41–50 of 111 posts
Something about this article reminds of Venkatesh Rao article: We Are All Architects Now "A crisis is too good a thing to waste. Not only should you have as many as you have time for, you should succumb to each as quickly and completely as possible, and then bounce back as quickly as you can so you can have another one. Resistance is not just futile, it is counter-productive. This aesthetically appropriate and functi…
I think the researches described in the article might have over-generalized the concept of "depression" a bit... I feel what we call "depression" is actually a spectrum of symptoms -- although those symptoms might have certain shared common traits (such as strong inertia and not wanting to do anything), they actually could be quite different in other aspects. For instance, when you are not doing anything, it could be…
It's nice that you have feelings, but they're likely using the clinical definition of Major Depressive Disorder, which takes the guess work out of defining who the sample group is.
My point is that, as according to what has been written in the article,
"...the disordered and extreme thinking that accompanies
depression..." "In a study of 61 depressed subjects, 4 out of 5
reported at least one upside to their rumination,
including self- insight, problem solving, and the
prevention of future mistakes..."
Earlier quoted context omitted.
> this evolutionary mechanism is thrown for a loop in an existence where survival is assured, and meaning becomes the main spectre psychologically. Most people who suffer from depression because of environmental factors have no real substantial changes they can make to their life that would resolve the root issue of their depression. I could "fix" my depression once I had an independent high paying job that let me li…
"I could "fix" my depression once I had an independent high paying job that let me live anywhere and choose to live in the way I need to live in order to be happy." My girlfriend works in a psychiartry for people with depression and she told me that it has nothing todo with success.
Hm, even though I don't work in a psychatry, I would claim otherwise. But I think it depends on the definition of success.
So yes, there are lots of people having depression who are successful by ordinary standards, meaning good career and money. But maybe they focused too much on the money/prestige part and instead should have focused more on doing what they really wanted. But they didn't and therefore failed in life and now blame their brain chemistry for it, instead of their own choices. Much easier, sure.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
I think you're onto it. If an organism is not successful in whatever circumstance, then it is for the benefit of the herd (and species) that the individual drop out and not propagate its genes further. It is a braking mechanism. A psychic-emotional watchdog.
I don't think that suicide (logicaly following from "not propagate its genes further") is an actual objective of depression. It is probably more about forcing an individual to think their problem through - that's what you do when you are depressed, constantly thinking about all the things that went wrong in your life. Thing is, in primitive, savannah environment all problems were simple enough that they could be solv…
But I would also argue, I that even in primitiv societies, things could get very complex - because their daily life involved also lots of deamons, spirits, ect. you had a bad dream, but that might mean that an enemy sorcerer tried to kill you and now you needed to figure out who and what to do against it ...
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Could you explain what you mean, particularly the last part? So you're saying having that independent high paying job, in your experience, really helped things? For me, that's almost my only "hope" of a better future - I'm involuntarily living with my parents due to renting in my city not making financial sense, and I think that causes me a bit of depression because I feel totally out of control of my situation (I fe…
Here's what people who don't have depression, constantly think about depression: I just need X and then I won't be depressed! That's a NORMAL psychological process (not having something important, feeling negative about it). If obtaining X (career, significant relationship, etc.) does cure your "depression" then you didn't have clinical depression to begin with. You're a human being who was unhappy that their situati…
Depends. There's a decent amount of evidence that exercise can help reduce episodes of depression, even clinical depression. If obtaining X is obtaining a healthier body, then there's a decent chance you can help to lift yourself out of a funk by getting it. However, there's comfort in believing that something can't be helped, so I won't blame you if you don't believe me.
Tangential, but this psychologist argues that depression evolved as a behavioral shutdown mechanism to prevent humans from over-investing in tactics or behaviors that did not yield any benefit (from a dopaminergic standpoint) -- https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/theory-knowledge/201604... . The reasoning is that we conserve energy by not pursuing "dead-ends". Naturally, this evolutionary mechanism is thrown for a…
There seem to be two general responses to problems: anger or depression. Righteous anger properly channeled can be a force for good. But if your current crappy situation is the least worst answer you can come up with, depression is the lesser evil. You shouldn't rock the boat if there is zero upside and a lot of downside to doing so.
What’s more, once the researchers took the effect of physical strength out of the equation, men and women were equally likely to be depressed.
Humans, and men especially, are pre-disposed to solve social problems with violence. In cultures where violence is restrained or completely removed as a solution, it's not surprising that more men are depressed.
Evolutionary psychology reminds me of religious sermons. The axiomatic assumption is that everything happens for a purpose and the cause is always evolution (or God) [1], and so, if something happens it must have a purpose. All that's needed is to interpret reality to uncover it. If something good happens it's because the purpose is to reward us, and if bad something happens, it's because the purpose is to teach us.…
Evolutionary psychology reminds me of religious sermons. The axiomatic assumption is that everything happens for a purpose and the cause is always evolution (or God) [1], and so, if something happens it must have a purpose. All that's needed is to interpret reality to uncover it. If something good happens it's because the purpose is to reward us, and if bad something happens, it's because the purpose is to teach us.…
> Nothing we know about biology in general and evolution in particular entails that assumption
That's a bigger statement than you could probably validate So it doesn't falsify this could-be story.
Tangential, but this psychologist argues that depression evolved as a behavioral shutdown mechanism to prevent humans from over-investing in tactics or behaviors that did not yield any benefit (from a dopaminergic standpoint) -- https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/theory-knowledge/201604... . The reasoning is that we conserve energy by not pursuing "dead-ends". Naturally, this evolutionary mechanism is thrown for a…
> this evolutionary mechanism is thrown for a loop in an existence where survival is assured, and meaning becomes the main spectre psychologically. Most people who suffer from depression because of environmental factors have no real substantial changes they can make to their life that would resolve the root issue of their depression. I could "fix" my depression once I had an independent high paying job that let me li…