Depression post SHTF

[Scythe13]

I can already hear BP's thoughts screaming out loud "It'll be one of the happiest days of my life! Depression.....never!!!" Fair does mate. We're not all that thick skinned.

But other than BP, I think many people will be badly hit by depression post SHTF. Think of this as the scenario.

The crap has hit the cooling device. It happened 2 months ago. There are loads of corpses about. The smell or rot is everywhere. Your friends and family are nearly all dead. Your other half (BP, this is possible mate) has died and you are left alone, in the cold, scavenging for food. Your supplied were found amd your BOL's were torched. As far as you can tell, you're screwed. It has been 2 weeks since you last saw anyone. The person you last saw was your better half. Just before she died of the flu. Your radio does not work. You have seen no life except plants, flies, and crows since then. No more plumes of fire. No more smoke at all. No more glow from a fire at night.

How would you feel? What would you do?

I ask this because I'm genuinely forseeing people having the same emotional feelings post SHTF.

When my dad died, I was depressed for 3 weeks and didn't leave the flat. I wasn't eating or drinking properly. It was a living torture. So I considered how I would be post SHTF, if my wife died. No doubt I would downward spiral again. But in that kind of situation, depression could kill you, and that may well be what you'd want by then.

So this got me thinking...would it be worth trying to get hold of antidepressants before TSHTF, just in case myself, or another member of the team, gets all down and depressed?

My personal thoughts on this are....DAMN RIGHT! Anti depressants will be critical for the first few weeks/months, after the poop has coated the fan.

Thoughts and experieces please.

[Straight Shooter]

Although devastating( my group of 15 ) I would be kept busy with them, I have to impart my knowledge and teach them, I intend to put lots of stuff in a manual just in case I snuff it first, but your right S13 twill be very depressing but anti depressants is no answer not even on a temp basis .....you are going to need your wits about you to do the job required for the group or yourself , because dads a nutter ......I have to step up to the table not so much for me But for them, just like everyone else on here with family's...its no big deal....the deal is SURVIVAL now that's BIG

[MaryN]

Depressed?? I'd be bloody livid! How inconvenient.

[Jonas]

Anti-depressant drugs may be "no answer" as you say, but the hundreds of thousands (or millions) of people currently on anti-depressant drugs will be going through a "cold-turkey" withdrawal which will make them both extremely vulnerable and potentially dangerous. Now toss in the thousands (or tens of thousands) of truly psychotic individuals (bipolar, schizophrenic, etc.) who will no longer have access to the medications that keep them in a functional or semi-functional mode and you have the makings of a real disaster within a disaster. Now (if you really want to be pessimistic) toss in the unknown numbers of true sociopaths who's violent urges are (mostly) held in check now by a strong knowledge of police presence, the availability of prison space, and a functional judicial system and add them into the mix, you have a real danger to post-SHTF society.

[Straight Shooter]

THANKS JP you have cheered me up no end ! twas a mundane Monday today .....a shot in the arm pal......lol

[MaryN]

(1 July 2013, 20:23)Jonas Wrote: Anti-depressant drugs may be "no answer" as you say, but the hundreds of thousands (or millions) of people currently on anti-depressant drugs will be going through a "cold-turkey" withdrawal which will make them both extremely vulnerable and potentially dangerous. Now toss in the thousands (or tens of thousands) of truly psychotic individuals (bipolar, schizophrenic, etc.) who will no longer have access to the medications that keep them in a functional or semi-functional mode and you have the makings of a real disaster within a disaster. Now (if you really want to be pessimistic) toss in the unknown numbers of true sociopaths who's violent urges are (mostly) held in check now by a strong knowledge of police presence, the availability of prison space, and a functional judicial system and add them into the mix, you have a real danger to post-SHTF society.

Thank you for that, I feel so much better now, Jonas. Just the thought of a load of loonies on the loose is enough to boost the spirits! I'm already irritable at the prospect!

[Scythe13]

Jonas is just being a realist.

With having a group, I agree about the need to be busy. But, God forbid, your group snuffs and it's just you. Then what?

I'm not saying antiDs are the answer. They are an option. A last resort maybe. But what if a team member was depressed or even suicidal? Wouldn't it make sense to have something ready for them? A quick temp fix, or something like that?

[MaryN]

I'm not sure, S13. For a start, who is going to prescribe these pills? How safely can a non-medic deal with such substances, or even know what the effects - long or short-term- will be? If the SHTF and you do become depressed, well, to be honest, you either clamber our of it pdq or you go down. I can't see people - probably already stressed and anxious themselves - being too sympathetic. Really?

[Stewart]

go herbal.st.johns wort,lime flower,camomile etc all grow very well.get some planted in your medicine patch now...

[MaryN]

Already got those (except lime flower), Stewart. TBH if my OH started weeping and wailing or having the vapours when SHTF he's going to get a good kick up the a**e!. I'll have enough to do without all that.