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If You're Often Angry or Irritable, You May Be Depressed

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Re: If You're Often Angry or Irritable, You May Be Depressed

#91

Post by mplewis »

cloakandswagger wrote: post #42
kec wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Depression isn't "feeling any way other than perfectly fine", it's feeling so continuously for an extended period of time such that your mental state begins to prevent you from living a normal life. Depression is a real issue for some people, and by trivializing it and blaming big pharma all you're doing is reinforcing the stigma around mental illness which makes it harder for people who really need it to seek help.

17% of the US population self-reported taking some form of psychiatric drug [1]. We're way past the point of truly disturbed people not seeking help due to the stigma of mental illness. Instead, it's cheerfully celebrated and encouraged in a way that I imagine will only stop once 100% of the country is zombified by mind-altering drugs. The pendulum needs to swing back towards self-help and the idea that some discomfo…

There's still a massive stigma against people with mental illness today. By no means are we "way past the point of truly disturbed people not seeking help due to the stigma of mental illness."

Re: If You're Often Angry or Irritable, You May Be Depressed

#92

Post by magduf »

GlenTheMachine wrote: post #53

This was precisely my wife's symptoms when we were first married. She was angry nearly all the time. She could hold it together in public, but at home it was miserable. She would go a full day at a time, alternatively not speaking, stomping around and throwing things, and yelling. It took a long time for her to be correctly diagnosed. It wasn't clear to me that depression was the issue, because as discussed in the ar…

My last girlfriend was a lot like this. She ended up dumping me because I changed my mind about moving in with her, because I wasn't very happy at home with her. I think she's probably seriously depressed, but hides it with anger. I have no idea, unfortunately, how to help her, and don't think I can; she refused to even communicate with me after the break-up (which was by text message).

Re: If You're Often Angry or Irritable, You May Be Depressed

#93

Post by jki275 »

magduf wrote: post #77
kingsloi wrote: post #52

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I just made HN account to reply to this, as I feel like I suffer with "existential depression" too. I had never heard of that before, so thanks for commenting. As I get older, the more I read, it just seems to be always doom and gloom. The obviousness that's occurring to things around us. I'm a natural born worrier anyway, but as I get older I think more about "existence". My wife and I plan to have kids, but then I'…

Do you live in the US? That's probably a big part of the problem. Everything in the US is doom and gloom, and everyone in the US is horribly paranoid. People are constantly paranoid about someone attacking them, and kids aren't allowed to run around outside because "someone might kidnap them". People that do get a visit from the police and CPS for "child abandonment". If you're planning to have kids, doing it in the…

What "US" are you talking about?

There are 50 states, all of whom have very different attitudes and values, and within those are thousands of counties, cities, towns, and unincorporated areas where nothing you wrote applies.

Re: If You're Often Angry or Irritable, You May Be Depressed

#94

Post by jamessantiago »

LinuxBender wrote: post #72
fifnir wrote: post #71

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You might be depressed

Nope. Quite happy. I just want to get on the elevator before the door closes and I have to wait another 5 minutes.

Does waiting another 5 minutes really matter that much? It could be worse, I suppose, maybe there could be no elevator and you'd need to climb the stairs. Maybe there could be a line to the stairs.

Maybe this isn't a symptom of depression per se, but such anger seems to be to be a factor of discontent that still may benefit from therapy or self-help.

Re: If You're Often Angry or Irritable, You May Be Depressed

#95

Post by everdrive »

ryanstorm wrote: post #41
avgDev wrote: post #28

The more you know about the world and tech especially, the more you will get depressed, IMO, maybe I'm wrong. Humans in general are pretty shitty, driven mostly by self-interest. I guess there are people driven by doing good but most people are capable of doing terrible things, especially when in a group. I do suffer from existential depression, I'm generally pretty happy, but as I learn more and live longer my outlo…

Your comment aligns with an old HN comment that I have saved that resonated with me: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=16402387 I'd also recommend people feeling this way to read The Happiness Hypothesis by Jonathan Haidt. It helped me.

Thanks for sharing this. I've found it really helpful. I had similar, but poorly express thoughts about depression for quite a while. I really appreciate this excellent theory and explanation.

Re: If You're Often Angry or Irritable, You May Be Depressed

#96

Post by irrational »

magduf wrote: post #77
kingsloi wrote: post #52

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I just made HN account to reply to this, as I feel like I suffer with "existential depression" too. I had never heard of that before, so thanks for commenting. As I get older, the more I read, it just seems to be always doom and gloom. The obviousness that's occurring to things around us. I'm a natural born worrier anyway, but as I get older I think more about "existence". My wife and I plan to have kids, but then I'…

Do you live in the US? That's probably a big part of the problem. Everything in the US is doom and gloom, and everyone in the US is horribly paranoid. People are constantly paranoid about someone attacking them, and kids aren't allowed to run around outside because "someone might kidnap them". People that do get a visit from the police and CPS for "child abandonment". If you're planning to have kids, doing it in the…

Wow. Bigoted much? That is such a prejudiced view of the US.

Re: If You're Often Angry or Irritable, You May Be Depressed

#97

Post by LinuxBender »

LinuxBender wrote: post #72
fifnir wrote: post #71

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You might be depressed

Nope. Quite happy. I just want to get on the elevator before the door closes and I have to wait another 5 minutes.

It sounds like you folks really want me to be depressed. :-) I can say, having been raised by a psychoanalyst, that I certainly have issues, but depression just isn't one of them.

Re: If You're Often Angry or Irritable, You May Be Depressed

#100

Post by kelvin0 »

smaddox wrote: post #40
avgDev wrote: post #28

The more you know about the world and tech especially, the more you will get depressed, IMO, maybe I'm wrong. Humans in general are pretty shitty, driven mostly by self-interest. I guess there are people driven by doing good but most people are capable of doing terrible things, especially when in a group. I do suffer from existential depression, I'm generally pretty happy, but as I learn more and live longer my outlo…

I used to think like this. Then I read "12 Rules for Life" by Jordan Peterson and "Daring Greatly" by Brene Brown a few times, and I realized I was making an implicit choice to see the world that way, and that it is a completely counter productive viewpoint. A shift in perspective can change everything.

I think smaddox makes a good point, I don't get the downvotes.

https://www.reddit.com/r/Stoicism/comments/9eaqqt/what_we_ca...

"The first is that some things are within our control and some are not, and that much of our unhappiness is caused by thinking that we can control things that, in fact, we can’t."

You choose to change your mental 'model' and re-frame your perspective (not to be confused with burying your head in the sand).

I don't consider myself as being a 'stoic' or evangelize it at all, however this mindset seems quite adequate in many of life's challenges.

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