4 ms·

as a person with severe depression, i am absolutely certain of one thing. feelings come first, then thoughts. it's impossible to think your way out of depress

as a person with severe depression, i am absolutely certain of one thing. feelings come first, then thoughts. it's impossible to think your way out of depression. it sounds like OP's empathy is a "deep" / low-level quality of how their mind works, in which case it's probably impossible for them to think their way out of it. IMO

theorique 12y ago
as a person with severe depression, i am absolutely certain of one thing. feelings come first, then thoughts. Is it possible that this thought is the source of the depressed feelings?
- amagumori 12y ago
  nah. your assumption is that i feel depressed about something. it's just an ambient feeling that is constantly present when i'm conscious, that has a negativity-reinforcing effect on my thoughts and perspective. it has nothing to do with what i'm experiencing, although getting bummed out can certainly make it worse. the closest thing i can compare it to is chronic back pain. i also didn't explain the "feelings come first" thing very well but i elaborated in my response to the guy above you.
gesman 12y ago
Definitions (beliefs) -> Feelings. Without definitions you'd have no feelings about anything: youre_an_asshole - feels bad to you im_an_asshole - feels better to you :) erwqgg3resafd - no feelings invoked. no definitions about it exists.
- amagumori 12y ago
  i didn't explain what i was trying to get at with "feelings come first" well enough. i believe people are constantly associating their current emotional state with their current area of perceptive focus. for instance let's say you go through a bad breakup and drink chocolate milk every day for a week while crying into your chocolate milk. when you drink chocolate milk again months later, you're going to remember that association and have a twinge of sadness. i think this process goes on constantly (with much less intensity usually) with everything you do. feelings come first. your associated emotions are the reasons you have the beliefs you have! they're the reason you have the goals you have, the fears you have, etc etc etc. the myriad tiny emotional associations you feel constantly are the low-level stuff on which the higher-level construct of thoughts is built. that is what i'm saying.
  - gesman 12y ago
    >> your associated emotions are the reasons you have the beliefs you have! I agree that egg or chicken first problem worth argumenting about, but saying that omelet comes before an egg is a bit of a stretch to buy into :)

theorique 12y ago

as a person with severe depression, i am absolutely certain of one thing. feelings come first, then thoughts. Is it possible that this thought is the source of the depressed feelings?

amagumori 12y ago
nah. your assumption is that i feel depressed about something. it's just an ambient feeling that is constantly present when i'm conscious, that has a negativity-reinforcing effect on my thoughts and perspective. it has nothing to do with what i'm experiencing, although getting bummed out can certainly make it worse. the closest thing i can compare it to is chronic back pain. i also didn't explain the "feelings come first" thing very well but i elaborated in my response to the guy above you.

gesman 12y ago

Definitions (beliefs) -> Feelings. Without definitions you'd have no feelings about anything: youre_an_asshole - feels bad to you im_an_asshole - feels better to you :) erwqgg3resafd - no feelings invoked. no definitions about it exists.

amagumori 12y ago
i didn't explain what i was trying to get at with "feelings come first" well enough. i believe people are constantly associating their current emotional state with their current area of perceptive focus. for instance let's say you go through a bad breakup and drink chocolate milk every day for a week while crying into your chocolate milk. when you drink chocolate milk again months later, you're going to remember that association and have a twinge of sadness. i think this process goes on constantly (with much less intensity usually) with everything you do. feelings come first. your associated emotions are the reasons you have the beliefs you have! they're the reason you have the goals you have, the fears you have, etc etc etc. the myriad tiny emotional associations you feel constantly are the low-level stuff on which the higher-level construct of thoughts is built. that is what i'm saying.
- gesman 12y ago
  >> your associated emotions are the reasons you have the beliefs you have! I agree that egg or chicken first problem worth argumenting about, but saying that omelet comes before an egg is a bit of a stretch to buy into :)