4 ms·

The first half of the article has a lot of wisdom. The second half reminds me of well meaning people who make things worse by trying to help. "Just (go jogging

The first half of the article has a lot of wisdom. The second half reminds me of well meaning people who make things worse by trying to help. "Just (go jogging, do something creative drink vegetable shakes)" I would if I could damn it! lol

iguanayou 10y ago
I wonder if the REAL cure was not the creation of music, but instead being around like-minded people.
- BatFastard 10y ago
  That can also be a cure, but if the people you are with are not raising your spirits, it can have the opposite effect.
fredley 10y ago
Quite. The whole thing with (bad) depression is that it makes you unable to get up and do the very things that help fight it: exercise, create, see friends.
- taternuts 10y ago
  Yeah, might be different for different people but when I'm depressed I can become devoid of passion, and caring about things enough to carry them out becomes a daily struggle
  - md224 10y ago
    Exactly... the mythos of the "depressed artist" is a joke; if you're truly depressed, it's almost impossible to create. The light within you is extinguished. I suspect a lot of "depressed artists" are actually manic-depressive, which would explain their bursts of creativity.
    - gertef 10y ago
      I've never heard of a "depressed artist". I've heard of a tortured artist, someone who struggles with mental health.
- croon 10y ago
  I would also add that it by necessity has to happen dynamically. In the OP, the author recieves a nudge from his friend, but ignites his spark himself, and connects all the dots. It's like Inception, you can read however many self-help books, blogs, studies, ideas as you'd like to try to make yourself get out of something, but it won't happen until it's "your" idea. I have very much experienced this myself, and I can draw parallells between myself and the author, but I know that me telling anyone else won't help them (also from experience), because every transformation happens from within. All you can do is be supportive and present. Nudges and ideas can provide a seed, but they have to grow it. But there's also the risk of appearing pushy and having the opposite effect.
flippmoke 10y ago
There is a very large difference between clinical depression and situational depression. The ideas and suggestions of those who have suffered from situational depression are often not very helpful for those who suffer from clinical depression. I think this article is clearly about situational depression, but I don't think people often know there is a difference.
- deleted 10y ago
  [deleted]
- nzjrs 10y ago
  I think the article doesn't know the difference...
  - yellowapple 10y ago
    The article thinks it knows the difference (by trying to distinguish depression from ordinary "sadness"), but then seems to fail its own test.
- paulpauper 10y ago
  yeah it's not the type of depression David Foster Wallace wrote about
riebschlager 10y ago
Heh, exactly. "If you're overweight, just eat less! Problem solved!"
drzaiusapelord 10y ago
I really wish these advice givers would understand the difference between being down because things are not going well and having depression, which is a disease. Things are good for me from an objective perspective (money, career, family, health), but I'm miserable and not in a good place. My brain is broken and only certain treatments help. A DJ class isn't fixing me. I really think these people are confusing burn-out with depression. These are actually two very different things that require different solutions. I wish we were more open talking about burn-out and dissatisfaction instead of just ramping everything up to "I suffer from depression! Halp!" You don't. Once shit gets good for you again, you'll be Mr. Happy. I won't be. I feel like there's a stigma against discussing burn-out because it really can be seen as a personal failure. You worked too hard for stupid reasons, you believe your dishonest boss or work culture or coworkers, you had unrealistic expectations, you tried too hard for something that was impossible, or you simply failed and its entirely your fault, etc. It seems more ego-pleasing to just jump to talking about depression and kinda sorta equating your situation with people who suffer from major depression, which ultimately is ego-pleasing but the wrong way to go about things. If a DJ class 'fixed' your depression, you didn't have depression, you had burn-out/situational depression, which has nothing in common with clinical depression. That said, I don't want to trivialize situation depression/burn-out. Why do we only see post-burn-out articles but rarely see burn-out prevention articles? I spend about 20% of my work day considering whether that path I'm taking on this project or interaction violates my own anti-burnout strategies (do the least work possible from a reasonable perspective, do not create drama, let foolish things slide unless they personally affect me, very carefully pick battles, mentally clock out at 5, realize its just a job and that I work to live not the other way around, etc). Also the above is written from someone with a depressed perspective, so take that as you will.
sguav 10y ago
When I tried to exercise to get over a depressing time, I just couldn't manage to start. Then I one day planned to do it starting the following week and finally got it done. And so I found that using a physical agenda is the way to keep myself out of depression, it makes me do things

iguanayou 10y ago

I wonder if the REAL cure was not the creation of music, but instead being around like-minded people.

BatFastard 10y ago
That can also be a cure, but if the people you are with are not raising your spirits, it can have the opposite effect.

fredley 10y ago

Quite. The whole thing with (bad) depression is that it makes you unable to get up and do the very things that help fight it: exercise, create, see friends.

taternuts 10y ago
Yeah, might be different for different people but when I'm depressed I can become devoid of passion, and caring about things enough to carry them out becomes a daily struggle
- md224 10y ago
  Exactly... the mythos of the "depressed artist" is a joke; if you're truly depressed, it's almost impossible to create. The light within you is extinguished. I suspect a lot of "depressed artists" are actually manic-depressive, which would explain their bursts of creativity.
  - gertef 10y ago
    I've never heard of a "depressed artist". I've heard of a tortured artist, someone who struggles with mental health.
croon 10y ago
I would also add that it by necessity has to happen dynamically. In the OP, the author recieves a nudge from his friend, but ignites his spark himself, and connects all the dots. It's like Inception, you can read however many self-help books, blogs, studies, ideas as you'd like to try to make yourself get out of something, but it won't happen until it's "your" idea. I have very much experienced this myself, and I can draw parallells between myself and the author, but I know that me telling anyone else won't help them (also from experience), because every transformation happens from within. All you can do is be supportive and present. Nudges and ideas can provide a seed, but they have to grow it. But there's also the risk of appearing pushy and having the opposite effect.

flippmoke 10y ago

There is a very large difference between clinical depression and situational depression. The ideas and suggestions of those who have suffered from situational depression are often not very helpful for those who suffer from clinical depression. I think this article is clearly about situational depression, but I don't think people often know there is a difference.

deleted 10y ago
[deleted]
nzjrs 10y ago
I think the article doesn't know the difference...
- yellowapple 10y ago
  The article thinks it knows the difference (by trying to distinguish depression from ordinary "sadness"), but then seems to fail its own test.
paulpauper 10y ago
yeah it's not the type of depression David Foster Wallace wrote about

riebschlager 10y ago

Heh, exactly. "If you're overweight, just eat less! Problem solved!"

drzaiusapelord 10y ago

I really wish these advice givers would understand the difference between being down because things are not going well and having depression, which is a disease. Things are good for me from an objective perspective (money, career, family, health), but I'm miserable and not in a good place. My brain is broken and only certain treatments help. A DJ class isn't fixing me. I really think these people are confusing burn-out with depression. These are actually two very different things that require different solutions. I wish we were more open talking about burn-out and dissatisfaction instead of just ramping everything up to "I suffer from depression! Halp!" You don't. Once shit gets good for you again, you'll be Mr. Happy. I won't be. I feel like there's a stigma against discussing burn-out because it really can be seen as a personal failure. You worked too hard for stupid reasons, you believe your dishonest boss or work culture or coworkers, you had unrealistic expectations, you tried too hard for something that was impossible, or you simply failed and its entirely your fault, etc. It seems more ego-pleasing to just jump to talking about depression and kinda sorta equating your situation with people who suffer from major depression, which ultimately is ego-pleasing but the wrong way to go about things. If a DJ class 'fixed' your depression, you didn't have depression, you had burn-out/situational depression, which has nothing in common with clinical depression. That said, I don't want to trivialize situation depression/burn-out. Why do we only see post-burn-out articles but rarely see burn-out prevention articles? I spend about 20% of my work day considering whether that path I'm taking on this project or interaction violates my own anti-burnout strategies (do the least work possible from a reasonable perspective, do not create drama, let foolish things slide unless they personally affect me, very carefully pick battles, mentally clock out at 5, realize its just a job and that I work to live not the other way around, etc). Also the above is written from someone with a depressed perspective, so take that as you will.

sguav 10y ago

When I tried to exercise to get over a depressing time, I just couldn't manage to start. Then I one day planned to do it starting the following week and finally got it done. And so I found that using a physical agenda is the way to keep myself out of depression, it makes me do things