November 20, 2012

  • Depression

    The book I read to research this post was Depression & How to Survive it by Spike Milligan & Anthony Clare which is an excellent which I borrowed from a friend. Spike Milligan was a member of the goon show which was a classic tv & radio show from the 60's. He also suffers with depression. Anthony Clare is a professor of psychiatry & is sometimes on television in an advisory capacity. Apparently the most likely people to commit suicide are men over 60 & the most likely to harm themselves as a cry for help are women under 30. A lot of this book is Spike being interviewed by Anthony. One interesting is that although Spike was married & had children he also had a child by a previous relationship. He sent her money and kept in touch with them. He also didn't mind when she sold her story to the newspaper. Apparently most antidepressants aren't addictive despite popular belief although if you come off them your underlying symptoms might come back. Also ECT despite being controversial is more effective than medication on its own. I'm not a sufferer but the person who leant me this book is. He's elderly like a lot of people with depression. Many people with depression never get treatment & many people don't realise that depression is an illness that in many cases is caused by a chemical imbalance. Often the first sign that someone has depression is when they either commit suicide or parasuicide. Parasuicide is when someone is harming their self as a cry for help.

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