Posted by gary g on February 03, 1999 at 00:29:39:
In Reply to: Re:Do we need our pain? posted by Anonymous on February 02, 1999 at 22:32:20:
Jeez you guys LIGHTEN UP - you'd think that "anonymous" had suggested running Linda Tripp for president
see Jack Boyd's post - this IS a good "point of investigation" question
don't feel so defensive everyone - someone's just raising what IS a very common question from many docs and even more laymen - why not discuss it ?
damn - we live in hell 1/2 our lives, what harm can talking about it do ?
is there a bit of the classic "methinks thou dost protest a bit too loud" here ? who cares what anybody thinks ? if we can survive these attacks, we certainly should be past worrying about image - if some doc tells us it's psycosomatic - fire him ! there are too many people learning too much too fast to worry about this anymore
that said:
"need" may be a tough word to justify
they ceertainly DO become part of our persona & to survive them we do adapt to them - who knows what link that has to the physiological over time
as far as depression goes - I'm a dissenter -
to the extent I understand depression (which I've studied a fair amount, having a very moderate recurrent case) I don't understand - from my experience - how clusters can cause depression -
depression is NOT a reaction to trouble or pain, it's a syndrome unto itself, that's why it is so "irrational" to the outside observer - most people go into simple depressive spells with very little correlation to what's happening around them
to be fair to us as clusterheads though - it is damned hard at times to avoid being discouraged, despairing, and defeatist ABSOLUTELY we'd have to be superhuman not to with these !#$%^&*(*(*
but THAT is not depression !!! depression is its own thing - it certainly can be triggered, but not usually from a single traumatic event
the distinction is important
for me - the clusters create conditions that are pretty much mutually exclusive with depression as I understand it - the extreme pain causes very high energy levels, in between if I'm not exhausted I actually want to "get things done", if I am exhausted I just "crash" until the next headache, too tired beatne & spaced out for the dark melancholy that comes with depression
this is not to create argument - just another viewpoint that may add a tiny bit to the progressive discussion