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> 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 de

by zzzeek 7y ago

> 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.

potta_coffee 7y ago
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.
- ghgfhgfhn 7y ago
  Yeah sucks doesn't it. I'm a friendly out going person. But I just can't do pubs or bars or clubs because the noise just overwhelms me and I become a jibbering idiot. Sad times
  - tempguy9999 7y ago
    I'm having exactly this problem at the moment. Been isolated far too long, not used to noise now, stir in some buggery of mental problems... But I' forcing myself out right now to the pub. I won't enjoy it now nor for weeks yet, but going through that is necessary if I'm going to recover. Sometimes it's just down to repeated practice, same as anything else. HTH and good luck.
- taurath 7y ago
  Neutrally overstimmed and negatively stimmed are different though! If you’re just neutrally overstimmed you can find a quiet corner, another room with less noise and fewer people, or hang out on the porch. Negatively stimmed you won’t be able to be in or around the place at all. Depression or anxiety is a “general” upset, whereas overstimmed is a “local” upset.
  - potta_coffee 7y ago
    That really makes no sense to me. Let me explain. Certain types of places / events are extremely distressing to me because of sensory factors. Now, when I have to attend a conference for work, I have extreme anxiety - the anxiety is caused because of the sensory distress I know I'll be facing. "Local" vs "general" doesn't seem to be a useful distinction for me. I could be misunderstanding you.
    - taurath 7y ago
      The anxiety is what I mean by general stress. I'd bet you probably suffer more from the anxiety about the sensory distress more than you do the sensory distress! I had a problem with this as well - the anxiety totally took over, and was much worse. Over time, I managed to keep the distress local to when I was actually feeling overwhelmed, and then could start to work to mitigate the sensory overload, by taking frequent breaks outside, wearing noise cancelling headphones, sunglasses, or finding quiet corners with fewer people. Its not much of a problem for me anymore, and over time my senses have become a bit more fine tuned and won't be piqued by much more than very loud/unexpected sounds.
thanatropism 7y ago
Your assessment resonates with me (someone who has depressive and hypomanic episodes). I've always conceptualized hypomania as having a much higher rate of false positives (in such a way that e.g. every attractive woman in sight seems to be heavily flirting with me), but false positives cut in both directions: when depressed, I will e.g. notice and lament minor aches (as representative of an enduring state of physical pain) in excess of what "balanced me" would. You have given me new perspective on my wobbly biases. Thanks a lot!
deleted 7y ago
[deleted]
derangedHorse 7y ago
The study wasn’t there to have participants judge whether the scenario was “depressing” or not, it was to evaluate the participant’s ability to accurately assess how much objective control over a light they had. This implies that depressed individuals in the study also had to accurately judge when the lights were directly correlated with the button press, and were actually under the control of the depressed participant (so what could be considered a “non-depressing” scenario by some). That’s not to say that negative delusion doesn’t affect people with depression, but the article does lean closer to the theory that most of the fringe observations attributed to a negative outlook may in fact be closer to reality than a normal individuals.
- zzzeek 7y ago
  you can't observe solely that depressed individuals are more thoughtful or methodical when approached with a technical puzzle, and then jump to the headline, "Depressed People See the World More Realistically". It's like saying people who are very good at chess, video games, or engineering see the world more realistically. What does "more realistically" mean? What kind of "things" are we referring towards, how a bridge is built, if a certain person is a good person or not, what kind of politicians should be elected, if their artistic creations are worthwhile, is this plane is going to crash, is this current situation not so bad or not ? It's ridiculous to make such a sweeping statement, and especially regarding depressives, who almost by definition have a distorted view of reality.

by zzzeek 7y ago

potta_coffee 7y ago

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.

ghgfhgfhn 7y ago
Yeah sucks doesn't it. I'm a friendly out going person. But I just can't do pubs or bars or clubs because the noise just overwhelms me and I become a jibbering idiot. Sad times
- tempguy9999 7y ago
  I'm having exactly this problem at the moment. Been isolated far too long, not used to noise now, stir in some buggery of mental problems... But I' forcing myself out right now to the pub. I won't enjoy it now nor for weeks yet, but going through that is necessary if I'm going to recover. Sometimes it's just down to repeated practice, same as anything else. HTH and good luck.
taurath 7y ago
Neutrally overstimmed and negatively stimmed are different though! If you’re just neutrally overstimmed you can find a quiet corner, another room with less noise and fewer people, or hang out on the porch. Negatively stimmed you won’t be able to be in or around the place at all. Depression or anxiety is a “general” upset, whereas overstimmed is a “local” upset.
- potta_coffee 7y ago
  That really makes no sense to me. Let me explain. Certain types of places / events are extremely distressing to me because of sensory factors. Now, when I have to attend a conference for work, I have extreme anxiety - the anxiety is caused because of the sensory distress I know I'll be facing. "Local" vs "general" doesn't seem to be a useful distinction for me. I could be misunderstanding you.
  - taurath 7y ago
    The anxiety is what I mean by general stress. I'd bet you probably suffer more from the anxiety about the sensory distress more than you do the sensory distress! I had a problem with this as well - the anxiety totally took over, and was much worse. Over time, I managed to keep the distress local to when I was actually feeling overwhelmed, and then could start to work to mitigate the sensory overload, by taking frequent breaks outside, wearing noise cancelling headphones, sunglasses, or finding quiet corners with fewer people. Its not much of a problem for me anymore, and over time my senses have become a bit more fine tuned and won't be piqued by much more than very loud/unexpected sounds.

thanatropism 7y ago

Your assessment resonates with me (someone who has depressive and hypomanic episodes). I've always conceptualized hypomania as having a much higher rate of false positives (in such a way that e.g. every attractive woman in sight seems to be heavily flirting with me), but false positives cut in both directions: when depressed, I will e.g. notice and lament minor aches (as representative of an enduring state of physical pain) in excess of what "balanced me" would. You have given me new perspective on my wobbly biases. Thanks a lot!

deleted 7y ago

[deleted]

derangedHorse 7y ago

The study wasn’t there to have participants judge whether the scenario was “depressing” or not, it was to evaluate the participant’s ability to accurately assess how much objective control over a light they had. This implies that depressed individuals in the study also had to accurately judge when the lights were directly correlated with the button press, and were actually under the control of the depressed participant (so what could be considered a “non-depressing” scenario by some). That’s not to say that negative delusion doesn’t affect people with depression, but the article does lean closer to the theory that most of the fringe observations attributed to a negative outlook may in fact be closer to reality than a normal individuals.

zzzeek 7y ago
you can't observe solely that depressed individuals are more thoughtful or methodical when approached with a technical puzzle, and then jump to the headline, "Depressed People See the World More Realistically". It's like saying people who are very good at chess, video games, or engineering see the world more realistically. What does "more realistically" mean? What kind of "things" are we referring towards, how a bridge is built, if a certain person is a good person or not, what kind of politicians should be elected, if their artistic creations are worthwhile, is this plane is going to crash, is this current situation not so bad or not ? It's ridiculous to make such a sweeping statement, and especially regarding depressives, who almost by definition have a distorted view of reality.