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First of all, this is not what you'd expect from the title and it is not aimed at a certain pro gamer. I am merely getting annoyed at how this term is getting thrown around far too frequently. And what could cause me to blog for the first time in 6 months? A rant.
I frequent a Skype chat with a bunch of my online friends, and it seems in recent times, a new person has piped up complaining about being depressed every couple days. Honestly this is really starting to bother me. While I don't doubt that certain people are legit depressed, it seems like this word is getting severely overused.
The point is everyone goes through down periods in their life where they're sad and it seems bleak and dark. At every point in someone's life it seems like things can't possibly get any better, but this is not depression. Being sad for a few days and finding yourself lacking in motivation is not depression, because this generally fades away given time. If you randomly wake up and everything is better for no apparent reason, you probably weren't depressed.
Depression is when the sadness completely overtakes everything in your life. When you cannot function as a normal human being because of the apathy and overwhelming sense of helplessness. Depression is a dark pit in which it can seem impossible to escape from, and it actively fucks with your life. Generally if you're still getting to work on time, and functioning as a normal human being from day to day you are not seriously depressed. Not to say there might not be other issues in your life, but depression is serious business.
Depression is when you refuse to get out of bed for an entire semester and fail all of your classes.
Depression is when you get fired from your job because you don't care enough to go to work.
Depression is when you lose relationships and all your friends when you keep blowing off dates because you just don't "feel like it," and keep making up excuses to stay home.
Depression is when you sleep for 16 hours a day because of the overwhelming apathy and don't care enough to do otherwise.
[True stories]
I lost my father in June of last year and took a break from Starcraft because of it. I had to seriously stop and evaluate my life and where it was going. There were points where I didn't know what to do, and I was overwhelmed with crushing sadness, but it wasn't depression. This was just extreme despair, and while they seem similar, they're very different.
In short, still seek help from your friends, their attention and caring can be a good thing. But for the love of Kerrigan stop saying you're depressed because you were sad for a few days.
  
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The problem with your rant is the problem people are facing when they say they're depressed: they don't suggest or substitute the word with any other word.
The issue isn't that they're saying they're depressed when they legitmately may not be, but that they're unable to fully articulate how they're feeling without hitting a charged word.
So when they feel "depressed" as they call it, they may actually be feeling "discouraged", but since they aren't introduced to using that word regulary, they say "depressed" and eventually fall deeper into their idea of what depression is intended or should be.
I also think your ways of identifying with what depression is, also leads to pitfalls and issues:
Generally if you're still getting to work on time, and functioning as a normal human being from day to day you are not seriously depressed.
This isn't clinically accurate for all people, etc. etc. I think if you're unhappy with how people term their feelings, you need to extend your help to either remedy it or suggest new ways to describe their feelings.
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Are you addressing this to progamers, to the blog forum or to the world in general?
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But... I WAS really depressed like you described!!!
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On July 30 2012 11:47 Torte de Lini wrote:The problem with your rant is the problem people are facing when they say they're depressed: they don't suggest or substitute the word with any other word. The issue isn't that they're saying they're depressed when they legitmately may not be, but that they're unable to fully articulate how they're feeling without hitting a charged word. So when they feel "depressed" as they call it, they may actually be feeling "discouraged", but since they aren't introduced to using that word regulary, they say "depressed" and eventually fall deeper into their idea of what depression is intended or should be. I also think your ways of identifying with what depression is, also leads to pitfalls and issues: Show nested quote +Generally if you're still getting to work on time, and functioning as a normal human being from day to day you are not seriously depressed. This isn't clinically accurate for all people, etc. etc. I think if you're unhappy with how people term their feelings, you need to extend your help to either remedy it or suggest new ways to describe their feelings.
What you're saying is basically the concept of labels. Labels are a very powerful thing in psychology. The way people identify themselves does a lot to shape their own being. So, even the refusal to label yourself as depressed can be a helpful act. This is a tricky balance, because it can lead to refusing to seeking help at the same time as well.
The problem is, it's difficult to accurately describe feelings involved in depression because it's different for everyone. The accepted definitions accept the fact that this is something that extends over a period of several weeks minimum, and interfere with your day to day life.
On July 30 2012 11:49 Probe1 wrote:
Are you addressing this to progamers, to the blog forum or to the world in general?
Venting annoyance, it's not directed at anyone in particular who might see it. The problem with this type of thing is, directly challenging someone with a statement like this is generally not a good idea. I almost posted this to another forum, but instead decided to post it here.
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Yeah I dig that.
it can lead to refusing to seeking help at the same time as well.
I'm not really one to talk about depression on the internet but this is a big deal for a lot of people I've met, self treating with drugs and adrenaline.
Cool came back in time to edit this in. I'm not taking away from what you're saying I'm just offering a comment on the opposite side of the spectrum. Which is, I guess, underrepresented. The people that need help and don't want it, express it or ask for it don't find help while the people that need to suck it up are the neon billboards we see day to day.
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Yeah, that's another can of beans entirely, and why I put in that note at the end to still talk to your friends about it if you're having a tough time. A lot of people underestimate how helpful it can be to talk to a friend about these problems.
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Sorry, but that is what the word depressed actually means and has for a long time. I was coincidentally thinking about this earlier today. There is a distinction with the word depression, since it almost never refers to a short period of sadness, but people say "I'm depressed" all the time when they're just have a couple of rough things happen to them lately. They don't mean to suggest thing have a chronic feeling of sadness. They wouldn't say "I suffer from depression."
I think you just want the English language to work a way that it doesn't. There is ambiguity to the word depressed, because it is basically just a good image for a slightly more meaningful sadness / lack of energy, like a deflated balloon. That we happen to causually call Chronic Depression simply depression does not make it the only meaning of the word.
Also, I strongly disapprove of the pissing contest you're starting about sadness in your definition of depression as a disorder. Anyone with a basic education in psychology and a brain can tell you that depression takes many forms. Whether it impacts your life enough to make you completely dysfunctional in society, or it only impairs your function, or it is just a chronic inability to feel good about life, these all can fall under the umbrella of what we call depression. In many cases people live with depression and succeed in leading independant if unfulfilling lives. People with depression don't just all live with their parents or wither and die on the streets. Instinct for survival and acquiring the means to live (even if at a bare minimum) are very strong. So basically what I'm saying is you're wrong.
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On July 30 2012 12:24 Chef wrote:
Sorry, but that is what the word depressed actually means and has for a long time. I was coincidentally thinking about this earlier today. There is a distinction with the word depression, since it almost never refers to a short period of sadness, but people say "I'm depressed" all the time when they're just have a couple of rough things happen to them lately. They don't mean to suggest thing have a chronic feeling of sadness. They wouldn't say "I suffer from depression."
I think you just want the English language to work a way that it doesn't. There is ambiguity to the word depressed, because it is basically just a good image for a slightly more meaningful sadness / lack of energy, like a deflated balloon. That we happen to causually call Chronic Depression simply depression does not make it the only meaning of the word.
I'd be fine if people said that they've been a little depressed recently, or other such similar phrases that make it clear that they're using depressed as in a little bit deflated. The problem is, when you hear someone use the word depression they almost always imply that they mean clinical depression. So while I agree with the concept of your statement, I very rarely see it used in practice.
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I would agree with Chef here. He stated it much better than I ever could have, however it does seem like you're living by a definition of it while others hold it with different weight. You can find many different "official" definitions of the term that refer to it differently; some similar or identical to how you describe it and some that cover instances that you would describe as sadness.
Reminds me of my rant on "ethernet cables". Strictly speaking in terms of these cables when you are in the cabling industry, they are not ethernet cables, however you still go to the store and see it packaged as an "ethernet cable" when it's presented to a consumer. I'm technologically correct however.
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Well, if want techinical accuracy when talking about the disorder, you would call it by the proper name Major Depressive Disorder (MDD). Or you might talk about Major Anxiety Disorder (MAD) which doesn't mean people can't use the word 'anxiety' or 'anxious' to describe their emotions if they aren't chronically anxious, or anxious to the point of severe dysfunction. If you were to get anal about making people be specific, you would have to accuse people who call MDD simply depression, since it is technically inaccurate.
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Best of luck I wish to you. Perspectives are important when considering depression, unfortunately, some people can play this up. If I recognize it, and now for a fact, then I will just let them say what they want and change the subject.
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So I'm wrong if I have a really bad day, which I consider a valley (a depression) in my life-curve of happiness/motivation, and I say "I'm depressed today."?
As someone stated earlier, I'm not saying I suffer from depression (a disease), I rather say that I'm depressed right now. Which very much so coincides with the actual meaning of the word.
I still empathize with you. It must be hard. I just started to get to know my father after 15 years without contact. I guess I'm lucky in that way. All the best Alan.
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On July 30 2012 18:18 drooL wrote:
So I'm wrong if I have a really bad day, which I consider a valley (a depression) in my life-curve of happiness/motivation, and I say "I'm depressed today."?
As someone stated earlier, I'm not saying I suffer from depression (a disease), I rather say that I'm depressed right now. Which very much so coincides with the actual meaning of the word.
I still empathize with you. It must be hard. I just started to get to know my father after 15 years without contact. I guess I'm lucky in that way. All the best Alan.
this would make sense as a description of how most people use the word except for the fact that many people who have experienced this kind of sadness and used the word in this way will then feel in retrospect that they've experienced a major depressive episode and have advice on how to get out of it that they can give to actual sufferers. "this is how i got out of it" etc., you know, "go exercise" "dress better" "sleep more" whatever. of course that's almost never going to work since the resiliency that allows somebody to employ those methods and that allows them to be successful is one of the main things that's gone in the clinically depressed.
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It's funny you say that. I am not depressed, in fact I simply have an introverted personality but for whatever reason a number of people have tried to unprofessionally "diagnose" me with depression which usually just makes the situation worse.
I'm not depressed, I just generally find people to be depressing. That is all.
EDIT:
On July 30 2012 12:24 Chef wrote: Anyone with a basic education in psychology and a brain can tell you that depression takes many forms.
What about a person with a basic education in psychology but lacking a brain?
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If it wouldn't happen so often, i could really get angry at all those people that went through a short down phase and think they know everything about depression because of it. Feeling down or "depressed" for a few days happens to everyone, as long as you have friends that care about you it's not as bad as it sometimes might feel.
The "tips" that most people that suffered through those phases give to really depressed people are usually somewhere between useless to ridiculous.
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I would say that the emotional state is similar between clinical depression and just feeling depressed. But when you are clinically depressed, you are for one reason or another in a pattern of falling back into that depressed emotional state or not able to get out of the state in the first place. A mentally healthy person will naturally get over his tragedies, fix problems he has and appreciate when things start getting better for him.
Depression is a complicated illness with complicated reasons fueling it and the symtoms differ from person to person. So you could always argue that describing the illness as "depression" is too vague.
I realize I don't know exactly where I am going with this. I guess I agree that there should be a better way of differentiating the feeling of depression and the illness in regular speech. But in order to get there, there has to be more awareness of mental health in the general public. That would be a good thing.
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Depression isnt necessarily an "overwhelming sadness". That's what most people think. It would take pages upon pages to clearly explain what depression is, but it's not that.
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As people have already stated much better than I can, the word gets used different by different people. I guess in the end, all it comes down to is people being currently unhappy with their lives, regardless of how long they've been feeling like that.
However with that said, it's a bit "annoying" (for lack of a better word) when "hardcore" depressed people lash out at people who are currently "depressed" because they haven't been miserable for a long period of time. If anything, the elders should try and offer some advice to people and try to make sure they don't become another "hardcore" depressed. But that is too much to think about and probably wouldn't work out so smooth.
Just check out videos of corgis playing with other dogs, and you'll feel 1-100% better about your life.
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EPT
