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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)

#91

Post by izzydata »

riskneutral wrote: post #80

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…

Is it fair to acknowledge all of the worlds atrocities and then dismiss them so you can be happy?

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

#92

Post by dejawu »

As someone with depression, this has been my experience as well. When I'm depressed I feel like I'm seeing the world for what it really is, and that the times when I was happy was when I was deluded. When I started antidepressants, I was frustrated that they noticeably made me less lucid and totally unable to introspect. Even now that I've found what I consider to be a good combination and dosage of medications that's letting me be happy and function well, I fully admit that the mechanism by which they're affective is that they make me less aware, slightly more forgetful, and therefore less able to ruminate on all the "truths" that would make me depressed. I'm not thrilled about that but I chalk it up as a worthwhile compromise for being able to live well.

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

#93

Post by rtkaratekid »

kdmccormick wrote: post #68

> The people most likely to experience depressive realism? Introverts, males, and people with high IQs I cringe every time I see Vice on the front page. To be "depressively realistic", I think they care less about scientific accuracy, and more about making their introverted, male, mildly-depressed audience feel smart.

There's a little more on the subject of realists vs non-realists in the book "Thinking Fast and Slow" if the topic interests you. He doesn't link it to depression, but it's still quite an interesting read.

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

#94

Post by Allower »

groby_b wrote: post #86
kypro wrote: 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.

Well it happens for the same reason all living things die, all life has an end, no point resisting that fact, unless of course you enjoy suffering..

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

#95

Post by pknopf »

People may think I'm depressed, but I'm the polar opposite.

I'm always discussing what it means to be depressed, only in an effort to find what is the will to live. I find it interesting.

"When driving on the interstate, each driver has the power, with the flick of a wrist, to end it all. But they don't. Why not? What prevents people from flicking? What's worth living for?"

My wife wants me to stop talking like that, because she fears I will be vacaracted.

I feel like you can always get a better perspective on things by swimming in the deep end. It's always good to stir your inner stew.

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

#96

Post by gfs78 »

hn_throwaway_99 wrote: post #14

I see this as sort of the main riddle (or catch-22 if you're the pessimistic type) of life. The semi-unrealistic hope of optimism is what motivates us to get things done. For the HN crowd, consider startup founders. The vast majority of startups fail, yet virtually all founders go into it overestimating their chances of success. After all, if they were realistic about their chances, they'd find the whole business too…

Most startup founders are rich, they are just gambling with some money they have. Akin to a salaried worker gambling a small amount of their salary in a night at the casino.

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

#97

Post by dsego »

riskneutral wrote: post #80

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…

Is this akin to or different from dissociation and/or depersonalization? Because I don't want that coping mechanism, feeling and experiencing things is better.

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

#98

Post by mfoy_ »

brlewis wrote: post #85
etrautmann wrote: post #64

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

This is a bad analogy that makes it sound like you're defending flat-earthers.

It's like saying you use Hermeticism's Principle of Rhythm to build a pendulum-powered clock...

And unlike both Flat-Earth theory and Hermetics, Newton was actually demonstrably right. Flat-earthers and Hermeticists spin their theories out of whole cloth.

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

#99

Post by qntty »

izzydata wrote: post #91
riskneutral wrote: post #80

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…

Is it fair to acknowledge all of the worlds atrocities and then dismiss them so you can be happy?

You don't dismiss things in the world, you dismiss unhelpful patterns of thinking, and cultivate helpful patterns.

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

#100

Post by mamon »

hprotagonist wrote: post #78

see terry pratchett’s definition for “knurd”: https://wiki.lspace.org/mediawiki/Knurd Consider the following scale: Being drunk is to be intoxicated by alcohol to such an extent as to be unable to perceive the world clearly through the senses. Being sober is to be able to perceive the world clearly through the senses, yet humans are quite capable of giving themselves illusions and little stories to make life more bea…

I'm pretty sure that what Pratchett calls "knurd" here, Buddists call "enlightenment".
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