«

[rlbell]

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Havell @ Apr 13 2007, 08:12 PM) [snapback]286913[/snapback]</div>

It's probably worth going a little into the biology behind depression (low seretonin levels and things) as well as the biological treatments (seretonin-reuptake-inhibitors like Prosac). Actually, Electric Shock Therpy has been found to be effective in treating severe chronic depression and is being prescribed more and more, even by public health bodies like the NHS.


[/b]

I thought it was called Electro-convulsive Therapy (ECT). Back in the bad old days of psychiatry, anything that you declared to be therapeutic was considered to be so. ECT came from the quack hypothesis that no epileptics ever showed symptoms of schizophrenia (not true), so attempts were made to treat schizophrenics by inducing siezures, through electric shocks to the brain. Totally useless for its intended purpose, it did cure depression.

JOKE:

ECT in action:

Doctor: How are you feeling?

Patient: The world is a terrible and dark place, without any caring or hope. I feel terribly depressed.

BZZT! AAGH!

Doctor: How are you feeling, now?

Patient: The world is a terrible and dark place, without any caring or hope. I feel terr--

BZZT! AAGH!

Doctor: So now, how do you feeli?

Patient: The world is a terr--

BZZT! AAGH!

Doctor: How are you feeling?

Patient (voice quavering): I am feeling much better! Can I go home, now?

Of course, this is not how it really works. No one knows why it works, but it is a valuable tool, because it does work. Even better, it can take depressives who wish they were dead, but incapable of killing themselves to depressives who do not wish to kill themselves, without spending time as depressives who wish they were dead and functional enough do something.

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(TheChosen @ Apr 12 2007, 10:25 AM) [snapback]286726[/snapback]</div>

I have to write about depression as a school project, so I need some good material. Has anyone of you felt depressed? If so, then why, how badly, what did you do when you were depressed and how did you cured from it?
[/b]

I may be showing my age here, but depression and The Depression are two very different things. I thought you were going to ask about the economic hard times that resulted when an economic upheaval convinced people to stop spending money, with the result that there was no money to spend.