Encounters With Depression

``The third type of depression, which is the most serious one, is part of an illness called Affective ``Diso

As opposeed to effective what does AFfECT entail......

if mania is distinguishable from unipolar depression how is affect determined or measured when it is very easy to diagnose mania

Re: # 1
dear tolkinin....over the decades different mental health professionals have used different

terms....term AFFECT is used for MOOD. so MOOD DISORDERS....mania, depression, manic

depressive illness...are also called AFFECTIVE DISORDERS. if it has only depression then it

is UNIPOLAR and if it has both...mania as well as depression at different stages of life then

we call it BIPOLAR. research workers in mental health feel that BIPOLAR is more likely to

be genetically transmitted in the next generation than UNIPOLAR. thanks for your

interest....sincerely sohail

[i]After the fall of the U.S.S.R. some communists felt so depressed they committed suicide. [/i]

And communication with the ones who did not commit suicide is a constant source of depression for me.

Just kidding....

Very informative article. Thanks.

Rafi

Dr. Sohail I`ve found that cannabis sativa is the most effective way of dealing with depression.

Dear Dr. Sohail
I am glad to see another article from you explaining “depression” as diseases as it helps to get rid of different dogmas surrounding it. My concern is that there should be at least a five years study done on the drugs, relating to depression and anxiety, before bringing it to the market so that there long term side effect should be known before hand.
Secondly, these drugs (SRI, SNRI) should be given as the last resort as there withdrawal symptoms are very painful. The problem is that since the half –life of the neurotransmitters are so short, we don’t have any direct method to measure there quantity yet, its like a treatment based on trail and error. Moreover the neurotransmitters are multi-functional, making the treatment much harder.

It would be very kind of you to write a similar article on other mental conditions such as different phobias.
I am saying that because today I saw a programme on GEO, called “NADIA KHAN SHOW” and she was talking about “fortune telling” and “JIN” .Another lady (religious scholar) said that it’s through the use of “ JIN” that the fortune tellers are able to predict the future. Now, at one end of the spectrum humans are looking at the genome, stem cell research, and gene therapy to treat diseases and get better understanding of nature while on the end some humans are going in the reverse direction and still believing in supernatural creatures like “Jin” and even finding that to be an acceptable explanation. GOD HELP US.

Re: # 5
Dear Paradox....I fully agree with you that we need to have a scientific approach to

understanding emotional problems and mental illnesses and a psychological approach to

help people who suffer from those conditions. It is unfortuante that many people in the

world rely on superstitions and deprive their dear ones of the professional help available.

thanks for your insightful comments. sincerely sohail

The Dr. writes <<< When mental health professionals talk about depression, they mean a human condition that is not only far more serious than ordinary sadness but also lasts for months and sometimes years, affects the quality of life significantly and needs professional help for recovery >>>

Dr. mian once again your tendency to reduce issues greater than the individual to personal troubles of local milieu, as is the tendency of psychologists, is quite deceptive. Depression is a social phenomenon. When someone puts all his or her ``eggs in one basket``, that ``Basket`` and thereby what are valued as ``eggs`` is socially defined. If the job was similar to taking a dump in society than nobody would feel depressed about losing it, but when it is defined as the sum total of worth in a capitalist society then losing it is like losing the sum total of your personality. Depression is the hallmark of alienation producing social structures, where the dominant values are the values of the corporation that has encroached and colonized the life world of individuals. The solution is not prozac to cover up the symptoms but social restructuring. You shrinks particularly in the US even prescribe these drugs to kids, thereby acting as damn criminals, those do not ``cure`` anything but merely numb the pain as they keep cheerful morons happily occupied in the business of producing surplus for the corporate elite. Suicide itself is not merely an individual act, it is a social phenomenon, amply demonstrated by Emile Durkheim. Shame on you for perpetuating the mythology of capital by drugging those that are rejecting the system that is contrary to the soul of humanity....

As C. Wright Mills states in the Sociological Imagination:
(Quote)

``Many great public issues as well as many private troubles are described in terms of `the psychiatric` - often, it seems, in a pathetic attempt to avoid the large issues and problems of modern society,?. Often this statement seems to rest upon a provincial narrowing of interest to the Western societies, or even to the United States - thus ignoring two-thirds of mankind; often, too, it arbitrarily divorces the individual life from the larger institutions within which that life is enacted, and which on occasion bear upon it more grievously than do the intimate environments of childhood.``

(end quote)

Just as the doc writes, so is Mill`s observation proven true. Look at what dr. sohail writes at the end

<<< More and more people are receiving professional help and are convinced that there is a light at the end of the dark tunnel. >>>

In other words the job of the ``professional`` is to convince through drugs and bs (aka therapy) that the system is ok for them to keep living as a thing, the problem was their own and not the problem of the system, that light exists in the system, darkness exists in the rebellious nature of their soul. Don`t do anything to change the system and reclaim meaning for your life, so do they have any success. Of course not the suicide rate stays constant year in and year out, much greater among the most alienated i.e. young black men, and lowest among young white males but when young white males become old white males they lose their social status being worthless to the capitalist structure and so have the highest rate of suicide- what a transition, which psychologist will dare to explain this phenomenon using prozac and what not huh???


You know doc, Muhammad Gill and you are twins on here, I see similarity in your BS articles, lack of originality as well as total misunderstanding of the human condition. Needless to say, I don`t see eye to eye with either of you ``mass producers`` of standardized articles on chowk. I think you two should be sent on leave by chowk staff for a few months, that might cause them to reconsider some of the more meaningful articles that these fools that run chowk have censored...

In #7 read <<< Just as the doc writes, so is Mill`s observation proven true. ``

as <<< By what the doc writes today, Mills` observation back in the 1950s is proven true >>>

Re: # 7
dear masadi....it seems as if my article has offended you. being a student of human

psychology i am aware that you are frustrated. part of that frustration is

....you are disappointed in mohammad gill`s articles (i have a lot of respect for him)

....you are angry with chowk staff who do not publish the articles you like to publish

....you are disillusioned with psychiatrists who prescribe medication to children

following your line of argument you need to change the society and have a dialoguw with

chowk staff

but when you are upset and angry the socialogical or political issues become psychological.

i agree with your theory that there are social factors that set a stage for depression

my focus here is on psychology of depression and personal suffering who needs help

for next month i have written the article

suicide...religion....politics

in which i will compare different factors.

so relax and take it easy.

you have the right to express your opinion and i have the right to express my opinion.

we can have a respectful dialogue if you wish....all the best...sohail

The doc writes <<< so relax and take it easy.

you have the right to express your opinion and i have the right to express my opinion. >>>

Relax and take it easy and let you mislead and drug humanity while maintaining an unjust status quo that produced the problem you spoke of to begin with. Sociological problems require solutions of structure not drugs or individual therapy, as is amply demonstrated your ``solution`` does not produce any change in the social regualarity of suicide.

Regarding your ``right`` to express your opinion, another slogan of hypocritical US elite, they monopolize all avenues of expression and then tout ``everyone has a right to express their opinion``, not so, you have choked off all avenues and I will sure as hell choke yours too if given the opportunity because you have choked mine. When your ``right`` starts to kill and destroy then your opinion is a weapon and must be countered. Regarding expression how come your BS is expressed on chowk front page and alternative points of view are censored and relegated to interactions alone? How come you don`t mention this ``right`` to the chowk editors, hypocrite. Mohammad Gill is a fool, and I stand by my previous assertion.

Re: # 10
dear masadi.....this time you have an issue with US elite....i do not live in US and i am not

an elite. i just serve my patients who come to my clinic to get help and share my views.

My goal is for people to know more about Depression and Mental Health Issues so that they

can make informed choices about their dear ones and not be misguided by people who

promote ganda taweez and jinns....this is my last letter to dear masadi ....i am not angry

with you....all the best.....sohail

Re#11. You are helping to legitimize a social structure that produces problems like the ones you mention, in this role in the present day, you are more dangerous than those that promote ``ganda and taweez``....

Dr. Sohail,

I think this is one of your best written articles - and on a highly relevant topic, too!

Congratulations. :) :)

Re: # 13
dear bjkumar...you are not an easy one to get compliments from....as you are a tough

critic. so i really appreciate your positive feedback...all the best...smiles....sohail

Drsohail:
Does copulation really help in depression? I am serious.

People in Punjab believe that copulation helps in freeing up the emotions.

Asadi,

>>Of course not the suicide rate stays........much greater among the most alienated i.e. young black men, and lowest among young white males but when young white males become old white males they lose their social status being worthless to the capitalist structure and so have the highest rate of suicide....<<

How do you explain the highest suicide rates in Japan? Even a chef who cooks fugu fish commits suicide if the dish kills the consumer. Do u think that the non-existent `social structure` is responsible 4 suicides in Japan as well?

Asadi, do u suffer from depression since Chowk staff refused to publish ur articles?