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"Is depression a gift?"

I understand how utterly moronic this may seem at first glance, but it's something I've been thinking about recently.

Why are so many intelligent and gifted people so unhappy with life and the way they live? What on earth makes them so utterly deprived of their ability to enjoy themselves?

Or then, is depression something that comes with intelligence... or does it actually cause intelligence? Making us smarter and wiser, causing us to think more. Hundreds of artists, musicians, most talent in the world can be linked with a depressed childhood, and traumatic experiences. Can we link those to our gifts and talents, or is it only a compensation for something that we are born with?

I refuse to believe that a man is born an artist. Perhaps you have stronger muscles which have been genetically inherited... but we are not born with the ability to use a pen. We are not born with the ability to run, and we are not born with the ability to speak. We are basic humans, waiting for the template of the world to be set apon us.

So then, if our lives are not set, then would something like a traumatic experience make that much difference to our lives? Can it change us that much to give us skills and talents that we only ever dreamed of before?

I say yes. For trauma brings emotion, and emotion must be controlled. Once that is learned, then it can be filtered, and through practise of translating this emotion, creativity lives.

Assuming that this is correct... it does bring a huge discussion point, something that I can't decide, for confusion of humanity.

Is it right to traumatize a child, in the hope that the emotion caused by this will make the child stronger? Can something so utterly bad end up making something so perfectly good?

Surely there is another way that emotion can be carried? Surely depression isn't the only way to spark creativity...?

I'd certainly like to hope not... but depression and fear are very strong emotions, and it's hard to equal them with emotions of the other side...

On a last note, creativity and depression I feel are heavily linked. For depression causes so many thoughts to cross you, and creativity is the only real way of expressing those thoughts. Without creativity, we would all probably kill ourselves.

I've come to join the pity party - that was supposed to be ironic before you all get rightous. Personally I think one of the issues about depression is that it is socially defined. Back in the 50's you didn't have eating disorders/self harming/post traumatic stress disorders and the myriad of other complaints that blight modern life. Oliver James the psychologist wrote a really good book that was subsequently made into a Channel Four series called Britain on the Coach. Subtitle "The low seratonin society".
Seratonin is our happy drug. The one that E kicks starts hence the feelings of euphoria, happiness etc.
So anyway back in the 50's when there was precious little chance of geographical/social or any other kind of mobility and if you grew up in a pit town you generally worked in the pit, married the girl next door and died in the pit our seratonin levels were up. Yup that translates into we were happier.
Come the 90's when if you follow most of the models of mental health that say as a societie's affluecne grows so does your chance of happiness i.e we are all materailly richer, you can (in theory) do what you want with your life and the chances of dieing a premature death your children dieing a premature death or all those grim things that were a feature of everyday life have diminished and guess what? Our seratonnin levels have plummeted and all mental illnesses have gone through the roof.
There is a fairly obvious flaw in Mr James argument i.e back in the 50's you put up and shut up. Post natal depression, post traumatic stress hadn't even been named never mind people identifying them as the source of their distress.
There is also the point that we live in a hugely aspirational society. We all expect the perfect job/relationship/love/emotional life and guess what life doesn't work out like that. Life in the word of Hobbes can be "nasty, brutal and short".
I'm not quite sure what my point is. Are we simply spoilt and expect life to be better? Do we feel entitled to happiness whatever form that might take and feel cheated when live isn't like that. Or is it simply a case of now that people are talking we are naming what has been going on for years. Just because they didn't record or name anorexia/alcholism or whatever symptom of societies ills doesn't mean it didn't exist. Anyway I've lost the thread of my own post so I guess I should stop there.

Life is like a wavelenth - the more happy you are the more depressed you will be and the less happy you are the less depressed you will be. Kitty explained this in her post below as well so im sure im not a complete nutter!

What goes around comes around.

Grix Thraves wrote:
> I think perhaps my greatest problem is I need someone to talk to, but I will
> continue to refuse to talk to anyone.


Well, in that case, you're a bit stuffed really, aren't youio?

:-)

I think perhaps my greatest problem is I need someone to talk to, but I will continue to refuse to talk to anyone.

No, I don't have a phone. Never have, doubt I ever will. I don't like being in constant communication, and the inability to leave the social world behind is something that I don't understand.

Yeah, they're useful, but if I fall off a cliff, then I'm an idiot.

To be honest I can no longer really be bothered with life. To start with just a while ago, to be more specific at the beginning of the year, I had all of these amazing dreams about where I would be in 10 years time.

But now I just can't be bothered anymore, I find lessons hard to concentrate in and find it hard to communicate with friends. I've set myself lowers aims and found I'm just not as clever as I used to be.

Job wise, I'm going to join the army as an officer after a degree in psycology, but at the moment I might just join after school as I really no longer care what happens even though I know that in the end I'll look back and regret it.

Goatboy wrote:


It can prevent you from functioning at all, when it hits me I spend hours just staring at the floor, unable to do anything but breathe in and out.

Yep same, just sit in room with door closed.

I find it impossible to write or play when I am suffering, it ain't noble.

Yep, many a reason for uncomplete homework, not really my fault but hard to explain to teachers.


It can cause you to seriously consider suicide, and not in some "I cant take it anymore!" drama style, but in a "i dont care about anything, it's too much effort to sit here and breathe".

Yep, but I've never really done anything, just the thought of not being bothered to do anything and I don't give a damn about anything feeling.

And one last yep, got it in a nutshell.

Grix, just because you're sitting and thinking for hours doesn't make you a depressive.

You're just contemplating things, nothing wrong with that.

Also, not being funny, but have you got a mobile phone? Do you use it a lot? If so, that could explain why you're not concentrating on maths any more.

Same happened to a mate of mine. He stopped using his phone almost completely, and within a couple of weeks he was back to normal.

I wasn't trying to make the point of "I've had a bad day and that makes me a genius"... I think depression was the right word, and especially manic depression.

I've been getting worse and worse recently, sitting and thinking for hours on end, seeing things again, and I just can't concentrate on anything... maths, which I normally find a breeze, I now find hard to read the numbers and letters.

What should I do? I am just overacting and making a fuss out of nothing, or should I go to someone? I nearly failed my exams last year because of it, and I'm worried about if I'll be able to get into the course I want to do.

No problem. My pretentious post probably deserved a quick flurry of punches.