Sometimes I will comment on a lower level members post....just because....especially when they are asking for help, and I think I might have something to contribute. ....

Depression really is a minefield of a subject, It can lead to mild dissatisfaction of ones circumstances right up to suicidal tendencies, not the stuff of to be toyed with. It is far too an individual case by case scenario for amateur interference!

Curious about a connection between oppression and depression. I would say I feel oppressed with something out of my control imposing its evil bondage capitalism slave labor on me and most people on Earth.

No freedom to enjoy doing things, making things, grow things, learning things teaching things share things inventing things and do it freely with everyone on Earth.

No freedom to enjoy everyone with their own brick home built by true masons free from taxation free from mortgage free from rent free from governmental terrorism and free from religious oppression.

There is just no free to have true freedom for the sake of having freedom. How can we enjoy everyone on Earth being able to enjoy their life so they can hurry up and get over with because no one asked to exist especially in this world oppressed by Masonic lodge secret religion racist devil worship European invasion government terrorism taxation no justice for the innocent.

For most men, it's more appealing to give advice, than to talk about feelings or beliefs. That's my answer, in a nutshell. ("How do you deal with X" can easily be perceived as asking for advice, whether it is or not.)

I don't know how many or the replies were from men, but I do know what a lot of men like to write about.

it is ok not to know, you can't know everything that goes through people's minds

I just hadn't seen the posts by Seeker and Charlotte.

I don't think I could describe it so did not answer. I missed the guiding principles post. But all are good questions.

Guiding principal? Mine is simple, if I don't like it being done to me, I don't do it to others.

maybe our identity as atheists the reason for the large response. The other two were not addressed to one particular group.

The responses to one question can be given objectively, without revealing our own inner feeling which can be judged, ridiculed or scoffed at by those who disagree.

The other two questions can only be answered by those brave enough to handle the criticism that come so often when revealing our true inner thoughts and feelings.

Ummm, depression leads to inability to act, in fact one of the major symptoms! So you are reading waaay too much into # of replies!

I commented on the post, one of the 94 I guess and a newbie. Where my head is at is I didn't see the other posts..and don't comment on every post I see. My pull on what your fishing into is that, I think, there are quite a few different people who deal with bummers on all kinds of levels on this site. In a random comment that I made after work one day,I thought about how many group outreaches that are Christian or 12 stepp grounded. People who think more along atheistic don't have a lot, especially not government funded groups. I just wanted to post something, rather than skip it. I don't have the literary skills to really dig very deep into the psychological mayhem that depression brings so I didn't pursue it. Although I did deliberately post that I try to side step the lions share of the crap that goes along with it..go about my thing and make it through a day. It works for me..digging into a bummer can create a quagmire of like thought that is really hard to climb out of. I think anyways. -It woulds take a better writer than I to communicate how I can get in my inner thinkings if I let it happen.

I have absolutely no clue. I'm not even sure if this is a valuable contribution to the thread, but the way I see it (as somebody who has lived with depression), you should tell your story whenever it comes up. It helps people to feel like they're not alone and can be legitimately helpful towards finding coping mechanisms. This includes how it feels, among other things, because every person has their own way of describing it, and many people who struggle with mental illness also struggle to vocalize how it feels. In my experience, this is because it's their normal, but when they're asked, they have to attempt to describe it as if it isn't their normal, and it becomes a difficult situation.

How whom responds to depression, a person that suffers from it or a person that experiences it second hand? Second hand experience probably doesn't register unless it affects them and the nature of a person that has depression is to internalize it. I guess it has to do with how the question is written.

I really do think that depression involves the inability to draw conclusions and that brings people trying to cure depression into the realm of science. My theory is that scientific method can help to increase certainty and that makes for conclusion. Would you be prepared to go all the way with science if something about science and its acceptability changed? I is after all just a cycle of processes which are repeated in order to make progress. Analysis is probably the most significant skill in this respect.

Religious people hide behind "faith" and believe its their fault. I think rational thinking beings see their weakness for what is, call it a person fault. One they are willing to recognize so the can work on the issue or in most cases just deal with it.

I don't know why you chose those 2 specific posts to compare and contrast. Quite simply, I blocked one of those posters for incessantly complaining about her "online love" and how it has traumatized her as it was getting tedious. And I did not see seeker's post. Lee Lou's post appeared under trending when I was in the browse function. So quite simply, visibility and trendability got him a reply from me.

I have never dealt with depression myself, but I have known people who suffers from that ailment. I sometimes feel down about certain situations in my life, but it has not been to the level of being depressed, so I cannot give advice on how it feels to be depressed. I made suggestions on how I have dealt with certain situations when I am feeling a bit down, and what I suggested to the people that I know are very depressed to do in order to try and deal with it. It has worked for some, and others needed more professional guidance that I could give them.

I answered @LeeLou To my knowledge I do not get depressed. Or something along those lines.
As to @Seeker3CO see MrDragons answer on that. To me that's common sense.
And @ sweetcharlotte see my first answer.
If it piques my interest I may respond.

So, one group is aware of what is happening to them and can elaborate but the other just cannot due to so called beliefs? Or......?