Mark

I was talking to someone online today about my thoughts and feelings and they said 'I think you have more than just depression' and few months back someone said they thought I had a personality disorder in response to one of my questions on here.

In short, this is how I'd describe myself:

- Detached from reality (sometimes more so than others)

- Detached from other people, often finding it difficult to empathise. For example, hearing about terrible things on the news I feel no compassion for the people effected as they do not seem real to me. I think I could probably kill a stranger without remorse, if asked to.

- I have mood swings for no apparent reason

- I sometimes become impulsively suicidal

- I self-harm

- Bad short term memory - often end up with amnesia after drinking alcohol

- I go from liking people to hating them for no reason, without seeing them inbetween

- Small things can really effect my mood/thoughts. For example, I can become suicidal for trivial reasons such as people not returning text messages

- Lack of identity: I don't know who I am or what I want to achieve out of life

- I struggle to understand what is and isn't socially acceptable sometimes. I spend a lot of time worrying about whether trivial things I've said may have caused offence.

- I spend a lot of time worrying that I've left something (like the oven) on, even though I've checked that it's off multiple times

Does this sound like more than depression?

Stop and think for a minute: Why is it wrong to kill or steal? Why is it right to donate to charity? What is it that means humans hold these specific beliefs about what is morally right or wrong?

Ultimately, our conscience it just a part of our brain that functions no differently to the rest of it - it is us that decides what we believe to be right and wrong.

Any thoughts on how humans decide what is morally good and bad?

Say you had a parabola of the form y^2+8y-32x+40=0. How would you calculate its eccentricity?

If I took 105mg Zopiclone (14 * 7.5mg) and 1000mg Sertraline (20 * 50mg) would I die? How reliable would this be?

Last time I felt depressed, I decided to write down the thoughts going around my head. I feel like I could control my depression more easily if I could get these thoughts out of my head, but I can't think of a way to argue against them. If you could tell me why these thoughts are wrong, I may be able to control my urges to harm myself next time they occur.

If we knew the world was going to end in one years time, would we continue building skyscrapers?

So why go to the effort of building a life for yourself when it's inevitably going to end? Getting out of bed in the morning is a pointless waste of effort.

Everything we do is just to pass the time whilst we wait for death.

I love other people as individuals, but on a broader scale I feel like the human race is like a colony of ants. We overvalue ourselves - the ability to think does not necessarily make us more important than apes. What makes human life more precious than that of other species?

Consciousness is a curse.

Religion only exists because humans are incapable of dealing with the idea that their lives are objectively meaningless

Human happiness is relative, rather than objective. Therefore, the development of society is pointless, as it is unlikely to effect human happiness. Would it not therefore have been better to have stayed as apes or cavemen?

Why does happiness matter? This sounds like a stupid question, but I cannot answer it. Once you are dead, does it matter whether you were happy whilst alive?

I've been told that I have to go to see a counsellor for my depression. I'm really worried that if I tell them something that makes them think I'm a danger to others, they'll tell someone or do something to me. Can I tell them anything without worrying about this happening? If it makes any difference, I live in the UK and am at university.

I went to the doctors for the first time this week, after feeling suicidal for about 2 years, and was diagnosed me with depression.

A lot of the time I feel hopeless, empty, apathetic, etc, but it's not permanent. There are times (usually when I'm with friends and/or have been drinking) when I'm very happy. Admittedly these positive moods can end abruptly for no reason and I'm back to wanting to hurt myself.

Today I was diagnosed with depression and was prescribed me Sertraline. I'm really nervous about taking it though, as I have concerns that it may change who I am (negatively) or effect my relationships with people - I'm generally good at hiding the way I feel. I'm also worried that I could become dependent on it and may feel worse if I stop taking it.

Has anyone had any experience with this drug? Do you think I should take it?

Why is it that one minute I'm feeling happy, and the next minute I just want to die? There's often no external reason for these mood changes, it's just like a switch has been flicked. This tends to happen 4-5 times per week, and when it does I often end up hurting myself. Last week I woke up after an enjoyable night out to find at least a pint of blood in my sink - because I'd had a random mood change after I'd got back. Everyone thinks of me as one of the happiest people they know - no one would believe you if you told them this about me - which just makes this harder to deal with. I spend my whole life having to wear long sleeves to cover the marks I've made and I just want to stop having to deal with this. What is wrong with me?

*Please don't moderate this again, I'm serious*

The last 3-4 nights I've woken up and seen all my flatmates in my room. I sit up and ask them what they're doing in my room and they just carry on talking as if I'm not there. After a few minutes, they just disappear and I find mysef sat up in bed talking to my chair.

Whenever I try to read something (particularly non-fiction) I find that after finishing a page I can no longer remember anything that has been said. Anyone know how to overcome this problem?

I have 2 pair of jeans that are 30 inch waist and both of them fall down without a belt. However, I just measured my waist (at the exact level where the wait band would be if I were wearing trousers) and it was 32 inches. Why is this?

I have a simple drawing by an artist named Burhan Karkutli. Does anyone know anything about this guy, or whether the picture could be worth anything?