9 ms·
Is it unreasonable to suspect that depressed people can spread their attitudes to other people? The concept of purely social diseases is centuries old at this p
by steponlego 4y ago
Is it unreasonable to suspect that depressed people can spread their attitudes to other people? The concept of purely social diseases is centuries old at this point.
- michaelt 4y agoFor depression, perhaps. Misery loves company. But for stress - if you were leaving a job because you found it too stressful, wouldn't you be eager to chill out and take things easy at your new job?
- parineum 4y agoMaybe they're like those people you meet that "hate drama" yet it somehow follows them around every turn.
- mschuster91 4y agoIt's similar to domestic violence or unhealthy relationships - many sufferers of that are so used to being treated badly they literally cannot imagine a better world and can't spot red flags.
- lynx23 4y agoThis assumes stress always comes from an external source. Most of the stressed-oout people I know actually have anxiety as a personality trait, and stress as a result of it.
- ejb999 4y agoA lot of people create their own stress and are their own worst enemies - you know the type, we all do - when they switch jobs, they don't switch personalities.
- girvo 4y agoYes it is unreasonable, because depression is not an “attitude”.
- pjerem 4y agoWell, you are right that depression is not an attitude. It's a disease, a malfunction. But like any other disease, it can happen from or be aggravated by external factors. If you are, to some degree, predisposed to depression, you are more likely to aggravate or trigger it by living in an hostile environment than if you are living your dream life. It's like being predisposed to cardiovascular diseases : even if you are predisposed, you are more likely to not have any issue if you never encounter stress, eat healthy and have an active life. Saying depression can be contagious by no means implies that depression is an attitude and not a disease.
- girvo 4y agoWhile you and I know that, literally up and down this thread are dozens of commenters who do not, and seem to think it is indeed just an “attitude”. Or that being sad is the same as being depressed.
- wjnc 4y agoSame question but without the DSM-5 diagnosis? I do recognize that work cultures differ and that people after a few years internalize the work culture. Some firms have massively worse performance on absence, sickness and probably all other kinds of metrics related to well being. So my prior would be one of “totally true”. But keeping an open mind. The same set of observations could fit other explanations like that extraverts with people skills switch jobs more often and that there is clustering of likewise individuals on certain negative traits.
- deleted 4y ago[deleted]
- mantas 4y agoClinical depression is not an attitude. But in vast majority of cases some attitudes was the cause.
- cies 4y agoSo we should help identify and fix attitudes, instead of "anti-depressing" them with medication -- sounds plausible.
- theGnuMe 4y agoYes. If it were true then psychologists and psychiatrists would be the most depressed people anywhere.
- vermilingua 4y agoNurses and Doctors wear extensive PPE around known-infectious patients. A huge part of psychiatric care is composing your "mental PPE" to remain objective, and maintain their distance from the patient.
- bjornlouser 4y agoYou have a different relationship with depressed clients than depressed coworkers and mangers.
- baremetal 4y agothe power dynamic is way different, indeed
- runsWphotons 4y agoI think they are? This article says like half (compared to 10% of US adults?) https://www.psychologytoday.com/au/blog/campus-confidential-coping-college/201604/depressed-psychologists https://www.psychologytoday.com/au/blog/campus-confidential-...
- pydry 4y agoA lot of people predisposed to mental illness gravitate to the profession.