Why are some aspies more prone to severe depression?

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Anubis
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21 Jan 2008, 5:15 pm

I wonder. I don't get depressed for long periods. I've never had serious suicidal urges. I can't really identify with the aspies who self-harm, etc, and yet I've been through alot of the same traumatic experiences.
Could there be a particular reason for this?


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Reodor_Felgen
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21 Jan 2008, 5:40 pm

A lot of aspies want contact with other people very much, but being given our poor social skills, it's f*****g hard. Another reason why many aspies are depressed, is because the society expects so f*****g much of us.


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21 Jan 2008, 5:46 pm

I have some memories of feeling happy and whole for a few hours, sometimes for days. But all of my life, I felt something missing. I spent to much time alone watching others be together.
As a baby, my "teddy bear" was a rock hard football. I got a quick hug at least once a week, but never held.
As a kid, I went to private school. Since I was different, kids in my neighborhood would try to beat me up instead of wanting to play.
As a teenager, I was pimply and shy. I had a good job, but kids only wanted to be around if I was buying. Girls did not even want to be seen near me.
I never had a friend who was not using me to get something out of me. My two ex-wives and soon to be ex-wife number 3 included.
I am educated and can hold my own playing Jeopardy with Alex Trebek. I grew out of my acne and am not ugly. I have a successful career with a high income. But, I still feel lonely. I wander around by myself looking for new friends, then getting used again. I just can't seem to find the right people.
Maybe you have had good friends and family. Maybe you have good self esteem. Keep what you have.



Anubis
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21 Jan 2008, 5:49 pm

See, I'm much in the same position. I mainly just want people to talk to, don't have to be friends. I'm perfectly fine talking to people on the internet. Only when I feel that I'm missing out on something special do I get depressed over being alone. I daresay that I don't need that many, but want good friends.

My social skills are quite poor, but what's really keeping me from having friends is a lack of a strong desire to befriend people. Talking and friendship is mostly good, but it's not a driving factor for me. I get more depressed from being insulted, etc, than being lonely, and I pull myself up. Perhaps it's for the best that I don't have a wide network of friends. I'm good intentioned and nice to people who are friendly or neutral though. I don't want the wrong enemies.

Damn right it's hard. :(


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Anubis
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21 Jan 2008, 5:54 pm

Mudboy wrote:
I have some memories of feeling happy and whole for a few hours, sometimes for days. But all of my life, I felt something missing. I spent to much time alone watching others be together.
As a baby, my "teddy bear" was a rock hard football. I got a quick hug at least once a week, but never held.
As a kid, I went to private school. Since I was different, kids in my neighborhood would try to beat me up instead of wanting to play.
As a teenager, I was pimply and shy. I had a good job, but kids only wanted to be around if I was buying. Girls did not even want to be seen near me.
I never had a friend who was not using me to get something out of me. My two ex-wives and soon to be ex-wife number 3 included.
I am educated and can hold my own playing Jeopardy with Alex Trebek. I grew out of my acne and am not ugly. I have a successful career with a high income. But, I still feel lonely. I wander around by myself looking for new friends, then getting used again. I just can't seem to find the right people.
Maybe you have had good friends and family. Maybe you have good self esteem. Keep what you have.


Yes, that is true. My family is nice. I was brought up in a stable household up until my mum died and I experienced 3 years of hell with a scummy step-family. I suppose that strengthened me, and numbed my emotions. The combined pressures of both, well...
I get over things pretty quick.


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Apatura
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21 Jan 2008, 9:11 pm

I think the difference is family. Those with a truly loving, accepting, supportive family have a strength others (like me) lack. My family never accepted me. There was no soft place to land. So I landed on a hard place again and again until I was broken.

I did have a grandmother who loved me, and I think that's the only reason I'm not totally deranged...



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21 Jan 2008, 9:28 pm

Apatura wrote:
I think the difference is family. Those with a truly loving, accepting, supportive family have a strength others (like me) lack. My family never accepted me. There was no soft place to land. So I landed on a hard place again and again until I was broken.


exactly. when not even your own parents loves you, you get to a point where you "get the message" (that you're really miserable and bad and wrong....)



pakled
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21 Jan 2008, 9:33 pm

partly it's a possibility that for a great portion of your life you don't know what it is that makes you 'different', and there's no one who understands you, or could. It do bring a person down.



TheMidnightJudge
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21 Jan 2008, 10:07 pm

If I had to guess...
Because of AS, some resent that their life is unfair. So they spend their time being unhappy because they feel they have a special reason for it.
Aside from that, they are unhappy the same way NTs. A lot of neurotypical people are depressed too. I personally don't think we're all that far below them .



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21 Jan 2008, 10:47 pm

i find i get really depressed even if only one aspect of my life is out of whack... albeit generally an important one, like love.. or social blabbity-bloo...... but i find it really hard to let the rest enrich my soul when there's a gaping hole right in the middle.


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Remnant
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21 Jan 2008, 11:15 pm

Because people have made me afraid, angry, humiliated, then sick and depressed to get what they want out of me. Hell, someone still does that to me.



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21 Jan 2008, 11:38 pm

Anubis wrote:
I wonder. I don't get depressed for long periods. I've never had serious suicidal urges. I can't really identify with the aspies who self-harm, etc, and yet I've been through alot of the same traumatic experiences.
Could there be a particular reason for this?

I guess it's because every person is different, and every person has their own way of reacting to traumatic experiences. Some experiences make people emotionally stronger; but other experiences just serve to bring people down.

Not to mention that it's generally accepted that depression is caused by a chemical imbalance in the brain. Perhaps those Aspies who are prone to severe depression have an imbalance.



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22 Jan 2008, 12:34 am

Reodor_Felgen wrote:
A lot of aspies want contact with other people very much, but being given our poor social skills, it's f***ing hard. Another reason why many aspies are depressed, is because the society expects so f***ing much of us.

/vouch

I have severe depression, but stupid people think I have bipolar. I don't get psychiatrists sometimes.



CockneyRebel
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22 Jan 2008, 1:46 am

Because people hate people who are different from themselves. That really got to me, ten years ago, when I was a weak, innocent Swinger. I've toughened up, and I just be myself, now and look into the eyes of the timid, little Sheeple.


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22 Jan 2008, 3:16 am

Reodor_Felgen wrote:
A lot of aspies want contact with other people very much, but being given our poor social skills, it's f***ing hard. Another reason why many aspies are depressed, is because the society expects so f***ing much of us.


There is only so much a person can handle and can do. No one can do better than their best. When people find that their best, is just not enough, that induces depression. I mean, not just for aspies, but for anyone.
If a persons best, was valued and appreciated and the person was accepted as a whole, I doubt that the depression would arise in the first place unless their was a chemical imbalance in their brain.


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22 Jan 2008, 3:29 am

The things I am going to mention are things I can relate to. Social isolation, poor social skills, damage from bullying and abuse, damage from going undiagnosed for my much of their life all contribute to severe depression.