Get out and about, self discipline and routine are useful, but hard when youre depressed i know.

The real advantage is youre young , so you have time on your hands.

Good luck

 

[High_Prob]

SSRIs were the only thing that helped my depression/social anxiety (moderate to severe). However, I refuse to take them. I attempted to recreate the effect by increasing allopregnanolone (assuming that this theory is correct) by using the Pregnenolone/DHEA/Glycine/Taurine (with Niacinamide) combination as explained in Glycine Strongly Upregulates 5-alpha Reductase (5-ar) Activity but no luck so far. I will continue to experiment with different dosing strategies....

 

[member 2106]

The benefits of long walks in nature should not be underrated.

Also curb Internet use, and don't try to consume too much information.

Good luck.

 

[Pet Peeve]

Cyproheptadine and clonidine helped set me straight after traumatic mushroom trip 15 years ago.

 

[Drareg]

How often are you in bright sunlight? And effective treatment when nothing else is working is to spend 8 hours + outside in the sun preferably with your shirt off. This is a long termine procedure but will only take a few days before you see dramatic results. Take niacinamide to not get sun burned. Also where do you live because sun light therapy is more effective the closet you are to the equator. This has gotten me out of the worst of times. When individual tweaks are not working it is best to dramatically alter your life style (while remaining relatively structured). Also I saw it mentioned that intelligence is often the source of depression (I assume this has to do with the life is meaningless argument, no God, ect). This is true only when one has both great intelligence and pride. Pride is a most dangerous foe. The life is meaningless perspective (or other such depressing perspectives) typically appeal to intellectuals because it seems logical of course. Intellectuals have enough introspection to detach logical processes from emotional processes hence why so many intellectuals develope negative world views. Does this eliminate bias however? No. In order to seek an unbiased, accurate, and maybe even positive world view one must deconstruct our most basic logical assumptions and learn how truly foolish we all are. One must abandon pride, empty his/her cup, and develop a new kind of awareness that does not draw on logical fallacies and grand assumptions. After one has done this they will see the world with a new type of novelty, much like a child looking at the world for the first time.
What is your religious beliefs or lack of beliefs if I may ask? Religion is heavily involved in a person's emotional security and thus it is very important that you have beliefs that serve your best interest while not being born of logical fallacies or imagination.

I don't know why you assume that intelligence is depression manifesting itself is the life is meaningless argument and no god?
Peat explained the higher intelligence goes the more an individual will begin to feel isolated,the guy is clearly ahead of most 20 years olds in intelligence and speaks of isolation and social anxiety,Peats examples are very good on this.
Nobody said intelligence is the cause of depression,I said dopamines probably was based on his intelligence level for his age and gauging what the majority of his age group think like.
How are emotional and logical different?

For example,you must explain where the logical fallacies are,you make the assumption of the intelligence/depression being the no god argument,lack of logic.
you must abandon pride and empty the cup,does he then fill the cup with religious pride,those who exclaim religious view with little understanding of their own religion?
Your post is religious platitudes you assume are truthful yet question others assumptions.
How can you deny imagination? It's a creation of God according to your book? All imagination is bad?

Please don't forget religious pride is the most lethal of all hence the reason we see so many banners and badges for people exclaiming Christianity and its offshoots,using it is an authoritive tool,quoting scripture to suit agendas,Christ did not ask for this,he did tell people to watch for this.
Are you Proselytising Constantine? ,those who will come in my name!!!!
The spoken word cuts like a sword.

 

[PeatThemAll]

The benefits of long walks in nature should not be underrated.

Also curb Internet use, and don't try to consume too much information.

Good luck.

Get back into your body.

It's like there's a switch in your brain. Feels vs thoughts. The more you lose yourself thinking, the more you lose contact with your self. That's why, to me, any practice that helps you get back in the now at the felt/sensory level (meditation, breath, body part sensation, etc.) is better than thinking. Animals bounce back faster, IMO, from challenges because their let their innate (constitutive) wiring do what it does best: deal with it in real time.

Thinking opens a loop that must be closed or starved (no re-firing). It has its place, but also learn to prefer trusting your self, not some detached thought.

 

[lollipop]

SSRIs were the only thing that helped my depression/social anxiety (moderate to severe). However, I refuse to take them. I attempted to recreate the effect by increasing allopregnanolone (assuming that this theory is correct) by using the Pregnenolone/DHEA/Glycine/Taurine (with Niacinamide) combination as explained in Glycine Strongly Upregulates 5-alpha Reductase (5-ar) Activity but no luck so far. I will continue to experiment with different dosing strategies....

Have you tried Metergoline? See the thread on it. This maybe worth examining...

 

[Parsifal]

I'm getting quite better (I had extreme anhedonia) lately since I'm reducing my inflammation and by taking care of my gut microbiome. Germ-free Animals Have Autistic Like Behaviors And No Resistance To Stress
I've replaced sucrose by dextrose which was my first improvement. I've just started to take some lactic acid and histamine free probiotics so I will see if it helps.

Lapodin from idealabs also helps me with inflammation in a way that aspirin did not. Inflammation linked to weakened reward circuits in depression | Emory University | Atlanta, GA

 

[Dopamine]

Thanks so much for the responses everybody! I don't have time to respond to everything because i'm trying to get off my **** more and spend less time on the computer. I am reading and appreciating everyone's stories and advice

I might start a log and write down some of the things i'm changing or trying to improve on

 

[Constatine]

I don't know why you assume that intelligence is depression manifesting itself is the life is meaningless argument and no god?
Peat explained the higher intelligence goes the more an individual will begin to feel isolated,the guy is clearly ahead of most 20 years olds in intelligence and speaks of isolation and social anxiety,Peats examples are very good on this.
Nobody said intelligence is the cause of depression,I said dopamines probably was based on his intelligence level for his age and gauging what the majority of his age group think like.
How are emotional and logical different?

For example,you must explain where the logical fallacies are,you make the assumption of the intelligence/depression being the no god argument,lack of logic.
you must abandon pride and empty the cup,does he then fill the cup with religious pride,those who exclaim religious view with little understanding of their own religion?
Your post is religious platitudes you assume are truthful yet question others assumptions.
How can you deny imagination? It's a creation of God according to your book? All imagination is bad?

Please don't forget religious pride is the most lethal of all hence the reason we see so many banners and badges for people exclaiming Christianity and its offshoots,using it is an authoritive tool,quoting scripture to suit agendas,Christ did not ask for this,he did tell people to watch for this.
Are you Proselytising Constantine? ,those who will come in my name!!!!
The spoken word cuts like a sword.

I don't know why you assume that intelligence is depression manifesting itself is the life is meaningless argument and no god?
Peat explained the higher intelligence goes the more an individual will begin to feel isolated,the guy is clearly ahead of most 20 years olds in intelligence and speaks of isolation and social anxiety,Peats examples are very good on this.
Nobody said intelligence is the cause of depression,I said dopamines probably was based on his intelligence level for his age and gauging what the majority of his age group think like.
How are emotional and logical different?

For example,you must explain where the logical fallacies are,you make the assumption of the intelligence/depression being the no god argument,lack of logic.
you must abandon pride and empty the cup,does he then fill the cup with religious pride,those who exclaim religious view with little understanding of their own religion?
Your post is religious platitudes you assume are truthful yet question others assumptions.
How can you deny imagination? It's a creation of God according to your book? All imagination is bad?

Please don't forget religious pride is the most lethal of all hence the reason we see so many banners and badges for people exclaiming Christianity and its offshoots,using it is an authoritive tool,quoting scripture to suit agendas,Christ did not ask for this,he did tell people to watch for this.
Are you Proselytising Constantine? ,those who will come in my name!!!!
The spoken word cuts like a sword.

I think you misunderstood my post considering it sounds similar to many in the discourse. As I said pride is a very dangerous enemy, especially so in the religious community. But when did I directly promote a religion? I just told him to free himself of dogmatic ideals and think for himself. And also my book? I do not trust the bible, this would be an example of a false assumption you have made based on a discourse that appeared similar to what I was saying. I was advising dopamine to adopt beliefs that fit his emotional needs, i don't see how i can be more unbiased. Maybe I was not clear with what I meant by assumptions. By assumptions I meant cultural biases and other such things. See when a modern day scientist assumes serotonin to be the happy hormone based on dogma his research regarding serotonin if often distorted and other mechanisms of actions are made up to account for adverse effects. Within the scientific world most inexperienced minds assume that most things in nature are accounted for or at least relatively understood, this seems to be false (as I know a few theoretical physicist through my job and have had long conversations with them). Although this does not make me an expert in the field I have some insight through other more experience people. As for the reason you would abandon imagination: it is the nature of imagination to be false, as it is truly a shot in the dark when searching for truth. You want your truths to be able to withstand adversity, thus they must be based on logic. Of course you may say that such logic requires imagination but at this point we are talking about two different things. In reality such logical algorithms rarely turn out to be true as human logic is quite faulty. But such a belief system does not exsist to be right but to better serve yoyr emotional needs. Hence why it is posted on this forum. As long as it is logical to oneself it holds value. And again just to clarify the "empty ones cup" statement was to embrace humility. I don't understand how this fits any religious agenda. If I did not ask him his religion in the last few sentences one would never even draw any religious connections throughout the entire post, I did this only because a belief system of any kind is good as long as it serves the wellbeing of the individual.

 

[James_001]

Ya I have tried every diet strategy and Peat supplement under the sun more or less with marginal results. I feel like I have more of a self defeating behavior issue/ learned helplessness rather than a need for a better diet or supplements.

I relate to all those thoughts. I think it is an extension of learned helplessness and dependency on my parents.

I think maybe I need to get into routines that establish my independence and get me away from my parents.

It just takes a long long time, how long have you been strictly Peating? If you want to pm me I would be happy to help you recover from this with detailed advice.

 

[mayweatherking]

What are u eatig for protein? drop the serotonin precursors.... guaranteed u are eating some protein u shouldn't, what are u eating?

 

[Dopamine]

It just takes a long long time, how long have you been strictly Peating? If you want to pm me I would be happy to help you recover from this with detailed advice.

What are u eatig for protein? drop the serotonin precursors.... guaranteed u are eating some protein u shouldn't, what are u eating?

I don't eat strictly Peat because it hasn't worked for me. Eating a diet of mostly milk/cheese and OJ makes me really cold and sick and I don't enjoy it. My hands and feet get cold and my tongue gets a white coating. I'd say I eat more of a Matt Stone style diet and just avoid- vegetable oil, fish/pork/poultry fat, nuts and seeds, carageenan

breakfast is generally: scrambled eggs with cheese, coffee or decaf with a scoop of Rays ice cream recipe and sugar, corn puff cereal with milk, dark chocolate
lunch and dinner are often things like: pasta, chocolate milk, sandwiches, gelatinous meats with rice and butter, etc...

Don't know if it's ideal

I tried putting gelatin in my morning coffee (1tsp) and it gave me a crazy acne breakout
Still trying to eat liver without puking but it definitely raises metabolism

 

[mayweatherking]

I don't eat strictly Peat because it hasn't worked for me. Eating a diet of mostly milk/cheese and OJ makes me really cold and sick and I don't enjoy it. My hands and feet get cold and my tongue gets a white coating. I'd say I eat more of a Matt Stone style diet and just avoid- vegetable oil, fish/pork/poultry fat, nuts and seeds, carageenan

breakfast is generally: scrambled eggs with cheese, coffee or decaf with a scoop of Rays ice cream recipe and sugar, corn puff cereal with milk, dark chocolate
lunch and dinner are often things like: pasta, chocolate milk, sandwiches, gelatinous meats with rice and butter, etc...

Don't know if it's ideal

I tried putting gelatin in my morning coffee (1tsp) and it gave me a crazy acne breakout
Still trying to eat liver without puking but it definitely raises metabolism

Ding ding ding... mmm look at all that tryptophan getting coverted into serotonin in ur gut.. oh yeah ur serotonin is gonna be not good, that's why. have u got blood work, prolactin vit d and cholesterol? start there I think... to better handle the peaty foods ur calcium mag potassium.and sodium needs to be on point.. trust me, you wojt get better hoping it changes, serotonin induces glycosis, look it up.. speaking from personal experience read my freakout posts.. my problem was constipation, mag seemed ti.have helped me 10 fold recently


Wait thoght u said u ate beef and fish not avoid it... what "gelatinous" protein u eat? I think.if u ate pure relating ud be ok, I.have hard.time seeing u make enough lamb shanks and oxtail.per.day, even.with that there will a f load phosphate

 

[Parsifal]

Actually, I can relate to your state, when I was 19 years old, I isolated myself for 6 years without talking to anyone (I'm now 26 and am back into society since 1 year). It is an age where you become hopeless because you have to integrate into this society that seems completely meaningless (if you are intelligent enough to understand all the problems and flaws). You understand that you live in a plutocracy and that you need to loose your life by trying to earn it just because of our collective human madness. You understand that humans are just wasting energy and destroy the planet for nothing. You understand that most people are leaving their lives blindlessly and are never happy.

I had big time anhedonia (no real depression, in the sense that I almost never felt sad emotions or at least other emotions than stress, but nothing could stimulate me, even art that inspired me in the past) that I'm just starting to really improve lately (probably by 50% and stable, and I guess that I will be able to cure it completely). I became very nihilist and shiftless (lying on the couch all day long behind my computer). Isolation was still one of the best period of my life though, because I could think about everything freely and do research without stress and without coercion. Nietzsche said that people who don't have the 2/3 of their days for themselves are slaves. How Societies with Little Coercion Have Little Mental Illness Basic income - Wikipedia

But eventually, it started to destroy me even more (and it even damaged my intelligence, I'm still far from the intellect I had at the time), because I was not getting any social stimulation.
David-Servan Schreiber showed that premature babies that are never stimulated by physical touch (hugging) just die. Life Less Lived
Also read this: Language deprivation experiments - Wikipedia and just think about feral children as well (they have almost not "human" behaviors, not even bipedalism, that tells you the importance of culture), I really think that we need each others now, even if I used to fantasize about living in autarky.

If you don't like your environment, you have to find meaningful friends (this forum is a good place I guess) and also meaningful activities (creative). Talking even stimulates the vagus nerve, I also think that it's very important to stimulate neurogenesis (if I'm not mistaken, music is the activity known to man that stimulates it the most) like ecstatichamster showed with the book he quoted (will read it later).
Walking and standing stimulates the MMC and peristaltis which prevents too much gut fermentation. We also need light and we know why... I think that physical stimulation is good as well, because if it's not strenuous activity the muscles will make hormones that are good for metabolism.
Pranarupa's gives good informations about yoga. Qi Gong is excellent as well. I really like Scott Sonnon, he studied with Russians and is the best teacher for physical education that I know of, he is aware of Buteyko's work for example. The brain seems to have evolved both for moving and language: Daniel Wolpert: The real reason for brains | TED Talk | TED.com

If things become meaningful for you, you will feel better psychologically thanks to the opportunity. As Amy Cuddy says here: Amy Cuddy: Your body language shapes who you are | TED Talk | TED.com random animals that become alpha males see their testosterones levels rise a lot and their cortisol is reduced a lot. I think that opportunities are important for health, and if other people think about you possitively in some way, it will stimulate you and you will want to do things more than just by doing it under coercion. I think that this community is a good place to find answers to deep and meaningful questions, like: what is life, why is life this way, how to improve it? Biophysics and bioenergetics are probably the things that will revolutionize science the most in the future, for understanding life, consciousness, aging, regeneration (Robert Becker)... I really want to study the work of people like Harold Hillman to understand consciousness, I also like Rupert Sheldrake, the Orch Or theory...
Pranarupa also gave me a lot of ideas, after all why would humans be the last step of evolution, and if evolution is possible, why not precipitate it by ourselves?

I'm still a very big loner, but I met very interesting and unique people and we really enjoy sharing our own madness and uniqueness. Finding good communities on the internet is also a thing that helped me (I love websites like quora, reddit or this forum for example).
I think that the most important thing for having good friends is not their intelligence (I've often noticed that smart people are often rigid and dogmatic even if they can learn things very quickly they don't do anything significant of their knowledge, and since they are confident about their intelligence they tend to become stressed and wanting to rely on it too much), but open-mindedness and playfulness.

Oh by the way, last year when I was still eating dairy, my anhedonia and shitflessness were even worse (was it because of casein slowing down peristaltis and MMC? Still don't know)... Don't know why but I think food can play a very important role here, think about the brain-gut axis that we always hear about, and that I find interesting. I think that the gut microbiote is very important, and as it was showed on germ-free animals, we really need it to have a healthy microbiote to have a normal social behavior and good functioning brain.

Finally, I think that you are an INTJ (Nietzsche was also one, so do I, and I suspect some people on this forum to be) according to the MBTI (Carl Jung) typology of personality. This is a pseudoscience, but I've always found it interesting and relevant in a lot of cases (I'm still careful of the Barnum effect), and I think it can help you. It's normal that you don't want to share your emotions. I have never felt better after doing so, I always need to find a methodical solution to my problems (even if I have to create it by myself) and it always worked for me. I think that a good reason (or at least a consequence) for our brain is to improve life and solve problems (even if there are a lot of others of course)...
According to their personality type, people will try to advise you to improve yourself by doing something that would work for them, but not necessarily for you. I don't think that a psychologist will help you, you are too intelligent already and they are too entitled to bad psychology. Read Hans Seylye, Sapolsky and other good stuff that Danny Roddy talks about often, it will help you more.

Always stay independent and a rebel (no need to say that you are a "Peatarian", a fan of this or of that, we have to stay independ and conscious that nothing is perfect if we want to evolve), stay minimalistic (don't loose time or energy uselessly, go to the essence of things). I can find useful informations sometimes in personal growth communities and life hacks. To-do lists are often useful to stay steady about doing chores and stay clean. Discipline can be a good thing but also too coercitive and rigid, you have to improvise and things what works for you in real time.

Good luck, I know that things will improve for you because you have a strong will to get better .