Isnt depression a normal reaction to this crappy world?

[837]

I don't get how it's not normal to be depressed in this crazy world. Why do therapists say that were ill when the system is so crap. Everyday is more or less the same unless you have enough money to escape the school college job retirement route you're going to be working most of your life. Nobody's going to help you when you are homeless they will literally leave you out on the streets until you are suicidal. Suddenly everyone Cares .. right and they lock you up in a ward where you have no rights.
Is that why they are giving us meds to distract us from this reality? Medicate people and they will be brainwashed from the REAL thing? I mean they dont care how much we suffer until we are suicidal right. You could have severe depression and docs literally won't care as long as you dont hurt yourself. OK but why is coping with no hope of getting better than being dead?

 

[woxihuanni]

I suppose you'd prefer to be a caveman during a mini age, maybe? There's fresh coffee and a piece of news: The universe does not care about you, either to hurt you or to coddle you.

Being depressed because reasonable effort does not meet basic needs is normal. Clinical depression is called that precisely because it has little to do with actual circumstances. But if your idea or reasonable effort is to avoid seeking knowledge or gaining skill or giving anything back to the society that brings pizza to your door and internet to play with, yeah you will be very much depressed.

 

[Temporarilyabsurd]

Civilization is tricky to deal with .
It makes things potentially easier and also harder .

The sweet spot is a way away .

I have found focusing on my own agency over how I react to 'reality' , helpful .

It's a bit of a mind fuck , but on a good day ( or when I'm in the internet life avoidance zone , or both at the same time )
I can see it helping .

I just raved on another thread about modeling reality blah blah ...
The biggest one for me is somehow getting traction with the immediate emotional response that seems sopowerful and overwhelming .

It's related to trauma and flashbacks and being in the body and prescent and a lot of mindful grounding stuff.

I'm only just starting that , it feels like .
I've had a life of depression and bleak outlook .
It never changed anything ... apart from wearing me down and making every direction seem pointless.

I really hate feeling powerless in the face of the 'machine' andall it's operators , as well as the fact I'm expected , hell , recquired to man my own post and participate .

I guess, in that sense ,we're all in it together .

Maximum compassion for ourselves and the other crewpersons may help .
( having a hopeful verbose over sharing day ...)

 

[Johnnythefox]

Depressed People See the World More Realistically
And happy people just might be slightly delusional
.Article here

 

[Ambie]

"It is no measure of health to be well adjusted to a profoundly sick society."

Paradoxically the people who appear "normal" are the most mentally ill.

 

[LivingToLong]

"Isnt depression a normal reaction to this crappy world?"

I think so, yes.

To paraphrase Albert Camus (probably incorrectly!), suicide is a rational conclusion when presented with the absurdities (and worse besides) of life.

The question becomes not why we kill ourselves but rather why do we not. Why do we keep living?

 

[Deleted member 1465]

"Isnt depression a normal reaction to this crappy world?"

I think so, yes.

To paraphrase Albert Camus (probably incorrectly!), suicide is a rational conclusion when presented with the absurdities (and worse besides) of life.

The question becomes not why we kill ourselves but rather why do we not. Why do we keep living?

We keep on living to make more people. Nature doesn't care if we are happy or not.

 

[LivingToLong]

We keep on living to make more people. Nature doesn't care if we are happy or not.

At the species/biological level, absolutely. You're right, the drive to procreate, to survive, is strong. At the level of the individual however, and we are capable of individual thought, of considering ourselves as more than just our genes, at that level we debate our purpose and reason to be - and often come to the conclusion that our lives need to be about more than just fucking.

 

[Deleted member 1465]

At the species/biological level, absolutely. You're right, the drive to procreate, to survive, is strong. At the level of the individual however, and we are capable of individual thought, of considering ourselves as more than just our genes, at that level we debate our purpose and reason to be - and often come to the conclusion that our lives need to be about more than just fucking.

Oh I agree. But that's one of the places where depression comes from. We want life to be more than just making more humans. Nature doesn't care. The disparity causes depression.

 

[Final Escape]

I suspect it's a reaction to childhood trauma but then the conditions in society can add to it. Depression can also caused by like nutritional deficiencies, unmet needs that u may have that you're not even aware of. When trying to solve depression u have to look at everything in the environment.

 

[TAW122]

I'd say yes, for the most part, barring the clinical depression (which I am not saying it doesn't exist, but it's overly plastered every time depression is mentioned). I also don't think that depression is necessarily irrational, in fact, it can be more rational than non-depression. One can be blissfully happy, yet delusional. Sadly, the mental health system refuses to acknowledge the fact that because circumstances in life suck so that leads to people being depressed. Instead, they would rather the person be labelled as irrational, diseased, ill, and then be given medicine (big pharma) and treatment, not addressing the root causes or problems, and making money off the individual. It's quite digusting and disingenuous and the saddest part is that any attempt to debunk, expose, or reveal the truth gets shut down with such mental gymnastics that it is almost like a circus. Most general people don't understand this (and even if they are capable to, they won't because they are happier being in their 'delusions' than facing the ugly, cold hard truth of reality). I'd say most of us here knows that it is due to a shitty society with shitty circumstances that people are depressed, not simply because of some 'chemical imbalance'.

@Final Escape also has some good points too. If basic needs are met and one is still depressed, then it could be a lifestyle problem, or other needs that one doesn't know, yet lack.

 

[Deleted member 1465]

I'd say yes, for the most part, barring the clinical depression (which I am not saying it doesn't exist, but it's overly plastered every time depression is mentioned). I also don't think that depression is necessarily irrational, in fact, it can be more rational than non-depression. One can be blissfully happy, yet delusional. Sadly, the mental health system refuses to acknowledge the fact that because circumstances in life suck so that leads to people being depressed. Instead, they would rather the person be labelled as irrational, diseased, ill, and then be given medicine (big pharma) and treatment, not addressing the root causes or problems, and making money off the individual. It's quite digusting and disingenuous and the saddest part is that any attempt to debunk, expose, or reveal the truth gets shut down with such mental gymnastics that it is almost like a circus. Most general people don't understand this (and even if they are capable to, they won't because they are happier being in their 'delusions' than facing the ugly, cold hard truth of reality). I'd say most of us here knows that it is due to a shitty society with shitty circumstances that people are depressed, not simply because of some 'chemical imbalance'.

@Final Escape also has some good points too. If basic needs are met and one is still depressed, then it could be a lifestyle problem, or other needs that one doesn't know, yet lack.

Took the words right out of my mouth.

 

[SawItOnce]

We keep on living to make more people. Nature doesn't care if we are happy or not.

But it's the nature who built our brains, our biology. It has built in us a complex chemical mechanism of desire to survive and procreate, but also a complex chemical mechanism to seek feeling good emotionally. Us striving for a fresh and happy mind it's the nature wanting us to strive for it. Go figure what the nature forgot to add, or what we can't yet manage to realize.

 

[AlexM]

Actually I'm not sure that is normal reaction, I think it would be more sensible to be more sustainable - that would be better for us and our nearest and dearest. Unfortunatly our brains work quite different from other people. I dnt know how well I can explain in English.

 

[c824767]

I think depression comes first, then maybe suicidal activism. And I do not mean suicide bombers, simple anti-corruption activism will do. Google Kateryna Handsiuk.

 

[Lethe]

I think a 'healthy' brain puts these 'psychic defenses' (AKA delusions) in place to protect itself from the sad realities of life. This leads it to expect a favorable outcome despite evidence to the contrary. When you're depressed, these mental bulwarks are stripped away and reality is laid bare before you. I remember reading something a while back about depressed people being more able to accurately predict the future than non-depressed people. This makes sense, as natural selection selects for survivability always, and not necessarily rationalism.

I suppose there are plenty of cases where the reverse is true though-- expecting a bad result and it being nowhere as bad as anticipated. I'm sure we've all had experiences like those as well. And for pro-lifers, all experiences fall under this category.