Is life actually horrible? Or am I just mentally ill?
I've been kind of feeling like I should end my life. I talked to a psychiatrist about it and he said I'm mentally ill and have Major Depression and a few anxiety disorders. I've been taking the medications for about 5 months (had to switch a few times), but essentially I have this doubt about it all. I'm thinking that actually it's not ME that is the problem, the problem is life itself - in that basically it's really fucking horrible. I haven't fully accepted this conclusion but I'm really leaning towards it - that life quite literally is a hell. All I do is suffer!
If you want me to outline my personal reasons for saying life is a hell I can, but mostly what I'm interested in is YOUR views about life.
Do you think life is a gift? Do you enjoy your life? Right now, if you shift your attention foces throughout everything that you're experiencing (i.e. say your visual field, and then your body feelings, the thoughts you have, what you're hearing, etc), which parts of your current experience would you say is pleasurable? What parts (just right now) would you prefer not experiencing? Or you skip experiencing it until something pleasurable comes along.
I mean, are all parts of your experience pleasurable, desirable, you want to keep having those sensations/perceptions/thoughts? Or you would prefer to just not have them for now, because they aren't worthwhile/they burden you/you don't like or want them, and you'd prefer they went away and only came back when they experience was pleasurable?
Are you glad you were born? Are you happy to be alive?
And a final question, what do you think happens at the end of life? Because what's been informing or pushing me towards suicide, is this idea in my mind that death is the end. I wont experience anything ever again. So my thoughts were that all my experiences burdened me, so I would like them to stop forever. But now, I'm not so sure. is it the end?
I'm fairly depressed and therefore my life is mostly displeasure but the few pleasurable things keep me going.
I firmly believe that nothing at all happens when you die. And I'm OK with that
as the buddha says, life is suffering
same with arthur Schopenhauer
even jesus said something along these lines
>>917100
There is a book in the bible called Ecclesiastes which comes with such exciting chapters as
>Everything Is Meaningless
>Pleasures Are Meaningless
>Wisdom Is Meaningless
>Toil Is Meaningless
Suffering is meant to be transcended. It sounds like a platitude but it isn't. Kill yourself or fight m8
>>916770
>Do you think life is a gift?
I don't know. Though I think it's more likely than being a curse.
>Do you enjoy your life?
At times
>which parts of your current experience would you say is pleasurable?
My chair, the approach of sleep, a song in my head. I just drank 32 oz of lager, so I'm liking that.
>What parts (just right now) would you prefer not experiencing?
probably a slight pain in my head, my feet are dry, i don't know for sure if I'm going to pass my STEM college courses.
>Or you skip experiencing it until something pleasurable comes along.
I don't think about it that hard
>I mean, are all parts of your experience pleasurable, desirable, you....
Humans are two things at once. One is of the flesh and mind, and one is of the soul and perspective. We're trapped in our humanity. I won't be as bold to say how we could escape, but that's the way it is.
>Are you glad you were born? Are you happy to be alive?
Right now, yes. Some days I may not be. However, to know sometimes I can feel happiness, and be happy I was born is enough for me to keep true depression away.
>what do you think happens at the end of life?
If I knew, I'd be much more sure of my feelings toward life.
>Do you think life is a gift?
no. You can't receive a gift if you don't exist yet. Fuck the person who came up with this retarded platitude.
>Do you enjoy your life?
No.
>if you shift your attention foces throughout everything that you're experiencing (i.e. say your visual field, and then your body feelings, the thoughts you have, what you're hearing, etc), which parts of your current experience would you say is pleasurable?
It's not too hot I guess. I'm not hungry. I'm relatively relaxed.
>What parts (just right now) would you prefer not experiencing?
Everything else.
>Are you glad you were born?
No.
>Are you happy to be alive?
No.
>what do you think happens at the end of life?
Probably nothing. With my luck I'll be wrong and end up in some shit afterlife.
>>916770
life is horrible, the idea is that you're so mad at life for being horrible you work to make it less horrible out of sheer spite.
>>916770
> YOUR views about life
Life has two parts, suffering and learning
>>916770
>Is life actually horrible? Or am I just mentally ill?
Neither. You can be perfectly sane and consider your life to be horrible. It's a matter of perspective.
>Do you think life is a gift? Do you enjoy your life?
I don't know what life is but it's pretty good for the most part. I kind of like existing.
>Right now, if you shift your attention foces throughout everything that you're experiencing (i.e. say your visual field, and then your body feelings, the thoughts you have, what you're hearing, etc), which parts of your current experience would you say is pleasurable? What parts (just right now) would you prefer not experiencing? Or you skip experiencing it until something pleasurable comes along.
Even normality to me is decent. Not pleasurable but not bad either. Just contentment.
>Are you glad you were born? Are you happy to be alive?
Considering I don't live a life of physical pain or struggle, yes to both. Life is fun.
>what do you think happens at the end of life?
Don't know but if I were to hazard a guess, probably something akin to reincarnation as some other form of life or whatever. I've never seen any proof for non-existence as a concept. In fact, we can't even conceive of it. Not even the vacuum of space is non-existence. I'm not sure why we exist but considering my life isn't bad, I'd rather exist than the alternative.
a Major Depression can take far longer than 5 months to heal. Keep getting help. Good luck to you mate.
>>916770
You're mentally ill.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I1wg1DNHbNU
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AWtCittJyr0
Life is suffering mi amigo
OP "mental illness" is a spook and an invention by the logical positivism movement.
The idea of a mental disorder obviously implies a mental "order" (i.e. neurotypical)
The problem with this is that literally no one can give an essential definition of neurotypical. No ones brain chemistry is the same. This isn't to say that people don't have psychological makeups that make life difficult for them, but to classify that as an "illness" is fucking ridiculous. If depression is an illness then so is being a dilligent worker, they're both just different combinations of hormones and neural genes. Mental illness as a concept was invented to avoid the real, and for some uncomfortable, truth: that people aren't ill, just different. Some people get more upset than others, some naturally work harder than others, and some get angry quickly. None of them are ill or malfunctioned, they just have different ways they process information. What we mean when we say mentally ill is really "doesn't completely abide by capitalist standards of effectiveness."
I say this as someone diagnosed with depression, anxiety, and severe ADHD: mental illness is bullshit. I have a more difficult time focusing than some people and I get upset but there is nothing on a medical level "wrong" with me, and these parts of my personality have provided me with experiences I cherish that people with different mental makeups won't have, and vice versa
TL;DR: mental illness is a spook, accept that you're an individual just like everybody else
>>917238
I hope you do find happiness, anon.
>>917269
Also: this only applies to what are called personality disorders. Things like autism and schizophrenia are a bit of a different animal
>>917269
The psychiatric line between healthy and ill is drawn along suffering.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E_qvy82U4RE
I had an existential crisis quite recently and exhibited suicidal behavior. Just because life is an accident and meaningless, doesn't mean it can't be a good accident.
>>917293
What the fuck does that even mean
We all suffer in some level, in a mental sense, every day. Some more, some less, and even then it depends on the day.
First off I know that the opinion I am about to express is not a popular one especially here on 4chan. As a Christian I believe that human life is sacred and each person has a purpose in life. So yeah I'm glad I was born and I am very grateful to be alive. Am I happy with life? To be honest no really my mother had a miscarriage about a year and a half ago and it has added a lot of pain and my two young sisters had been praying and dropping serious hints to my parents about wanting a younger sibling.( the reason I attribute the child to prayer is because my parents weren't sure my mom would be able to carry a child after three rough pregnancies) To top it off not long after that my father was let go as a youth minister at the church we has attended for 7 years and it was not on good terms. The leadership in the church(elders) acted horrible and treated our family quite wrong. Not enough people learned about what they had done so they weren't voted out till my dad had been replaced along with the worship minister (he and my father had some unpopular opinions on things at least to the elders). I say all that to show yeah my life isn't great. I'm sure there are those who have it worse than I do. I'm not trying to sound whiny. So like I said I'm not happy with life but I'm content. Now obviously because I'm a Christian j do believe in an afterlife so we can skim over that question. My answer to "is life a gift" is yes and no. As pointed out if you do not exist you can't be given something but I do believe that every moment from conception is a gift no matter how long that may be.
Side note: for those of you thinking I'm a twelve year old because I talked about my mother having a miscarriage, I'm actually 17. (month and a half out from 18th birthday)
>>917320
>What the fuck does that even mean
That's why these people study and the good ones have a shitload of experience in the field.
>>917323
>First off I know that the opinion I am about to express is not a popular one especially here on 4chan.
Have you not noticed that this board is full of Christians? (or at least professed ones)
Life is for the most part pretty shitty, but every once in awhile you get to sit on a beach and look at the sun go down, or walk through the woods and listen to the birds sing, or look into a stranger's eyes walking the opposite direction down the street and catch a glimpse of light that is brighter than any you've ever imagined.
>>917323
>I'm actually 17
underage b& sinner
>>916770
Life in the West can be fun if you've got the money. Otherwise being poor is pretty shit.
Your relationships with people are just dependent on the people in your life, so it can be good or bad.
At least I don't live in India, Africa or the Middle East.
I just try to keep myself amused and busy to give myself a purpose, because there really isn't any - so it's better to not dwell on it and just keep busy like a normie.
Overall life depends on your outlook, which is dependent on your situation. I suppose.
Life is shit and the most you can do is find pleasure in the small things. Hedonism won.
>>917323
Assuming you're American(if not this still kind of applies) it's pretty admirable that you have such a strong relationship with your family. Most 17 year olds today wouldn't see their parents' struggles as difficulties in their own life, and that is a value that is rapidly dying out. Cherish that you have that bond, because these days you're one of few.
>>917389
>implying hedonism isn't counter-intuitive and that only seeking pleasure over time doesn't make feeling pleasure more difficult
OP here.
The general consensus seems to be that we're all pretty ambivalent towards life.
I do seem to suffer a lot more than most other people in my community though. Perhaps there is just something wrong with me, mentally. I suppose believing that is an expression of hope, to try and convince yourself you're mentally ill. Because if you're mentally ill, then there's something wrong with you - and therefore there is a possibility of cure. And it makes it seem like for most other people, life is really good. There is hope in that mindset.
But I suppose it's not the case. There's really nothing fundamentally wrong with me.
And even if there were that I'm ill, all that would mean is that I'm an outlier in relation to the specific 'norm' of my culture. As in, there's no real objectively defined sense of what's health and what's illness - it's all defined in relation to what's average among a particular group of individuals (and they have to be grouped that way due to the judgment of a particular person(s)). So illness is defined normatively. Which means that even if I'm ill according to the norms of say my countrymen (and that's a judgment I've made to include those individuals of my country as the basis of what's normal - which is fairly arbitrary, I could of just as well picked jungle africans, or asylum patients, etc, there's no real right and wrong here of what people to pick) it doesn't mean I'm *actually* ill, independent of those norms. This is just how I think and experience life.
I mean I say it is in a sense an expression of hope, to try and convince yourself you're just sick/ill, but at the same time, rationally, I kind of know that's false - although I do try and lock that realization/knowledge from my consciousness, because it causes me suffering I suppose.
>>917470
And even if it were ttrue, that I was *actually* ill, defined by some god given standard of health, it wouldn't really do me any good no how, because that still wont make me feel any better. It's not a cure. I'll still be in the same position of suffering.
So in what way do I actually suffer? Why do I think(or hope?) that I 'might' be just ill?
Because for other people, life doesn't seem so difficult, at least to me. They seem fairly comfortable with their place in the world - you know they wake up, pay their bills, go to work, socialize, have a weekend, look forward to things - they don't look ecstatic all the time sure, but they seem to be getting *something* out of life. In all honesty, and perhaps I'm wrong, but I suspect most people don't even really seriously think about the worth of their lives, why they do the things they do, how they should live, why they should live - these kinds of things. Maybe that's my own arrogance speaking, but I'd be pretty surprised if the average person was as obsessed and deeply troubled by these questions as say I am.
Often it dawns on me that literally no part of my existence, in that present, was giving me anything positive or valuable. Like multiple times a day I'll scan through all my experience and note that there is no part of it that is not causing me pain and suffering, and which I would prefer not to experience it. And the times in which I do find something, the intensity of the pleasure is nowhere near the intensity of the suffering I was suffering. It doesn't even come close to making up for all the suffering I endured. Hell it doesn't even come far away from making up for it. The pleasures in my life seem so minor and negligible.
>>916770
"It is no measure of health to be well adjusted to a profoundly sick society." - Jiddu Krishnamurti
>>917489
I feel as if, my motivation for action, is almost entirely based around my desire to avoid worser suffering experiences. I don't eat for the pleasure, I eat because my stomach hurts and if I don't, the burden will only increase. Likewise with water, and shelter, and warmth, and hygeine, and boredom, and dread of the future, and worry about money, and self esteem needs, and lonliness, and needing things to occupy my attention, and goals to look forwards to - none of those things are done for their own sake, I mean it's not like they feel so good that I prefer to do those over just lying there with no motivation because I'm content. No I work and struggle to do all of them, because if I don't my level of suffering will only increase, and increase drastically, to the point where I'll die an agonizing death fairly fucking quickly if I don't CONSTANTLY PERPETUALLY toil and struggle to keep all this fucking suffering at bay.
And for what? For all my struggle what do I get? Am I rewarded with pleasure, or contentment? At the VERY BEST, the optimal thing I can hope for is 20-30 minutes of a sense of satisfaction, the thought that well maybe it's not all so bad. And this soon disappears like all things always do, to be replaced by some suffering that I must then struggle to keep at bay.
It's all so pointless and worthless. I struggle and struggle, and for nothing. I don't struggle in some particular direction, towards something, no I just run away from suffering, maybe I run far enough away to catch my breath, but it's soon on my tail again. I'm not running in any direction I'm just trying to keep away from this bullshit chasing me. I'm practically running around in circles.
The whole process is entirely worthless, and insignificant. There is no reason to do it.It's not FOR anything, it has no utility, or use. It exists for no reason. who doesn't have to evade suffeiring? the dead, for nothing can harm them. I'm literally in a worse off position than the dead.
>>917513
Now obviously, if I'm literally worse off than if I were dead, *which I am* - the dead feel no suffering, and don't even have to struggle for it - whereas I feel suffering near constantly, and it's a perpetual struggle to keep even worse levels of suffering at bay. So the obvious answer is to become dead. To end this wretched life and struggle no more - to stop being burdened by everything and finally be at rest and peace - unaffected by anything.
But now I'm not even sure about that. How the fuck do I even know I'm not going to exist when I die? I've never died before I literally can not confirm I wont exist. So it's not even guaranteed - that death will be the end. It's literally a fucking gamble. I have to lethally harm my body which will fucking suck and be the worst day of my life, to achieve something which is not guaranteed in the slightest. I'll be entering a complete unknown, all by myself. It's horrible.
And lately I've been coming to the conclusion that death being the end of all experience, doesn't even make sense, and therefore wont even fucking happen.
You see, how can nothing come into something? Because that's what I'm positing happened at my birth. If I really did not-exist before this lifetime, then how the fuck did suddenly, nothing became an awareness? Why is my experience being felt here, by me? It really makes no sense that nothing would exist at all, and then for some reason I would exist by feeling all these sensesations. Why is it me that is feeling them? And no some other person? Why am I, me? And how the fuck did I arise from nothing?
It literally makes no sense, that I came into existence from nothing. And now even if I did, who is to say that when I die, I'll stay dead? Already before I have come into existence from nothing, so who is to say it wont happen again? I have no way of ensuring I'll stay not existing when I die. And it's not an absurd thing to say, because it already fucking happened once didn't it?
>>917548
and because if you don't exist you have no sense of time ( or anything at all), then even if for a period I did in fact not-exist, I'm not going to fucking know about it, so if I come into existence again (which is possible right? it happened before when I was born so I don't see why it couldnt happen again) it will basically feel as if it happens right as this lifetime ends.
It's like in sleep, you may be asleep for 9 hours, but all you feel is go to sleep->dream->wake up. the gap where you didn't exist is not even noticed.
Basically what I'm saying is if I suicide, then I'm probably just going to straight away come back into existence. I don't know what it will be like, and I probably wont remember this lifetime, but it will still be 'me' ((i.e. the impossible to point towards 'experiencer' or subject of experience) that's having the sensations of the next life.
And who knows what that will be like? It might be even fucking worse, to where I would of been better off suffering for the rest of this life, just to hold it off for a while.
man fuck it, this world is fucking bullshit hell. I just don't want any part of it and now I'm not even fucking sure there's a way out.
>Do you think life is a gift?
Nah, not so much a gift, but my life is mine and I tend to make the most out of it.
>Do you enjoy your life?
Yes, it could be better, but it's not bad. I enjoy my hobby, enjoy reading about stuff, enjoy my girlfriend and the fact that I might be a father one day. That, and I enjoy being intoxicated either by alcohol, THC or MDMA. Though the hangovers afterwards are not always great, I can keep it balanced.
>if you shift your attention foces throughout everything that you're experiencing (i.e. say your visual field, and then your body feelings, the thoughts you have, what you're hearing, etc), which parts of your current experience would you say is pleasurable?
Sometimes my back hurts from sitting on an office chair all day long. I'm too lazy to do sports so I'm slightly overweight, but not obese. And I'm balding at 27, though I have a well-groomed beard to compensate that.
>What parts (just right now) would you prefer not experiencing?
Work, endless hunger. The slight tug that the deprivation of nicotine gives me. I'm an ex-smoker.
>Are you glad you were born?
Yeah, why the fuck not?
>Are you happy to be alive?
I'd pick life over death at any given time.
>what do you think happens at the end of life?
Nothing. Religion is a lie. The soul is non-existant. Hence my focus on life.
>>916770
I don't really care about life
Death is more beautiful, you go back to the state you were at before being alive, while life is just pain after pain, people leaving you until you're the last one left
I don't love or hate my life, I'm just indifferent
Although my girlfriend's love is pretty fucking great so I'd rather enjoy it as long as possible
I'm a Christian so I believe in heaven & hell & judgement but that's rarely on my mind
>>917756
How can a modern man be religious at all? Do you actually believe in all that theological nonsense, or do you just have this feeling "that there is more?"
>>917513
Everyone suffers all the time everyday, and everyone finds a different way to cope with it
Some people lose themselves in work or in creative arts
Some people lose themselves in partying, drinking and shit
Some people instead use religion and/or spirituality
Just stop being so concerned about life, it's a thing that happens then ends, regardless of one's belief or lifestyle or personality
Find a way to cope - nihilism's only logical conclusion is to end one's life or to disregard any social or moral norms in an attempt to find happiness somewhere
>>917767
Religions have a strong philosophical appeal, it would be a waste not to at least try and see how well that works
The philosophies of Christianity appeal to me a lot even though I was a fedorafag for 90% of my life, and the theological arguments are something I can get behind with too
My girlfriend having a certain experience that converted her immediately from occultism to Christianity helped
Religion has the same appeal today that it always has had, much like art & philosophy
We tried to make everything work with a+b=c during and after the Enlightenment but it's gotten pretty clear that it is unappealing and doesn't work anyway
>>917767
>>917791
shit I didn't answer your question
I never cared about whether there was more or not, because in all cases we all end up at the same place anyway and there is no sure way to prove anything until after death (if such a thing is even possible)
So I don't have any problems siding with Christian theological arguments, especially with the Trinity portraying God as something that cannot be "understood" anyway
I believe in all that theological nonsense as a consequence of feeling profundly marked by my studying of the Bible and of Christian theology
It's just a personal feeling, I haven't converted yet and I'm not knowledgeable enough yet to claim I am 100% right and everyone else is definitely wrong
>>916770
I know! Most of it is horrible, Anon.
The most pleasurable part of existence is imagining a better world with less people, less technology and less concrete, more in tune with nature. The next pleasurable thing is designing your life course in a way to make that ideal world happen.
Also, making pretty girls laugh. And kissing. And sex also. Social interaction in general will ease the suffering as it will transport your mind into a new sphere of reality that you and your partner imagine dialogically.
>>916770
>But now, I'm not so sure. is it the end?
Yes. There is nothing after death, which is why people put up with the misery of living. I don't want to sound like a faggot, but have you tried cannabis? I struggled with suicidal thoughts for many years before I took up bonging, weed did more than any antidepressant had ever done to lift my mood.
>>917923
>There is nothing after death
positivist pls go!
there is literally no way to prove this so don't go around telling that shit to unstable people.
it is just as logical if not more to assume the buddhist perspective: there is no reason to believe that death exists.
>>917933
He's a fucking stoner, anon.
>>917940
so? I too am a stoner.
i second that part btw, it might work for OP.
>>917933
>there is literally no way to prove this so don't go around telling that shit to unstable people.
There is no reason to presume our minds continue after our brains stop and every reason to assume they do not. Your brain "causes" your mind, once your brain is dead, so is your mind.
>>917964
Are you going to back up your claims with any sources at all or not?
>>917989
Not that anon, but how do you explain things such as brain damage and this?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Genie_(feral_child)
>>917964
There is no reason to assume our brain "causes" your mind. As long as the brain functions properly, crudely assessing electrical currents and bloodstream behaviour exposes phenomena that seem to be syncopated with mental activity. You are confusing correlation with causation. A common mistake but not one that should happen on a humanities board.
t. psychologist
>>918003
ps: Induction is invalid.
>>917996
>brain damage
The nervous system isn't usually accustomed to losing parts of the brain which it had become familiar with over a long period of use. Compare an adult who has recently suffered brain damage to an athlete who has lost an arm or a leg. Both of them have suffered a loss which they may or may not have the ability to properly adjust to for the rest of their lives.
The reason why I'm making this comparison is because there have been many peer reviewed journals reporting on individuals who were born with barely any brain matter at all but were still able to earn masters degrees and hold white collar jobs. http://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(07)61127-1/fulltext
These people are also able to converse normally and act as fully productive members of society.
>>918034
For some further reading, here is the story of the mathematician with only 1 milimeter of brain covering his spinal cord: http://www.rense.com/general63/brain.htm
Phineas Gage's story is also appropriate in the discussion of the relationship between brain matter and the mind.
>>918034
yes but you're talking about loss of particular function and often after brain development had largely finished. The example I gave had a case with one side of the brain talking over most functions (hard to summarise, read it.) and being able to adapt to learning language when older than normal to an extent, and scoring very highly of other types of testing.
>>918064
Still doesn't prove that mind is situated in the brain. It is just as likely to assume that the brain is a sensory organ with which mind is observed.
>>918073
Occam's razor? I'm not trying to 'tip', but holding the opposing view for the sake of contrariness doesn't seem to be useful in this case.
>>918064
I don't see what you're trying to say with that link. Can you explain what language acquisition has to do with the mind? It's pretty apparent to me that her mind had always been there, and that she was just incapable of articulating her thoughts until later on in her life.
>>918086
Well, is the 'form' of the mind dependant on the conditions which produce it?
>>916770
A healthy person's brain works in a way that encourages activity and achievement, it rewards work, mating, eating and dominating with pleasure chemicals and low stress levels. If you have depression this system is faulty in you, that doesn't mean the world makes no sense, just your brain can't find it. Take your medicine and don't pussy out of life.
t. recovered from depression
>>918084
Why would you need to believe that mind is caused in the brain if it's unprovable? Why would you elevate this belief to perceived fact?
Saying there's nothing after death because brain causes mind is like saying that after death comes heaven because Jesus died for our sins. Both beliefs are rooted in mere speculation and the only correct stance is the default of not-knowing and admitting to not-knowing.
>>918099
I respect your opinion but what might be correct for you might not work for OP. Furthermore:
>If you have depression this system is faulty in you
If your psychologist told you that, he or she should pick up a fucking book or revisit their education. This kind of reductionist view on personality disorders hasn't been valid for decades.
t. psychologist
>>918115
>admitting to not-knowing
Of course i'm not certain I just think that the explanation I gave requires less assumptions (occam's razor). And while I don't claim certainty I do express the belief that conciousness is inherently tied to the brain.
>>918129
How does it require less assumptions?
Not-believing in death at all is the position that requires the least assumptions (going back to arguing whether mind ends with brain-death or not as it's still the overarching issue)
>>918137
But if modern humans minds didn't exist in the past (prior to the evolution of modern humans) and hence have emerged from earlier situations, why would you assume that a particular stage would be the one experienced after death?
>>918149
>assuming modern humans minds didn't exist in the past
>assuming death
those are two more assumptions than simply not assuming death.
also, what bearing does evolutionary theory have on afterlife theory?
>>918115
Psychologists are not real scientists, just glorified soothsayers. Social sciences are shit and you know that. It's based on how medication used to help with depression works (as used by psychiatry, you know, the people who actually help). Mental illnesses aren't a sickness of the souls. OP is not "crazy" or "melancholic", those are memes from XIX century. The brain is still in your body and if it breaks down we have the means to fix it or at least reduce the damage.
>>918176
Well, you just said a lot of dumb things I won't take the time to refute. At least the other poster is trying to argue.
But hey, I respect the personal opinion you just uttered.
Also, wtf, who changed the f*cking layout?
>>918176
interhuman relations actually have measurable effects on neurotransmitters and the central nervous structure e.g. the density of the amygdala (as proven on PTSD patients). Thus psychology is scientifically just as valid as psychiatry. Both work together hand in hand in practice. You only proved your ignorance.
>>916770
Life is everything both good and bad you must make your life good for them to be good, but you didn't find your place yet and got damaged by years of conditioning to become a self hating, miserable person, and as long as you're down you paint everything with your hatred and sadness and lack of meaning, if you want to be happy you must first accept with utmost honesty that happiness is something you deserve and want and after that it's a life long struggle to be virtuous, happy.
>>918180
>>918187
Buttmad social "science" majors detected. You won't believe you are useless because you're in denial.
OP, psychiatric treatment, a strong family and living healthy are the only things that work. Take your medicine, eat well, work out every day and reconnect with your loved ones. It may be difficult at times, but there's hope so don't give up.
>>918233
>the only way to be happy is taking soma
your advice is great but people don't understand how neuroscience works well enough to condition happiness in other humans, hence why there are tons of people who takes them and don't feel any happier or why people still kill themselves while on them, they exists solely to make profit for the capitalist medication manufacturers on one of the greatest social phenomenons of the contemporary age which is the general feeling of meaninglessness and depression citizens of modern society report on a gigantic scale.
>>918256
your other* advice
>>918256
It's true to some extent, when the treatment isn't very effective in general or a particular person doesn't respond to it very well. Just like in other branches of science, we're still learning as we go and each year we get new, better medicine.
For example, my mother was depressed and was prescribed anafranil, which only dulled her senses so she had less hysteric episodes, but was still in deep depression. 10 years later she's taking some new generation thing and she feels much better, even though a lot of bad things happened in her life. OP should cling to life, each year brings new hope.
Take a lot of adderall, it helps being okay with life of your brain is drug addled.
>>918233
>social "science" majors detected
Sorry mate, psychiatric nurse here
>>916770
Life is a funny thing, the universe is mental; seeing as we only perceive it through our 5 senses.
It's hard, because our minds are programmed in a way to reject things we don't understand or fully agree with, so when you're in a depressed state it's so much harder to be happy, when I was going through depression the only moments of peace I'd have were those few seconds in the morning before everything just hits like a ton of bricks. When you're sad, you can't tell yourself that you're not - because you are. It's just not the truth, some forms of therapy are complete bullshit because they tell you to change your thinking but don't tell you how.
I know that when I'm sad it'll never make sense to think to myself that EVERYTHING IS OKAY, and EVERYTHING GETS BETTER, because it doesn't feel that way and quite frankly my mind won't believe it. So I give my mind a similar but different thought; everything is not fine right now but I'm doing the best I can at the moment.
It's those small changes in thinking that help me maintain mental and emotional stability.
My life is horrible right now. I am sitting on the toilet with massive stomach pains and shitting. I am almost about to cry it hurts so much.
>>916770
>life is supposed to be pleasurable
Life owes you no favours. You make of it what you will. Kill yourself or not, it makes literally no difference to the universe. We only learn from our mistakes, and that often involves suffering. If everything was fine, everything would quickly become boring. Our suffering acts as a benchmark against which to measure the good bits.
I will say this about your post. Antidepressants take several weeks to kick in, and you say you've had to switch a few times. It may be that you haven't found one that works for you and used it for long enough yet.
Also, go dig somewhere. I'm not kidding. Find someone with a garden or allotment and volunteer your time. Old people often need help with the heavy work, and there is something about getting into the smell and feel of the earth that puts you firmly back in touch with the reality of existence. Sensory normality on an evolutionary scale, so to speak.
I don't believe in life after death. It's probably the night sparrow flying through a house scenario. But that's a good reason not to hurry things along, isn't it? Remember, suffering is only for life!
have some pills from the good Doctor.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5ConLzMk-jg
Pertinent topic for me right now.
>dating a lovely, thoughtful, smart, sexy girl who is crazy about me
>about to make it official with her
>making progress at the gym
>going on holiday to Europe later in the year
>just got a promotion at work
>somehow feel miserable
I think I'm mostly terrified that I'm wasting my life. I'm 26 years old. this new contract is going to mean I'm working stressful 40+ hour weeks for a token raise. I've never been to college, I can't get motivated to do positive things for myself.
everything I do is racked with self-doubt and anxiety. my life is like a constant existential crisis. I'm trying to master stoicism and Buddhism to help alleviate it.
>>918485
Just take lots of aniti-depressiva and shut up, faggot ass social science mayor!
sci:1/his:0
>>918536
Sounds like a pretty meaningless life sempai.
That's what you get for falling for the American dream meme.
Even if suffering is something that one is able to transcend, the fact that suffering is permissible in the first place goes to show that existence is pretty shitty.
>>918805
Existence is fine. It's your attitude towards suffering that is pretty shitty, Ronda!
D
Existence is a struggle in itself and I find joy in the success over struggle.
i think life is meaningless and after i die there is nothing, but that means this is the only chance i have to feel things and to live in general so i better use it, even if it has lots of suffering. plus once you learn not to learn bad things affect you much (basically not care about things and remember everything is meaningless and so on) it gets much easier. that's why i haven't killed myself, and also partly it probably was because of cowardice because it would make my mom sad and would expose me as a weak fraud
>>916770
Life is a gift. It's time for you to meet the Giver. It's time for you to know what lies beyond the veil, so that when you go, you go rejoicing.
>>916770
You are your life.
If your life is shit, it's because you are shit. If you want life to get better, you have to get better.
>>920013
There's an element of this, but you also need to work out what you actually want from life. Clear goals mean you have something to work toward no matter what situation you are in. BUT, it is often the case that what we think we want, isn't what we actually want and we are just fulfilling other peoples expectations - which doesn't lead to contentment.
>>920060
I feel like this. I am 25 and still don't know what I want to do with my life. My interests change and go back and move on and return so it's confusing for my brain, and definitely not helping me do what I want which I don't even know.
Some people have told me to study STEM and get a good job but just keep whatever as a hobby but I can't do that. If I don't like something or enjoy it I don't do in because I know whatever I do will suffer for it. I also don't want to go back to college because I already got away from it and I just wasted money.
Some days I just want to mow grass for $10 or walk dogs just so I can be happy.
>Is life actually horrible? Or am I just mentally ill?
Well, you're willing to consider the point of living, so you're doing better than some people.
>All I do is suffer!
Do you? Sure you might be going through bad shit, and it may cause you pain, but
>Do you think life is a gift?
I do. It's something that's given to us, yes? Or maybe you're asking if life a good/bad gift?
>Do you enjoy your life? Right now, if you shift your attention foces throughout everything that you're experiencing (i.e. say your visual field, and then your body feelings, the thoughts you have, what you're hearing, etc)
For the most part.
>which parts of your current experience would you say is pleasurable?
I have a degree of living comfort that most arent afforded due to circumstance, I blow a majority of the money i earn on my hobbies, I have decent time to study things i want to learn, and many other things
>What parts (just right now) would you prefer not experiencing?
The general self-loathing, the complete lack of drive or passion for anything or any discernable goal, the self-hatred, the fear of oblivion that death brings that leaves me crying myself to sleep
>Or you skip experiencing it until something pleasurable comes along.
I make sure to dwell on the bad; have to take it with the good, yeah?
>I mean, are all parts of your experience pleasurable, desirable, you want to keep having those sensations/perceptions/thoughts?
Of course not
>Or you would prefer to just not have them for now, because they aren't worthwhile/they burden you/you don't like or want them, and you'd prefer they went away and only came back when they experience was pleasurable?
Way i see it, what I want doesnt matter, and learning to deal with them is a valuable skill
Are you glad you were born?
Sometimes
Are you happy to be alive?
Sometimes
>And a final question, what do you think happens at the end of life?...is it the end?
I honestly couldn't even fathom what happens.
>>918812
>Existence is fine. It's your attitude towards suffering that is pretty shitty, Ronda!
No, that's not true at all.
>>918805
I agree. I also think that, we struggle so much to try and transcend suffering, with the aim of possibly experiencing pleasure. But, why even bother when you could just suicide, and due to the fact that non-existent 'people' can't experience deprivation or 'missing out', then you will not be in any way harmed by not feeling that pleasure your might of if yo stayed alive and struggled on
To my mind, I don't think any pleasure will ever make up for the amount of suffering I have felt, so it's like, why don't I just cut my losses? Am I really going to endure more and more suffering, struggle HARD through it, for just the hope (not guarantee), just the mere hope that one day I wont suffer as much, and perhaps I'll feel positive sensations?
It's a shit deal and I know it.
>>921801
>>which parts of >your current experience would you say is pleasurable?
>I have a degree of living comfort that most arent afforded due to circumstance, I blow a majority of the money i earn on my hobbies, I have decent time to study things i want to learn, and many other things
What I meant by this question is literally right now, as you read this what are you feeling? Is it pleasurable? I don't want you to tell me whether you appraise this idea you have of 'your life' in your mind, I want to know, your literal present sensations - are they pleasurable? are they causing suffering?
I'll do an example for my present sensations
>right foot hurt
>back ache
>sensitive feeling on palms and feet (bad feeling, I have sensitive skin)
>bit of anxiety, mind is racing a lot
>somewhat dreading these visitors that are coming
>low energy
>visual field is okay
>temperature isn't too bad
so out of all parts of my literal present (well, 30 seconds ago now) experience, I don't think there is one aspect which is bringing me any sort of pleasure at all.
It's really just a matter of perspective. Either your sorrow exists to make your joy sour or your joy exists to make your sorrow sweet. Never reject your depression, feel it to it's core. Let it crush you and build you anew, so that you no longer feel locked to a single emotion. The 11th dimension is the realm of emotion and as such represents the power of magic and the ability to defy rationality. Enjoy even your sadness, for there is truly no escape from it.
>>916770
Life is pretty horrible. We are genetically inclined to ignore it. Otherwise the human race would collectively commit suicide.
Maybe the majority of humans are too stupid to realize the logical course of action if to kill yourself before dealing one minute more with the hell that is life.
Is life horrible?
Hardly I think, though it is neither good.
I suppose it sounds cliche, but in my personal experience, the tangible and invisible sensations of pain and pleasure are one of the same, and inconsequential.
Three weeks ago I was hit by a pickup truck while I was crossing the street. The truck got me dead center at 50km/h, and I flew far. I lost a lot of blood that day, but I can't help but savor the sensation I felt. It was beyond anything I ever known, it was true experience.
At this moment, my cracked ribs ache, my right leg numb, and I cannot stop my tongue from licking at my chipped teeth.
At this moment in time I feel indifferent. As I see it, the answer is neither in loving life, or craving death.
On the day my consciousness ceases (if it in fact, does), I expect there to be nothing. Though I cannot say whether or not it is a return, I have no recollection either way.
Though I felt something I consider 'true' in that particular moment, I cannot bring myself to assign it meaning, and that is where I stand on life. It gets to the limit where it seems pointless to feel any way.
I may be wrong, but I have been past caring for a long time now.
>>919750
>Life is a gift.
So is junk mail.
>>922160
>Three weeks ago I was hit by a pickup truck while I was crossing the street. The truck got me dead center at 50km/h, and I flew far. I lost a lot of blood that day, but I can't help but savor the sensation I felt. It was beyond anything I ever known, it was true experience.
me too. I was hit by a car and I loved it. Ever since I've been fantasising about suicide.
Life isn't precisely horrible.
But I do think that anyone who feels that the good outweighs the bad are deluding themselves somewhat.
>>917269
There is such a thing as normal brain chemistry. There is a visible, physical change in the depressed. Your brain ceases to function normally. You're retarded.
