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Depressed People See the World More Realistically (2017)

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Re: Depressed People See the World More Realistically (2017)

#41

Post by mirimir »

mikorym wrote: post #36
mirimir wrote: post #18

That seems reasonable to me. I've often found optimism in others to be foolish. And for bipolar me, extreme optimism is a sign of hypomania. But there's a lot more to depression than seeing the world realistically. There's a tendency to feel inadequate, hopeless and disempowered. And there's more to that than seeing oneself and ones capabilities realistically. One aspect is failing to break out huge problems into man…

I think optimism is a kind of personal thing—you can't always tell its level by observing someone. I think optimistic cynicism is a thing. PS in psychology they have a concept called appropriate affect . Its kind of the opposite of cognitive dissonance.

I just meant what they say. I have no insight into what they actually feel.

Re: Depressed People See the World More Realistically (2017)

#43

Post by mehdix »

One can see the world more realistically without being depressed. Depression IMHO isn't necessarily a byproduct of a pessimistic worldview. If anything, nihilism (if we consider it a pessimistic worldview) had helped me to be more realistic. To accept that there is no intrinsic meaning in my life. If anything, it has brought me down to earth.

Re: Depressed People See the World More Realistically (2017)

#44

Post by mirimir »

wildduck wrote: post #30
mirimir wrote: post #18

That seems reasonable to me. I've often found optimism in others to be foolish. And for bipolar me, extreme optimism is a sign of hypomania. But there's a lot more to depression than seeing the world realistically. There's a tendency to feel inadequate, hopeless and disempowered. And there's more to that than seeing oneself and ones capabilities realistically. One aspect is failing to break out huge problems into man…

While this is valid view. It is a view. Language can be used to describe reality or to create it. >That seems reasonable to me. I've often found optimism in others to be foolish. "Stay hungry, stay foolish",- Steve Job's commencement speech at Stanford. Sometime foolishness is what make a difference. It is really all about timing and context.

There is the perspective that reality is what you say it is. And empowering interpretations provide openings for actions.

But then there's hypomania.

Re: Depressed People See the World More Realistically (2017)

#45

Post by mirimir »

wolfgke wrote: post #29
luckynumber007 wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

One aspect is failing to break out huge problems into manageable pieces. This is the main problem I have had with depression. Beeing overwhelmed by the smallest problem because the consecquences of all actions that has to be taken to solve it.

> One aspect is failing to break out huge problems into manageable pieces. Isn't this rather a sign that the world is simply too complex and should be simplified?

I'd say that stuff must be simplified, if you want to accomplish anything.

Re: Depressed People See the World More Realistically (2017)

#47

Post by misja »

Funes- wrote: post #21
akuji1993 wrote: post #2

My therapist said to me once: "I really like pessimistic patients a lot more than overly optimistic ones. A depressed, pessimistic person is judging the world very accurately and is not crushed by a negative outcome, as they have already thought about exactly that. They might even completely circumvent the negative outcome, because they thought about every possibility beforehand. Optimists on the other hand can be cr…

>A depressed, pessimistic person is judging the world very accurately. Absolutely not. I've dealt with a lot of pessimistic, depressed people--I've been clinically depressed, as well, in the past--, and we can be the most closed-minded, whiny, oblivious people out there. I think that's exactly how depression actually works: one is enslaved, kept away from experiencing the world as it is, by their extraordinarily redu…

I can confirm. There are simply different ways how you can view life; positive, negative and probably many more. And all of those see only a projection of reality.

I have been mildly depressed in the past and sometimes it struck me how narrow my view of the world was in those days. Sometimes literally, it seemed as if I was looking through a tunnel and that I was more busy with all the negative thoughts that were going on in my head than with what was really happening around me.

Re: Depressed People See the World More Realistically (2017)

#48

Post by mapcars »

More realistically than what? What is a criteria for realism?

>we tend to operate under happy delusions that lift away when we're depressed

Well this brings unhappy delusions in the same way. Just that it matches more with therapists world view and called "more real"?

Re: Depressed People See the World More Realistically (2017)

#49

Post by tuesdayrain »

akuji1993 wrote: post #2

My therapist said to me once: "I really like pessimistic patients a lot more than overly optimistic ones. A depressed, pessimistic person is judging the world very accurately and is not crushed by a negative outcome, as they have already thought about exactly that. They might even completely circumvent the negative outcome, because they thought about every possibility beforehand. Optimists on the other hand can be cr…

From what I have seen, it seems that the pessimistic person is likely to stay depressed even despite unexpected positive outcomes. It's easy for them to dismiss good things as a fluke. Meamwhile a truly optimistic person can rationalize any event as being for the best somehow and stay positive even if something negative happens unexpectedly.
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