How does depression?

Question

Does depression cloud your judgement. How does it do this? I have seen so many people throw everything away because of depression or some sort of mental illness. When they hit the bottom, they get help and realize what they have done usually. Have you ever thrown it all away...family...and kids, home because of depression?

Answer 1

It's not a matter of "throwing it all away." It is a matter of hopelessness that leads others to abandon you and causes you to see no way out. It is a very sad because it ruins your life.

Answer 2

It can cloud your judgement.  Some people just don't care anymore or they feel what they are doing will make them feel better.  I went through one of these stages, but I was lucky my husband is standing by me through it all.

Answer 3

Yes: I was depressed and abusing alcohol and drugs to self medicate (unsuccessfully).  

Answer 4

well as i had seen many persons with depression i can say they  could hardly stand as others to go on with their routine daily jobs and some of them could not go on until they wre treated.many of them should really rest at home or get hospitalized so they can get to the real world but as i had seen they really respond good to medication specially sever dpressine patients respond better.

i myself suffer from obsessive compulsive disorder and there were times i could not concentrate so i comminted a suicide and i am one year away from my friends in university si the best thing is searching for help as soon as u feel u r in mental trouble.

Answer 5

i think it can definitely cloud your judgment!!!! but i could never throw my kid out for it, hes probably the one thing that helps me through it (but i am sure there are people who have and can)... but yes i think depression makes you a different person and makes you sometimes make bad decisions.

Answer 6

When you're depressed all you can think about is how bad things are for you, how much pain you're in. You lose interest in everything and you feel exhausted, both physically and mentally. Even if you realize that you're throwing everything away, you lack the strength to do anything about it. You can only sit and feel sorry for yourself.  

Answer 7

I have struggled with depression all my life and I am really depressed right now. But I haven't actually walked away from anything like what you describe. I do think it's possible though. Depression is definitely something that affects your brain. It affects your judgment because it affects the way you remember things and perceive things. For instance, I might have a conversation with my boss and 95% of what she says to me is totally positive. However, 5% might be neutral or a tiny bit negative. I will obsess about that 5% negative and let it eat away at me. I will think I should quit my job, move away or even kill myself! A "normal" person would take it in stride. I can also let non-events affect me this way. For instance, if I come into work in the morning and none of my friends have emailed me, it *must* mean that they all hate me and I am a bother to them, right? Of course not, it really means that they have lives and are busy. I just heard from them the day before, so all is well. But I make up stuff in my head. It's part of the disease and it is really disturbing to live with and try to function normally.

I do limit my interaction with family and friends because of my depression. I just think no one will help me and no one will understand. By the way, I have been on antidepressants and under the care of a psychiatrist for years now. It's still a disease that I have to deal with on a daily basis. Any major life events send me into a tail spin. I get tired of being this way, but it's just the way my brain is and I can't control it (no matter how much I try). I do try to live by "one day at a time" and that sometimes helps.

Luckily, I am able to hold down a full time job, I completed a college degree while working full time and I have a pretty busy life full of responsibilities. Sometimes I wish I could get on the highway and drive til I am far away and start a new life, but I know that I will still be me. There's no escaping your mind. So I just have to deal with who I am. :)

(By the way, I do know a friend from college that I heard walked away from a beautiful life and her 4 kids. I don't know what the story was. I can't imagine doing that. I, unfortunately, don't have any kids at home and I am sure it might be stressful, but children can bring such joy to your life. I can't imagine leaving them. But I can't judge another person really until I've walked a mile in her shoes. I just have to pray that they make the right decisions or that God is somehow guiding them.)

Answer 8

Depression or any mood disorder related illness, is when the neurophernin (sp) and serotonin levels are not obtained normally. IN your brain you have receptors in which these brain chemicals are travelled to, and in depressed people there brain either does not make enough or the chemicals do not reach the receptors properly.

If you have just lost a loved one or something traumatic has happened recently it is normal for your seretonin levels to be low, but if this is a reoccurnce that is started to intefer with your everyday life, you may want to speak to a doctor.

Depression doesn't necessarily cloud your judgment it changes your view on things, putting everything into a negative perspective, things you might have originally seen as good when you were not depressed may appear bad now.

Such as going to the mall with friends before you would love to do so, as you are depressed things may appear in your brain such as they might make fun of me or i dont feel liek im good enough to go out with them .

and yes i have i suffer from depression.

Answer 9

Depression, is by far a heavy subject.  It affects and bites at people in so many ways.  People handle it in so many ways at that.  Look at a toolbox (sorry I'm in construction),  you have several tools within that toolbox...If you pull out the hammer and wamp your thumb, do you see the nail?  At that moment probably not, your focused on the pain more than anything else on the planet at that moment.  That is deep depression.  Sometimes however, people develop, not so much depression, as personality behavioral disorders...some of which are choices in life.  When that is the case, selfishness is the root of their "clouded judgement".  I tread lightly on this topic, but have pretty intense thoughts on it.  Somehow in the society we live in bad behaviors are "blamed" on depression, when in all reality, its a lack of self-control, and love for another that is the root of the damage done.  I don't stereotype depression.  Many do.  Its not a "get out of jail free" card.  We all have responsibility to own up to our choices and decisions in life.  While some are truly incapable of makeing those decisions correctly due to a mental illness of some sort, a blanket excuse of "Well, i was just depressed, that is why I did this or that"...is not right.  Even when depressed we have common sense.  Just my thoughts.  Sorry if in any way it offends.