Mad Scientist
Feels Good!
- Sep 15, 2008
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I'll say it again: It wasn't "hookers and blow" that cured his depression, it was going out and living life that did it.
Going out and living life. What a great idea!
Depression and how NOT to treat it
- Thread starter RetiredGySgt
- Start date
Going out and living life. What a great idea!
ChrisL
Diamond Member
Depression and Risky Behavior
WebMD Archive
Depression poses many dangers, burdening people with hopelessness and raising their risk of suicide. But in attempts to quell the pain, some turn to alcohol, drugs, and other harmful behaviors that endanger them even further, psychologists say.
“There is a strong relationship between depression and high-risk behaviors,” says Pamela Cantor, PhD, a psychologist and lecturer at Harvard Medical School.
“Excessive drinking, drug abuse, unsafe sex, and cutting are all self-injurious behaviors that individuals may use to provide temporary relief from intense emotional pain,” she says -- a pain that some experts have labeled “psychache.”
It’s a fairly common scenario in therapists’ offices across the country. Cara Gardenswartz, a clinical psychologist in private practice in Beverly Hills, Calif., and a lecturer at UCLA, estimates that roughly 30% of her depressed clients engage in some type of “self-injurious or harmful behavior,” she says.
Often, there’s more than one problem. “Someone with one self-injurious behavior is more likely to have two or three,” Gardenswartz says.
WebMD Archive
Depression poses many dangers, burdening people with hopelessness and raising their risk of suicide. But in attempts to quell the pain, some turn to alcohol, drugs, and other harmful behaviors that endanger them even further, psychologists say.
“There is a strong relationship between depression and high-risk behaviors,” says Pamela Cantor, PhD, a psychologist and lecturer at Harvard Medical School.
“Excessive drinking, drug abuse, unsafe sex, and cutting are all self-injurious behaviors that individuals may use to provide temporary relief from intense emotional pain,” she says -- a pain that some experts have labeled “psychache.”
It’s a fairly common scenario in therapists’ offices across the country. Cara Gardenswartz, a clinical psychologist in private practice in Beverly Hills, Calif., and a lecturer at UCLA, estimates that roughly 30% of her depressed clients engage in some type of “self-injurious or harmful behavior,” she says.
Often, there’s more than one problem. “Someone with one self-injurious behavior is more likely to have two or three,” Gardenswartz says.
ChrisL
Diamond Member
You are declaring him "cured." This is more than likely a temporary fix, that will probably and in all likelihood eventually turn out to be more of a problem for him than the problems he is dealing with now.
ChrisL
Diamond Member
From the same link above:
The Costs
When depressed people resort to self-destructive behaviors, the physical damage is obvious: liver damage from alcoholism, sexually transmitted diseases or HIV from unprotected sex, or infections and scarring from cutting one’s skin.
Psychologically, the attempts to avoid or soothe painful emotions with self-destructive behaviors usually backfire, experts say.
“Drinking numbs the brain, drugs obliterate pain for a while by altering perception, sex provides distraction and a temporary feeling of connection which, however, almost always results in greater feelings of isolation and aloneness,” Cantor says. “These behaviors are all maladaptive coping mechanisms.”
Gardenswartz says she once treated a woman who became drunk repeatedly, sometimes on as many as four bottles of wine per night. The woman said that after men had sexually assaulted her, she would wake up feeling ashamed. But beyond the woman's understanding, the vicious cycle continued.
Powerful, unconscious forces and past traumas often drive such self-destructive behavior, according to Gardenswartz. For example, some women who engage in high-risk sex may have been molested as children and learned unconsciously to disrespect themselves and their bodies, she says. “Unfortunately, that was the message put into them.”
“The person has a void inside. They just feel so much pain from the past,” Gardenswartz adds. “They end up harming themselves instead of helping themselves.”
Besides the physical and emotional costs, high-risk behaviors also make suicide or accidental death more likely.
“These behaviors are usually a means of avoiding suicide and relieving pain, yet individuals who self-harm have a greater risk of suicide and suicidal behaviors than individuals who do not,” Cantor says. “Thus, these symptoms of distress, if left untreated, may lead to suicidal gestures, attempts, or plans to commit suicide.”
Or, as Gardenswartz notes, a person might not have suicidal intentions but may die accidentally from a drug overdose or car crash.
The Costs
When depressed people resort to self-destructive behaviors, the physical damage is obvious: liver damage from alcoholism, sexually transmitted diseases or HIV from unprotected sex, or infections and scarring from cutting one’s skin.
Psychologically, the attempts to avoid or soothe painful emotions with self-destructive behaviors usually backfire, experts say.
“Drinking numbs the brain, drugs obliterate pain for a while by altering perception, sex provides distraction and a temporary feeling of connection which, however, almost always results in greater feelings of isolation and aloneness,” Cantor says. “These behaviors are all maladaptive coping mechanisms.”
Gardenswartz says she once treated a woman who became drunk repeatedly, sometimes on as many as four bottles of wine per night. The woman said that after men had sexually assaulted her, she would wake up feeling ashamed. But beyond the woman's understanding, the vicious cycle continued.
Powerful, unconscious forces and past traumas often drive such self-destructive behavior, according to Gardenswartz. For example, some women who engage in high-risk sex may have been molested as children and learned unconsciously to disrespect themselves and their bodies, she says. “Unfortunately, that was the message put into them.”
“The person has a void inside. They just feel so much pain from the past,” Gardenswartz adds. “They end up harming themselves instead of helping themselves.”
Besides the physical and emotional costs, high-risk behaviors also make suicide or accidental death more likely.
“These behaviors are usually a means of avoiding suicide and relieving pain, yet individuals who self-harm have a greater risk of suicide and suicidal behaviors than individuals who do not,” Cantor says. “Thus, these symptoms of distress, if left untreated, may lead to suicidal gestures, attempts, or plans to commit suicide.”
Or, as Gardenswartz notes, a person might not have suicidal intentions but may die accidentally from a drug overdose or car crash.
I was referring to the character. His boozing, drugs and hookers got him pushed in front of a train by Rose.
Charlie who?
Yeah, killed his career. He is SOOOOO smart.Not to mention, no one respects him anymore, and his personal life (as far as his ex-wife and children go) is a mess.
Bfgrn
Gold Member
- Apr 4, 2009
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