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I've been reading through your responses and agree generally with your perspective on this issue (I say this as someone who has dealt with varying levels of dep

I've been reading through your responses and agree generally with your perspective on this issue (I say this as someone who has dealt with varying levels of depression behaviorally and chemically, both on my own and with professional assistance). But I'm curious about your fundamental position on the "physical theory", which seems to imply there's a real distinction between physical processes and emotional processes, and that sadness, extreme or not, is non-physical. Sadness is not some ephemeral phantasm that floats beyond the body. It's a cognitive/neurological response to external stimuli. It's a biological event. My personal opinion is that controlling your brain with chemicals should be a last resort, because in many cases you can achieve similar results with relative consistency by addressing underlying social problems. While more labor-intensive, achieving satisfaction without drugs is liberating. But I don't think normal emotions are categorically distinct from medicalized emotional states: both are chemical or electrical processes. It seems you disagree. Am I misinterpreting your position?

formulaT 12y ago
I used the term physical as a quote from the author, who also used in quotes (hence the python style quotes in my post). But "physical" somewhat captures the medical view on depression, as something distinct from the ordinary spectrum of "healthy" emotions, and with causes that are primarily internal not external (although, as you say, all thoughts and emotions are ultimately mediated through physical processes in the brain). So my point wasn't that sadness is non-physical, but rather all experiences are physical, and most experiences belong to the spectrum of human emotions, which are influenced by external and social events, thought not always in the most obvious way (hence my opposition to the "just get over it" strawman, since "just get over it" might be a bad response to mere sadness too). I also don't have a strong opinion on chemical intervention, except that I would hold them to a higher standard of evidence since I have a stronger prior on the root cause being social and emotional, rather than a congenital inbalance in brain chemistry. It's plausible that they work, and if they work, they should be used.

formulaT 12y ago

I used the term physical as a quote from the author, who also used in quotes (hence the python style quotes in my post). But "physical" somewhat captures the medical view on depression, as something distinct from the ordinary spectrum of "healthy" emotions, and with causes that are primarily internal not external (although, as you say, all thoughts and emotions are ultimately mediated through physical processes in the brain). So my point wasn't that sadness is non-physical, but rather all experiences are physical, and most experiences belong to the spectrum of human emotions, which are influenced by external and social events, thought not always in the most obvious way (hence my opposition to the "just get over it" strawman, since "just get over it" might be a bad response to mere sadness too). I also don't have a strong opinion on chemical intervention, except that I would hold them to a higher standard of evidence since I have a stronger prior on the root cause being social and emotional, rather than a congenital inbalance in brain chemistry. It's plausible that they work, and if they work, they should be used.