Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Depressed People See the World More Realistically (2017)

vice.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

221–230 of 304 posts

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

#221

Post by DisruptiveDave »

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 think we need to recognize the constant striving for happiness, and the inevitable disappointment when we don't reach it, as the unhealthy behavior that it is. It's okay, normal, even necessary to feel sad and pissed off at the world sometimes. It doesn't automatically mean something is wrong with you.

No, it doesn't mean something is wrong with you. But repeating that vicious cycle over and over and over and over again is a problem. I had a conversation with my wife the other night about seemingly inane and harmless complaining. "If we counted the number of these kinds of complaints coming from our mouths daily it would be in the dozens, perhaps more." This is death (via discontentment) by a thousand self-administered cuts. Once you see this clearly, when the veil is pulled back, you can't unsee it. It's an epidemic. The fact that it's unrecognizable to most and it is considered "natural" is guaranteeing the problem will never be solved.

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

#222

Post by jammygit »

The studies seem flawed in a very obvious way

> If you set up a circumstance where there's no relationship between the button and the light, depressed patients might be able to better pick that out, because that set of circumstances happens to conform to their somewhat biased view of the universe, that bad things happen for no reason," Moore explains. "That doesn't necessarily mean that they're more accurate broadly, but under that very narrow set of stimulus conditions, they come out looking more accurate.

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

#223

Post by sharadov »

rtkaratekid wrote: post #102

I'm not so depressed these days (thankfully) but this "realism" does tend to manifest is different ways. I'm very self-conscious about not dragging people down because some thoughts that I think daily that are normal for me, seem to be absolutely psychologically crippling for people who previously hadn't, or didn't want to think such things. Usually when I do express these thoughts they're in the form of semi-dark hu…

I would like to be your friend.

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

#224

Post by jackhack »

pknopf wrote: post #95

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,…

"vacaracted" = homophone for "Baker Act'ed"? referring to the Baker Act of 1971: Florida law for involuntary examination and potential commitment for treatment. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Florida_Mental_Health_Act

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

#225

Post by zzzeek »

> researchers presented both depressed and non-depressed participants with a button and a green light. They then asked the participants to figure out to what degree their responses (pushing the button) controlled that light. Depressed participants were much better at judging the degree of their control, while participants who weren't depressed tended to assume that they had more control over the light than they actually did.

so they gave a depressing scenario to people and the depressives were quicker to identify that it was, in fact, a depressing situation.

however, put depressives into a fun party where people are open and accepting and the depressives will often instead focus on a negative, antisocial view that is manufactured by their mood disorder and takes them out of this very welcoming and positive situation.

As a lifelong depressive I've struggled to see reality for what it is and not as what my depression is constantly misrepresenting. I of course also have the experience where I can see an actually depressing situation for what it is more readily than others, but I think the premise of the article is still generally absurd. The world seems like a very hostile and dangerous place to me, and while you can of course find limitless examples of this being completely true, it nonetheless it prevents me from doing things that other people do quite safely and successfully all the time and for which this dark perspective is completely exaggerative and distorting.

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

#226

Post by rtkaratekid »

x2f10 wrote: post #188
rtkaratekid wrote: post #102

I'm not so depressed these days (thankfully) but this "realism" does tend to manifest is different ways. I'm very self-conscious about not dragging people down because some thoughts that I think daily that are normal for me, seem to be absolutely psychologically crippling for people who previously hadn't, or didn't want to think such things. Usually when I do express these thoughts they're in the form of semi-dark hu…

>But sometimes I wonder why I can lose friends so fast by just saying things that are true or are very likely to be true. I am like you. However, I hold the old quote to be true: "People may not remember exactly what you did, or what you said, but they will always remember how you made them feel." It doesn't matter if the things are true or not. You stating those things makes people feel scared, worried, and/or defea…

Definitely! Which is why I try to moderate myself. I don't want to bring people down by any means at all.

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

#227

Post by potta_coffee »

zzzeek wrote: post #225

> researchers presented both depressed and non-depressed participants with a button and a green light. They then asked the participants to figure out to what degree their responses (pushing the button) controlled that light. Depressed participants were much better at judging the degree of their control, while participants who weren't depressed tended to assume that they had more control over the light than they actua…

Or maybe the person is just an introvert or has sensory issues - then a fun party becomes a torture chamber. As me how I know.

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

#228

Post by jacobolus »

rtkaratekid wrote: post #102

I'm not so depressed these days (thankfully) but this "realism" does tend to manifest is different ways. I'm very self-conscious about not dragging people down because some thoughts that I think daily that are normal for me, seem to be absolutely psychologically crippling for people who previously hadn't, or didn't want to think such things. Usually when I do express these thoughts they're in the form of semi-dark hu…

I have had various friends over the years who were clever and funny but relentlessly cynical. I found spending time with them to be quite enjoyable and amusing, but only for limited amounts of time, occasionally.

With too much exposure their cynicism just got tedious. The edgy jokes lost their edge. The worldview seemed more defeatist-for-its-own-sake than inherently more perceptive than alternatives. Making fun of all the clueless optimistic imbeciles out there started to seem pointlessly mean. The conversations started to get boring and repetitive.

YMMV.

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

#229

Post by potta_coffee »

esotericn wrote: post #129
rtkaratekid wrote: post #102

I'm not so depressed these days (thankfully) but this "realism" does tend to manifest is different ways. I'm very self-conscious about not dragging people down because some thoughts that I think daily that are normal for me, seem to be absolutely psychologically crippling for people who previously hadn't, or didn't want to think such things. Usually when I do express these thoughts they're in the form of semi-dark hu…

I've found a lot of correlation between this sort of sense of humour and the type of place I enjoy working at. Me and straight laced folk just don't get on. It doesn't work. There's an impedance mismatch whereby there are all of these invisible lines that I cross without even realising. Like yeah, dude, your job is bullshit. So is mine. Life is, and then you die. If you're not fucking around and having (harmless) fun…

This kind of black humor is very present in the military (at least the branch I was in). I quickly found that I no longer fit in when I came back to the civilian world.
Post reply on HN