why is it so hard to find "unipolar" depression support

i was wondering if anyone has had any good experience with finding support groups either specifically for unipolar depression ( major depression / major depressive disorder ) or finding these people in general? as someone who has MDD, i've had a very tough / lonely time trying to put myself out there and find a place where i can really relate to those around me, or at least one person.

all of the groups i've attended for over 2 years now, have mostly been people with bipolar disorder, schizoaffective disorder, and schizophrenia, and i find this interesting because the groups aren't necessarily specific for these people, but these are the type of people i only see which makes it even more frustrating and confusing . , not to mention the prevelance rates of all these disorders combined are still lower than that of major depression ( according to google search ), indicates MDD being like about 7 percent of the population.

some sources said as high as 15 percent..., . bipolar disorder is supposedly 2.6 percent or so, schizophrenia is about 1 percent, and schizoaffective was said to be .3 - .6 percent, yet these people are the only people i see and i've seen A LOT of them, hundreds of them. the only MDD people i see are people that tend to be really old, primarily women OR old men, but never have i seen someone that was a young adult like me at 24 years old show up, similar to me, similar mindset, problems, etc.

i always ponder this and i actually thought about it in college as i was looking at everyone, im like, there is this many people, yet i never seen any of these people pop up in some depression group... .

i wanted to make a big point that even when factoring out their diagnosis, i still didn't relate to anyone yet. i have a lot of other things to add, however i didn't want to put too much information at first.

You aren't alone out here! I am 24 and dx'ed with recurrent major depressive disorder. As a person I am shy and introverted and have absolutely zero interest in meeting people through group therapy. I have not met anyone irl that has revealed to me they had a dx of depression, but fortunately I am able to identify fairly well with people with bipolar - particularly with type II - as my depressive episodes come in waves, particularly when I'm unmedicated.

I think the reason you are having trouble finding people irl with MDD is that the statistics you list (idk if they are accurate but I have heard similar numbers), is the 15 percent number is for people who have ever experienced a diagnosable depressive episode. People can recover from depression, its not a guaranteed lifelong illness unless you are dx'ed as dysthymic. Bipolar(BP) and (I believe) schizophrenia (which is not a mood disorder) are forever. Additionally most cases of depression tend to respond well to the first line of meds (SSRIs) and pwDepression can remain mostly stable over long periods of time on those meds. You aren't going to find these people in support groups or on forums because they can live a mostly normal life.

PwBP are often on multiple meds and it is more of a balancing act to get and keep them stable. And when they are stable the meds that work for them often come with unwanted side effects such as weight gain, sleep problems, and uncontrolled muscle movements that makes pwBP decide to reduce or go off their meds. This makes them more likely to be unstable and in turn more likely to reach out for support and advice from others. I know I talked about BP here but like MDD it is a mood disorder, I am familiar with BP even though I do not have it, and pwBP do often reach out to others for support.

user03 wrote: as someone who has MDD, i've had a very tough / lonely time trying to put myself out there and find a place where i can really relate to those around me, or at least one person.

I think you will have better luck if you try and find people with mood disorders in general. While they are obviously not the same we do all experience the lows. They don't have to have the same Dx as you to be able to find common ground, be able to talk about your MH experiences, and gain some understanding from each other.

user03 wrote:i always ponder this and i actually thought about it in college as i was looking at everyone, im like, there is this many people, yet i never seen any of these people pop up in some depression group...

Its interesting you mention that, but most of the people I've met irl with MH issues I met in college. My college actively participated in MH awareness, and while I did not participate I had friends that did and met new people through them. Its definitely more difficult for me to meet new people since graduation.

Feel free to PM me if you want to talk about anything.
-S

Shattered Mind wrote:You aren't alone out here! I am 24 and dx'ed with recurrent major depressive disorder. As a person I am shy and introverted and have absolutely zero interest in meeting people through group therapy. I have not met anyone irl that has revealed to me they had a dx of depression, but fortunately I am able to identify fairly well with people with bipolar - particularly with type II - as my depressive episodes come in waves, particularly when I'm unmedicated.

I think the reason you are having trouble finding people irl with MDD is that the statistics you list (idk if they are accurate but I have heard similar numbers), is the 15 percent number is for people who have ever experienced a diagnosable depressive episode. People can recover from depression, its not a guaranteed lifelong illness unless you are dx'ed as dysthymic. Bipolar(BP) and (I believe) schizophrenia (which is not a mood disorder) are forever. Additionally most cases of depression tend to respond well to the first line of meds (SSRIs) and pwDepression can remain mostly stable over long periods of time on those meds. You aren't going to find these people in support groups or on forums because they can live a mostly normal life.

PwBP are often on multiple meds and it is more of a balancing act to get and keep them stable. And when they are stable the meds that work for them often come with unwanted side effects such as weight gain, sleep problems, and uncontrolled muscle movements that makes pwBP decide to reduce or go off their meds. This makes them more likely to be unstable and in turn more likely to reach out for support and advice from others. I know I talked about BP here but like MDD it is a mood disorder, I am familiar with BP even though I do not have it, and pwBP do often reach out to others for support.

user03 wrote: as someone who has MDD, i've had a very tough / lonely time trying to put myself out there and find a place where i can really relate to those around me, or at least one person.

I think you will have better luck if you try and find people with mood disorders in general. While they are obviously not the same we do all experience the lows. They don't have to have the same Dx as you to be able to find common ground, be able to talk about your MH experiences, and gain some understanding from each other.

user03 wrote:i always ponder this and i actually thought about it in college as i was looking at everyone, im like, there is this many people, yet i never seen any of these people pop up in some depression group...

Its interesting you mention that, but most of the people I've met irl with MH issues I met in college. My college actively participated in MH awareness, and while I did not participate I had friends that did and met new people through them. Its definitely more difficult for me to meet new people since graduation.

Feel free to PM me if you want to talk about anything.
-S

sorry, but what' does pwBP or pw mean? i know BP stands for bipolar disorder but don't understand the other abbreviations.

speaking of which, i did have a diagnosis of dysthymia a while back, but i don't think it really mattered to me, it's just explaining me in a slightly different way. this is why i hate hearing people say they just have depression and anxiety, like what is that supposed to mean... . everytime i see someone in group talking about depression or anxiety, they make it seem like it's a quantitative issue, and something that is black and white and i have to occasionally but gently give criticism using "I" statements to let them know that depression doesn't work like that...

i understand why the numbers for depression can be very high if they are just basing it off episodes or mild conditions, but that's the point because it creates big problems because people like me ( personally ) in my opinion should not be classified within the same group of many other people diagnosed with MDD because you have people who are barely existing to those who just have a little bit of low mood states here and there which isnt MDD in my opinion, since commorbid conditions are very high in MDD. why do you think they rule out personality disorders in bipolar disorder, because then you would get so many people that are bipolar II ( for example ) who think they have schizoid personality disorder ( which i've met many ) when in fact, they don't, and yes, sure there can be exceptions but then you create too much of a subjective mess that doesn't separate things in a qualitative construct.

its interesting you said that most people with depression respond well to first line treatments, because it can be pointing into several points, either these people are those people like you say, arent as impaired and therefore benefit from the meds and / or they never had true depression, so it only makes sense that medication would treat a problem if it's "trivial" to begin with, because i agree with the latter. it's the same way so many people drink coffee a lot or take adderall often and benefit from them a lot, despite not even having "Adhd", because adhd isn't a qualitative disorder to begin with, it might seem like it is by how MUCH problems it CAN produce, but those are quantitative in nature, not qualitative, it's not a surprise why Russell Barkley himself basically had mentioned ADHD as being the easiest or one of the easiest disorders to treat in psychiatry with medications, even later on quoting that people with ocd or anxiety disorders WISH they had the treatment we had for adhd..., although he did mention at another point that ADHD was worse than depression and anxiety, so it kind of seemed like he was contradicting his viewpoints, but perhaps, he was talking about the cases of depression and anxiety that are mild, if that was the case, then i can understand why he would say that, but certainly not people like me

however, i have also heard many sources also saying medication only helps the most extreme cases or severe depression, which in my opinion, i would disagree with this, for several reasons, but one because i am one of those with severe depression that didn't do well with medications and i am avoiding all i can psychiatric medications and i don't relate to the few i have met that did have MDD, also i feel that those with severe depression have more than just "depression" usually, and so trying to throw medication at the person isn't gonna work well if the person needs help and support in other areas first. i dont need to experience another traumatic experience of ending up in the hospital from side effects of medication, proving to them that they dont know how to help me..., or try to experiment with another medication to prove to them it didn't do $#%^ for me...

i have a diagnosis of schizotypal personality disorder and MDD so, it could be the schizotypal part that makes me feel different from everyone else, however, this isn't just the people i have met in person but also here on the forum, i don't even relate to the people mostly in the schizotypal forums, even if i had some understanding conversations here in there and general relating. i have checked many videos and research and literature and the only ones i relate to are some of the profiles such as covert schizoid which nobody relates to in the forums, and i can understand why... , more than half of them self diagnosis or have the diagnosis when they are simply different, not disordered...

i have written a lot in this post, but that's because i have many points and researched many things up to this point.

i was gonna ask, is MDD your only diagnosis, or do you have other specific diagnosis(s), i know i was sarcastically looking down ( frustrated with those / confused / curious ) at those who just put depression and anxiety, but i just wanted to know i have the right understanding from you.

user03 wrote:sorry, but what' does pwBP or pw mean? i know BP stands for bipolar disorder but don't understand the other abbreviations.

pwBP = person with Bipolar Disorder

user03 wrote:i was gonna ask, is MDD your only diagnosis, or do you have other specific diagnosis(s), i know i was sarcastically looking down ( frustrated with those / confused / curious ) at those who just put depression and anxiety, but i just wanted to know i have the right understanding from you.

My Dx is Recurrent Major Depressive Disorder and Generalized Anxiety Disorder. I'm not always depressed. My depressive symptoms can go away for a time even and I can even go off my antidepressant and be more or less ok, but eventually it will come back.

user03 wrote:speaking of which, i did have a diagnosis of dysthymia a while back, but i don't think it really mattered to me, it's just explaining me in a slightly different way. this is why i hate hearing people say they just have depression and anxiety, like what is that supposed to mean... . everytime i see someone in group talking about depression or anxiety, they make it seem like it's a quantitative issue, and something that is black and white and i have to occasionally but gently give criticism using "I" statements to let them know that depression doesn't work like that...

I think most MH conditions are quantitative within each type of illness as those that have them experience them to different degrees. In myself (and likely you), just because I have a dx of MDD doesn't mean I always feel the same. However I do agree that there should be more depression subtypes or at least clearer lines for the ones we already have. MDD is essentially the same as clinical depression which is the same as depression, etc. Why have all these subtypes that have essentially the same traits? I also think the general practice doctors - who handle less severe cases where I live - haven't even read the DSM. This resuls in everyone that feel low getting dx'ed as depressed, given an SSRI and nothing more. Until they get worse and see a psychiatrist they don't really have a proper diagnosis.

user03 wrote:its interesting you said that most people with depression respond well to first line treatments, because it can be pointing into several points, either these people are those people like you say, arent as impaired and therefore benefit from the meds and / or they never had true depression, so it only makes sense that medication would treat a problem if it's "trivial" to begin with, because i agree with the latter.

I guess it depends on what you mean by true depression and trivial. Is someone who has a bad breakup with their significant other, or maybe a divorce or job loss, and is still depressed months afterward considered not true depression or trivial? My opinion is that it is real, but they are also all experiencing isolated incidents of depression. I think they all have a good chance of responding to antidepressants and probably being able to go off them within a year. They are different from me where I'm guaranteed to have another depressive episode if I go off my medication, but they are still depressed.

user03 wrote:however, i have also heard many sources also saying medication only helps the most extreme cases or severe depression, which in my opinion, i would disagree with this

I've read this also, but my personal experience doesn't support it. I'm more stable on antidepressants and day to day I do feel better, however I can slip to the point where they are no longer effective. I'm sorry antidepressant medications don't work for you. Some people are med resistant and I don't think they really have a clue why that is.

-S