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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)

#191

Post by tim333 »

harimau777 wrote: post #143

How do you guys think this relates to Cognitive Therapy? What I mean is: My father was a therapist and a big advocate of the idea that people can be happy regardless of their circumstances and that emotion comes primarily from what someone thinks. There's a lot of truth in that, and it seems clear that Cognitive Therapy is an important treatment for depression. However, he sometimes seemed to de-emphasize the importa…

Cognitive Therapy has it's limits. It generally seem to help a bit and is relatively straight forward as therapies go.

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

#192

Post by tim333 »

psychoslave wrote: post #170
ModelTheorist12 wrote: post #133

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It doesn't matter what we SAY about the shape of the Earth though, does it? It only matters how we use/apply those theories in practice. Practical errors have consequences. Theoretical errors don't. It's just lip service without follow-through. I can SAY that the Earth is triangular and nothing will happen. Q.E.D If you insist that it is in (some way) wrong or incorrect for me to say that the Earth is triangular. Wel…

>I can't remember the last time the Earth's shape mattered to my practical, decision-making process. Did you use a GPS lately? http://www.astronomy.ohio-state.edu/~pogge/Ast162/Unit5/gps....

I imagine flat earthers use GPS too and rationalise it somehow.

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

#193

Post by nerdponx »

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.

I just cringe whenever I see Vice linked anywhere. They've gone from being a great source of raw and "outsider" news to being an edgy rag.

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

#194

Post by cowb0yl0gic »

"Terror Management suggests that human nature is actually wired towards self-deception: In order to avoid facing terrifying concepts like death, most of us live in a state of self-delusion." I very early on in life recognized this as a primary principle of human psychology. As soon as we begin to understand the concept of death, we unconsciously develop this as our primary defense mechanism. It's what all religious and spiritual belief systems are founded on.

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

#195

Post by throw51319 »

Yeah when you're depressed you definitely are more realistic about the challenges you/the world faces.

But, you are in a state of fear where you are over-exagerrating the things you could lose.

In a happy state or happy manic state, you don't overvalue these things. You accept the fleeting nature of moments moving on, and this frees you up to make bolder choices.

It's all a spectrum of how bold you want to be in your life and day to day.

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

#196

Post by tim333 »

shijie wrote: post #117
gfs78 wrote: post #96

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

Do you have any references for most startup founders being rich? Qualitatively this does not align with my experiences at all with almost any founder of a company I’ve ever met. Almost all of them risked everything.

Some anecdotal data here https://www.quora.com/Do-the-majority-of-founders-of-tech-st...

I'd say most are rich - false. Tend to come from wealthier than average backgrounds - true.

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

#197

Post by escape_goat »

dwaltrip wrote: post #185

A lot of people in this thread are justifying their own pathologies with the title. Nothing more powerful than a story that soothes the ego. Maybe there is some truth to the idea. I wouldn't be surprised, although we probably can't make that general of a statement. Either way, don't let something like this article stop you from improving your life. One thing is for sure, we can't accurately predict all of the possibi…

From the text of the article, the title ought to be "Although the idea is 40 years old, there is no conclusive proof that depressive realism exists and the evidence suggesting that it does may be an artifact of experimental design."

I'm not actually sure what to make of this article, to be honest. The two sources interviewed are very clear that 'depressive realism' is a poorly supported and not particularly useful concept, but the inertia of the article leads in the opposite direction.

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

#198

Post by lazerpants »

dawg- wrote: post #156

Here's an important thing from the article: >it's most likely to occur in mildly depressed people—those suffering from major depression, by contrast, are more likely to suffer from larger distortions in their thinking. I wonder if we have overly-pathologized the regular melancholy that comes with every day life? If mildly depressed people actually see the world realistically, maybe nothing is actually wrong with them…

I completely agree. Then of course, when I point out that it means that suicide is a totally valid and perhaps good option, people tell me I'm seriously depressed, not mildly.

Maybe there's not such a big difference between the two, mild and debilitating depression, just the amount of energy you're willing to put into living your life.

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

#199

Post by 29athrowaway »

cowb0yl0gic wrote: post #194

"Terror Management suggests that human nature is actually wired towards self-deception: In order to avoid facing terrifying concepts like death, most of us live in a state of self-delusion." I very early on in life recognized this as a primary principle of human psychology. As soon as we begin to understand the concept of death, we unconsciously develop this as our primary defense mechanism. It's what all religious a…

I think the mind is constantly trying to avoid death, and when we learn death cannot be avoided we come up with "solutions" like an afterlife, reincarnation...

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

#200

Post by kls »

ok_coo wrote: post #172
rocelot wrote: post #119

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The other day someone was remarking how quickly one's luck can change (for the better). I don't disagree but for whatever reason my response was, "yah, life is full of ups and downs, the trick is to die on one of the upticks". I thought it was hilarious. They thought I was morbid and cynical. Go figure!

A saying I used at my old job was, "It could be worse, you could be face-down in a ditch somewhere." I thought it was funny and meant to improve people's perspective. Most people thought it was morbid too, so I had to stop. Personally, I think a little dark humor helps people get by but that's just me. :)

Be careful with that one, if they where older they could have found it offensive. Ira Hayes an American War hero of WW2 died drunk in a ditch and if IRCC "dead in a ditch" was coined as morbid reference to that event, and was not always used in the best light when referring to American Indians. It can evoke stereotypes of American Indians and alcohol abuse as he was more remembered at the time for his death, rather than for being one of the few Marines that survived to raise the flag at Iwo Jima.
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