think what's particular jn your situation is that you and your mom talk and share your struggle to each others.
Yes, that we do. After a while though, it mostly feels as good as saying nothing at all. We've reiterated our woes to each other so many times that we can basically predict what the other is going say at this point. Once you've reached that kind of point of diminishing returns, it can actually sometimes feel worse to bother talking about it. Since the situation is as hopeless as it is, it makes everything either of us can say an exercise in absolute futility.
Forgive the rough comparison here, but it's sort of like how when characters in a movie are in a really bad situation, it quickly becomes tiresome when one of them goes on a tangent of "We're doomed! We're doomed!". I mean, imagine if the movie Aliens simply had all the characters screaming "Game over, man! Game over!" at each other like Bill Paxton's character does. They'd pretty soon see how useless/aggravating it is, and thus wouldn't bother making the effort anymore. Then again, in this version of Aliens, all the characters would be too depressed and helpless to do anything to actually improve the situation. They'd just lie down and get eaten, which is essentially what me and my mom have been doing for years now. Just replace killer aliens from outer space with the forces of entropy.
Having said all that, I'm not giving my mom enough credit here. When it comes to ensuring our continued survival and stability, she's able to still somehow muster the wherewithal to make sure everything stays afloat. Without her, I'd just be another mentally ill transient wandering in and out of homeless shelters and food banks. She's also made attempts to reach out to other people in the community, but she hasn't gotten anywhere with any of it. And that's again more than can be said of myself, who can't even leave the house to go for a walk on my own.
Depression isn't contagious in the same way the flu is, but moods and emotions can spread. Have you ever watched a friend laugh so hard that you started laughing? Or listened to a co-worker complain for so long that you started feeling negative, too? In this way, moods — and even depressive symptoms — can be contagious.
Yes, this is exactly the problem. My mother and I are like two people stuck in a plague ridden house constantly coughing up our miasma to each other, which in turn only makes the sickness worse. When you have two people that are extremely miserable/depressed in close proximity to each other, then it usually only leads to an atmosphere of pure hopelessness forming. Each person is usually down in the dumps, which means that neither is capable of cheering the other person up, or gathering up enough strength to improve, or otherwise break free from the situation. It's a feedback loop of despair that ensures strong feelings of negativity and crippling sadness.
It just adds to my depression. I really don't know how to cope.
Same here. Neither of us can help each other, which only intensifies the awfulness of our shared predicament. We've needed a major outside intervention to happen here for years now, but nobody knows we even exist, and those few that do simply don't care enough to want to help, or aren't capable of helping. It really sucks to think that me and my mother are basically just as doomed to a horrible outcome as the mother and son are from the film Requiem for a Dream.
