Does Depression Progress over time

[superjonboy]

I'm curious to hear other peoples experiences with depression.

Over time, do bouts of depression become more severe? Like if you had depression but then came through it, then had it again - came through it only to have another bout, is it any more likely to become a more severe form of depression like bi polar or to feature psychosis?

I've been told in the past that things like psychosis are genetic and they are triggered. Does that mean that they are highly likely to be triggered during your first major bout of depression?

It's not like a thing where by your 5th or 6th episode of major depression it becomes psychotic or something?

MY latest problems seem to have kick started with low mood. Over the last few days I've struggled to laugh or enjoy anything. My wife and my parents have tried to get me talking and laughing but I find it really hard and often when something seems funny I end up crying because I don't seem to be able to laugh. Tonight was a little better with a funny film we watched that made me chuckle a few times, but still worried about how down I feel.

[MyNameIsTerry]

You can definitely experience more intense depression when relapsing as many people do which can make it harder to recover as all the negative thinking style just becomes more ingrained.

Genes are triggered and can remain non triggered if good health is maintained, the form of science being epigenetics, but I don't know about how this works with more serious psychological disorders.

However, what I do know is a lot of anxiety disorder sufferers ask the same questions.

Plus I've read NHS leaflets that say you wouldn't realise if you had certain ones because you wouldn't identify your behaviour as anything other than normal.

If you were bipolar you would experience the mania. Do you?

[superjonboy]

Thanks Terry.

I don't think so.

People would have noticed I guess.

I know I'm kind of looking for the reassurance that - "Im not going to have a psychotic break" - which is definitely an anxious behaviour.

[MyNameIsTerry]

I think we all do seek some reassurance until we learn more about all these disorders, but it must be more challenging for you with it being the form your HA had taken.

Its also a very hidden form compared to those HA sufferers who are triggered by physical symptoms. I wonder if your focus is similar to those who experience this like headaches of eye pain and make the link to brain conditions?

I think if you suffered the mania side, once you learned about the symptoms you wound be able to spot it as well. There are some people on here who know more about bipolar and a few threads have been posted a month or so ago on the GAD board about those concerns.

[superjonboy]

I do get the physical worries too. When I'm really bad it can be about anything.

[MyNameIsTerry]

Do you mean anything as in anything including other than about your health? If so, that sounds like GAD.

So, you could have more than one disorder to tackle.

When my GAD gets really bad, usually when going onto medication, I find I start experiencing some agoraphobia, social anxiety and most likely my intense focus on symptoms strays quite close to HA.

[superjonboy]

Hi Terry,

Sorry I meant anything about my health.

On and off I've been like this since 2001. There have been periods where I've lived perfectly normal life though, when I'm on the medication and it's working.

I'm trying to convince myself that if I was going to have a psychotic break it would have happened by now with everything I've been through.

[anthrokid]

The majority of people who will experience psychosis will have their first episode before they are 30 years old, usually between the ages of 15 and 25. It is quite uncommon for someone to experience their first psychotic episode after 30 years old, and often those psychotic symptoms are related to particular stressors - e.g. pregnancy, dementia, trauma, etc. There is no association, that I know of, between the number of relapses of depression and the development of psychosis.

[superjonboy]

In my youth I used to smoke weed quite a lot (really regret it now) and I did also experiment with other drugs LSD, Ecstasy. I was young and stupid I guess.

From what I've learned, Marijuana seems to be one of the triggers of psychosis.

I'm thinking that if I was susceptible to psychosis then all the stuff I was doing back in my teens and early 20's would have triggered it. Either that or one of my previous bouts of anxiety/depression.

[SADnomore]

I'm thinking you're right.

---------- Post added at 11:42 ---------- Previous post was at 11:04 ----------

p.s. I think your fear of a psychotic break when you are very depressed or anxious is pretty common, and, pretty logical as well. Kind of like when we are physically ill, and it's so bad we begin to fear we must be dying. Anyone who has been really very ill knows that "expectation/fear". And I, for one, have been so bad off mentally that I was quite sure I must indeed be on the edge of insanity. ... But I wasn't! As you say, when you are on a medication(s) that are working well, you're fine. For what it's worth, my last bout of active SAD was the worst yet, I wasn't even functional. It hurt to breathe. Every single sad moment or guilt-ridden memory I had experienced played over and over in my mind, and I stopped wanting to engage with anyone at all. Fast-forward to this winter, and with the right medication, I'm doing great!

You say you haven't had an episode of mania, which is a good sign by now that you don't suffer bipolar, as Terry said. And the bit about kind of "not being worried" when one does have a psychosis rings true, too. I remember meeting a youngster of 16 while in hospital who said her "parents had just told" her she had schizophrenia. The doctors were working out the meds for her, and she seemed surprised to learn this. It hadn't occurred to her at all. The psychiatrist I saw while there said that in fact, where such disorders don't already exist, our minds are stronger than we think and we don't just "go crazy" because we have severe depression or anxiety. We may feel like we are, but we're not. "I know "crazy"", he said, and you're not "crazy"". Lol! ... So all in all, honestly, it seems you've dodged a bullet, and instead have garden variety depression and accompanying anxiety as well, lol! You are right though that narcotics use (and yes, marijuana is a narcotic) and LSD can cause psychoses, some of which are life-long. Bit of a crapshoot that way, recreational drugs, although it doesn't get mentioned enough. And yes, unfortunately, once you have an anxiety disorder, it would be highly unusual for drugs like that to not trigger a serious bout of anxiety. Alcohol will tend to do this too. Good luck with treatment, just try to stop worrying about psychosis now and focus on climbing out of the hole. You can and you will! xx
Marie