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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)

#81
post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Could it be that people who see the world Realistically, get depressed? This fits my experience quite well. To give a software development analogy: The more you learn about deep, esoteric details of various parts of computers (i.e. you get to see computers more realistically than idealized), the more depressed you get about the current state of software development. And yes, late at night, I often work privately on…

> esoteric details of various parts of computers (i.e. you get to see computers more realistically than idealized), the more depressed you get about the current state of software development. Honestly the most depressing part is hearing all these older guys talk about the really cool problems they worked on during the dawn of modern computing, knowing I'm just gonna be writing shitty business apps till I retire

> Honestly the most depressing part is hearing all these older guys talk about the really cool problems they worked on during the dawn of modern computing, knowing I'm just gonna be writing shitty business apps till I retire

You can do this cool stuff at night and weekends (I do!).

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

#82
I don't think it's the case that all depressed people are realists, but that realists in general may be more predisposed to depression or being depressed.

It seems likely some people suffering from depression have real mental illness, and a much much smaller number of people are ultra realists and get depressed over real negative events and facts.

I know there have been times in my life where I have suffered from depression because of my realism. On occasion bad things have happened to me and I've found people will try to comfort me by saying things like, "everything happens for a reason", "it will all work out in the end", etc, but being a realist, I know there often isn't a reason and it won't work out. At best I can only hope that I find it in me to continue through the rest of my life with the regret or loss that I'm experiencing. And even then, even if I make it to the end of my life, what's the point? Our lives and suffering is all pointless in the grand scheme of things.

My cat died this morning. Sorry.

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

#83

Let's be realistic: there are only humans with subjective narrow view of the world out there. And whoever will tell you that you are more/less realistic than some other category of people are judging you by their own narrow opinion of what is the ultimate-true-real-reality™. I hope this helped you to feel more depressed.

So the flat earthers are just as tuned into reality as the rest of us?

[deleted]

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

#85

Let's be realistic: there are only humans with subjective narrow view of the world out there. And whoever will tell you that you are more/less realistic than some other category of people are judging you by their own narrow opinion of what is the ultimate-true-real-reality™. I hope this helped you to feel more depressed.

So the flat earthers are just as tuned into reality as the rest of us?

I use their model of reality all the time when arranging things in my house. Like Newton's formulae it works well in certain contexts, even though Einstein proved Newton wrong.

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

#86
post #82

I don't think it's the case that all depressed people are realists, but that realists in general may be more predisposed to depression or being depressed. It seems likely some people suffering from depression have real mental illness, and a much much smaller number of people are ultra realists and get depressed over real negative events and facts. I know there have been times in my life where I have suffered from dep…

I'm really sorry to hear your cat died. From one cat lover to another - it's awful. It doesn't "happen for a reason".

But please do remember all the good times you had, too. Being a realist also means acknowledging how much joy you had together, how much unconditional love you got.

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

#87

I used to feel this way, then I discovered meditation and now I am almost always in a positive state of mind. In my experience, it is depressed people who are not seeing realistically, and they are caught in cycles of mental delusion. Happiness achieved in this way is just about truly accepting the "depressing" realities and being okay with it all including your own depressing reactions to the realities, and then not…

This. There are lots of bad things in the world that do happen. Maybe more bad then good. You have one life to live and sitting around being depressed or angry about them is just a waste of time.

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

#88
post #56

That's right, because when you are depressed,you will be aware to make new friends, you will judge them by reality, and any situation you will face, you will judge it by reality. Emotion doesn't work that much for depressed people.

It depends on whether you're talking about actually depressed people, or people just "feeling a bit down". It seems like you're referring to the latter.

Depression is a very serious medical condition, often leading to suicide, and involves mostly just sleeping, crying in bed, and not wanting to do or see anything.

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

#89
post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 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?

Nah. I’ve had trouble convincing myself that doing dishes wasn’t an insurmountable task. Depression messes with your perspective. Basic, easy tasks seem impossible.

I have that problem too.

But I've learned that dirty dishes stabilize if you let them air dry. They don't even smell bad. Or get moldy. And after soaking an hour or two in hot water with detergent, they're easy to wash.

So then I just need to wash whatever I need for the next meal. And of course, leave enough clean for my wife to use.

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