Posted by DC on March 30, 2000, at 1:31:09
This is something I've been wondering about lately. When people talk about depression they often talk about the "blues" the "lows" and it is, of course, supposed to be an emotional disorder. But I'm wondering if sadness is really even a major component for most people who are depressed. I feel crappy and miserable, but I'm not sad. This feeling is totally different from what I get when I cry during a sad movie, for instance. I know some depressions are precipitated by the death of a loved one or divorce. I sense that most people in here do not have these "endogenous" depressions, but rather something different. I wonder if most anti-depressants work better for people who are really "sad" as opposed to numb, tired, miserable. No one seems to talk about this. But these are very different emotions and it makes sense that they would respond to different meds. I wonder how many people in here would describe their depression as feeling "sad". I wonder if very many people actually experience extreme "sadness" for long periods of time--or does the sadness transmute into the numbness. Is depression "learned helplessness"? hopelessness? In other words what is the basic emotion involved in depression?
poster:DC
thread:28459
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20000321/msgs/28459.html