Current Events > Do you associate depression with lack of eating or too much eating?

(+) Yeah! (+)

Obviously two extremes, and everyone is different. But what do you associate it with?

For me, when I have an episode, I can't eat. I can go a day without eating. It fucking sucks. Especially because I lift weights. It's so hard to gain muscle when you eat 1 small portion a day.

What do you associate depression with?
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Can be both

I have a bad case where I eat nothing from when I wake up @ 6am until I get home around 7pm. Then I binge eat, and it gets bad
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It can be both. Atypical depression presents as increased appetite.

Change in eating habits is a symptom of depression. By definition, it can go either way.
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It depends.

I never had depression issues, but I usually completely lose my apetite when something really bothers me and I can't get my mind off of it.
And I'm 6'3, 220, so I don't have any eating issues.

Overeating. It becomes a cycle too, since the more unhealthy you eat, the worse you end up feeling.

Seems like the lack of appetite thing is more sporadic.

Not amount of total food, but amount of nutritional, quality food.

Constantly eating frozen prepackaged dinners and fast food will really fuck with your mood.

Vertania posted...

Overeating. It becomes a cycle too, since the more unhealthy you eat, the worse you end up feeling.

Seems like the lack of appetite thing is more sporadic.

Dude, I know this sounds stupid as fuck, but over eating sounds wonderful for me. With the work I put into the gym, eating would be so beneficial. But when I'm low, it seems like an impossible task.
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They way I see it, both, in different ways.

Not eating enough drags you into depression
Eating too much pulls you out of it
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Both
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I eat way less when I'm depressed
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As you say, it's different for everyone, but for me I overeat. And I overeat the worst shit too.

I'm coming out of a depressive... uh... 'episode' right now, for lack of a better word. A couple of weeks ago I ate a bunch of dumplings and dim sims for lunch, then I was still hungry so I got a KFC meal box as well. Then after that I got some sushi.

Was fucking disgusted with myself.
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I'm "happy" but I still eat too much.
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MachoManSavage posted...

Dude, I know this sounds stupid as fuck, but over eating sounds wonderful for me. With the work I put into the gym, eating would be so beneficial. But when I'm low, it seems like an impossible task.

Whenever I see a counselor, the very first thing they suggest is exercise. Like, I fucking hate everything about working out, but I can't deny that it makes me feel a lot better when I do do it. I've also tried eating healthy once and it had a very noticable and very positive benefit, but it just took too much money and effort to maintain.

Congrats to you for being able to stick with it. The fucked up thing about depression is that it doesn't make sense. If you're succeeding (for example, like you are with the exercise), it will find a way to make you feel like you're not.

MachoManSavage posted...

Vertania posted...

Overeating. It becomes a cycle too, since the more unhealthy you eat, the worse you end up feeling.

Seems like the lack of appetite thing is more sporadic.

Dude, I know this sounds stupid as fuck, but over eating sounds wonderful for me. With the work I put into the gym, eating would be so beneficial. But when I'm low, it seems like an impossible task.

I'll never get that. Food tastes good. I wish I could eat more, I get full very quickly.
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MrK3V posted...

Can be both

Hummer 2 posted...

It can be both. Atypical depression presents as increased appetite.

DevsBro posted...

They way I see it, both, in different ways.

Kanaya413 posted...

Both

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When I get really sad I eat a lot. I would prefer it the other way around so much.
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When I'm depressed I don't eat much at all because I just don't feel like it
But when I'm burned out or under a lot of stress then I eat a lot
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It actually goes both ways, depending on the person. Personally, it's probably the only symptom of depression I don't get. That being said, when I'm overstressed, I tend to forget to eat more than 1 meal a day. I usually only eat 2 on a good day, anyway.

Gafemage posted...

MrK3V posted...

Can be both

Hummer 2 posted...

It can be both. Atypical depression presents as increased appetite.

DevsBro posted...

They way I see it, both, in different ways.

Kanaya413 posted...

Both

This. I know I lose my appetite when it happens, but I know other people (including my own brother) that go the opposite way and eat more when it happens.
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Yeah I think it's different for everyone. I can't eat at all when I'm anxious or feeling bad. I have more of an appetite when I'm feeling relaxed.
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Considering the DSM Vs diagnostic criteria for major depressive disorder, its either.
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It's the reason why I'm grossly underweight but it can be associated with either
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MrPeppers posted...

Considering the DSM Vs diagnostic criteria for major depressive disorder, its either.

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MrPeppers posted...

Considering the DSM Vs diagnostic criteria for major depressive disorder, its either.

Indeed, one of the many intuitively obvious reasons the DSM is flawed lol.
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I feel like not eating at all is more likely a sign of worse depression than eating too much.
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It can easily be either/or, it depends on the person and the root causes of the depression.
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COVxy posted...

MrPeppers posted...

Considering the DSM Vs diagnostic criteria for major depressive disorder, its either.

Indeed, one of the many intuitively obvious reasons the DSM is flawed lol.

Elaborate
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ShutTheF---_Up posted...

COVxy posted...

MrPeppers posted...

Considering the DSM Vs diagnostic criteria for major depressive disorder, its either.

Indeed, one of the many intuitively obvious reasons the DSM is flawed lol.

Elaborate

The collapsing heterogeneous symptomology into the same disorder label makes it near impossible to study the disorder or treat it effectively, as you are likely lumping together people who suffer from different underlying mechanisms.
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