Originally Posted by
AndrewLewis
This is just my experience, so take it for what it's worth, but it does happen to 20 year olds.
At the age of 26, I was depressed, sex drive was down, I was tired all of the time, distracted, and I couldn't focus.
I insisted my doctor get me tested, and it came back at about 250ng/dl. She wanted to get another test, so we did that, and it came back 243ng/dl.
But Rip's description of depression versus what he calls aggression is absolutely right. I would call it depression versus action, but that semantic discrepancy largely doesn't matter. It's like you're not in your body. You're just watching your body exist. I have memories of dissociating and thinking if I cut my hands with a knife, I wouldn't feel it because they weren't my hands.
Depression is not contentment - you're not ok with lying facedown on the living room floor for hours. You just feel that an alternative to that wouldn't be any better.
Simply existing is not sufficient to be human. That's why this government response to the pandemic has received such a backlash from people who choose to live instead of just exist.
If you're symptomatic, get tested. At the minimum, it doesn't hurt to know where you stand if you choose not to get treatment.