The Philosophy of Depression

you awake one day with a sense of dread at first pinning it on the common annoyances of work unaware of the dissent you will experience over the next few months the sleepless nights the lack of Joy the inability to communicate your feelings to the seemingly happy and content figures that surround you a rift develops between your former and present self Hobbies no longer satisfy your desire for weekend escapism your loved ones notice peculiar behaviors but unlike Miss an arm the symptoms aren't noticeable enough to Warrant a concern and of course you wouldn't want to bring

them down talking about it only makes it real every now and then you feel elated Overjoyed with life and almost Godlike your Mania further drives away and confuses the only ones willing to listen in Twilight moments of self-reflection you see the totality of Anguish your X-ray vision of Despair lasers through the impermanence of it all the insist istant misery of being your only sense of comfort of stability is your acknowledgement that there truly is nothing to be hopeful for David Foster Wallace likened the situation of those depressed to the scenario of jumping out of a

burning building make no mistake about people who leap from burning Windows their Terror of falling from a great height is still just as great as it would be for you or me standing speculatively at the same window just checking out the view the fear of falling remains a constant the variable here is the other Terror the fires Flames when the Flames get close enough falling to death becomes the slightly less terrible of two Terrors it's not Desiring the fall it's Terror of the Flames what is depression there's of course the strict division of depression into

its characterization as a state or mood versus a full full-fledged disorder while the former is but an expected component in the tapestry of Human Experience the latter is crippling and formed through genetics and environmental stressors major depressive disorder carries with its symptoms of sadness tearfulness hopelessness anxiety states of insomnia thoughts of death and a lack of interest in activities that one had once enjoyed additionally in order to separate it from Sadness the symptoms of depression are generally persistent across more than a few months depression is complex although thought to be primarily caused by chemical imbalances

scientists have found that the very structure of the brain and neurology especially such signs as a shrinking hippocampus also play a role certain genetic factors also contribute Studies have shown that some individuals carry genes that are far more likely to result in sustained despair after a trauma compared to others interestingly many of these genes also have links to inflammatory properties suggesting at least according to evolutionary psychology that depression may actually have stuck around in our gene pool as a way to keep people healthy and less prone to sickness this explains why the often prescribed preventative

measures for depression exercise sleeping enough and lowering blood sugar levels are also anti-inflamatory activities likewise depression has a feeling of UN found in dread and despair unlike those who are sad who can locate the source of their Sadness the depressive is unable to identify why they feel depressed they may latch on to Universal issues of The Human Condition such as an apparent lack of meaning in existence or the tragedy of death or may even project their despair onto insurmountable conflicts such as climate change economic crises or crime waves schopenhauer captures this the vanity of existence

is revealed in the whole form existence assumes in the infiniteness of time and space contrasted with the finiteness of the individual in both in the fleeting present as the sole form in which actuality exists in the contingency and relativity of all things in continual becoming without being in continual desire without satisfaction in the continual frustration of striving of which life consists this inability to find a source for the sadness does not mean that there is an absence of a certain personal cause but rather there may be an uncovered stressor in one's life such as a

problematic relationship or unsatisfactory job or even a repressed trauma it is generally the work of the therapist to offer the patient adequate space to confront these incredibly uncomfortable points of contention if depression can be treated pharmaceutically and therapeutically what's the point of philosophizing over it after all we don't have a philosophy of Lyme disease it should be treated rather than intellectualized and I Would by no means encourage one to pass up professional help for an evening with schopenhauer and yet depression is very different from other ailments at times it is merged into the Avenues of

Genius especially when we take into account The Works of n John Stewart Mill and binstein in fact that aformentioned laser f Focus through the BS of life that depression gives you can be of benefit as a healthy dose of philosophical pessimism are we to dismiss all of our dark discoveries about the world as soon as our serotonin levels have adjusted arguably it could be even advantageous as those who believe in depressive realism see it the theory that depressed individuals make more realistic inferences than the non-depressed especially under fmri scans depressives can make more accurate judgments

of causal attributions of positive and negative social events of course in terms of pursuing capital T truth depression might be beneficial but in the domain of living a good or happy life it does seem to be better to assume that ignorance is bliss these larger truths that can only add to the weight of our despair are the classic existential dilemmas of Life one's impending death and the death of loved ones the anxiety of absolute freedom the ability to truly understand one another that takes upon the painful experience of isolation and last but certainly not least

the meaninglessness of it all existential Psychotherapy seeks to alleviate one's concerns with these irresolvable observations if the diagnoses of chemical imbalance appear to miss the mark this form of therapy is used when those who are depressed simply cannot live with the unbearables of The Human Condition it borrows from humanistic psychology existentialism and phenomenology to remind the sufferer that for instance one should spend less time thinking about life after death and more time living their life before it through a healthy recognition of one's mortality but why do we have to do all of this thinking in

order to not feel the weight of our tragic lives is it not already so obviously tragic to exist to be without consenting to David Foster Wallace uses this classic joke to open a Comm M speech there are these two young fish swimming along and they happen to meet an older fish swimming the other way who nods at them and says morning boys how's the water and the two young fish swim on for a bit and then eventually one of them looks over at the other and goes what the hell is water Wallace uses this not

to assert that he is the wise older fish but rather to make the case that the obvious most important realities are often the ones that are the hardest to see or talk about it is the depressive who carries with them this simple and useful awareness that life is utterly absurd elre kamu the French Algerian philosopher although he preferred not to be called one popularized this term in his philosophy of absurdism kamu argued that there was a certain in congruence between man and the universe namely human beings always strive for some sort of purpose and unfortunately

we are generally unable to find such purpose in the universe the product of this Rift is the Absurd a fundamental disharmony at the core of existence especially in the last few decades as Humanity finds itself at the deepest end of the pool with little to cling on to the Absurd creeps into every waking moment hopes to find meaning through God meta narratives and even the notion of one's individuality have all come under the microscope kamu argues that hope is the real issue behind this he refers back to n's story of Pandora's Box all of the

evils of the world the plague flooding famine have been Unleashed by Zeus while the remaining evil is left in a box why is hope so evil it is after all the reason why humans let themselves be tormented because they anticipate an ultimate reward instead of valuing one's life here and now individuals hope for a better life beyond such as in an afterlife according to kamu only once we realize that our hopes of being Immortal and significant will never be satisfied that is once we recognize the Absurd can we live a good life the world is

beautiful and outside there is no salvation he writes kamu himself would attempt to live without hope and take part in the Earthly Delights of adultery that would contribute to his wife's depression in fact Kimu tumultuous attempts to live beyond hope something that impressive May struggle with regularly uncovers some issues with no longer hoping for instance we may end up hurting others through our hedonistic indulgences into the present as Kimu could attest and significantly not hoping seems almost entirely impossible from a psychological standpoint kamu even recognized man's inability to live without hope even if we wanted

to it is very likely that we are always hoping for something and that psychologically speaking it may be almost impossible to stop hoping it has been suggested recently that kamu philosophy of absurdism allows space for this inability in what has been called a strange hope directed towards the possibilities inherent in the present this line of thinking is taken up in the philosophy of the French existentialist Gabrielle Marcel Marcel saw the human being in a strange predicament he recognizes that he's an existing thing and yet desires to prove that his life is more significant than this

this is very much in line with kamuz absurd Marcel argues that the individual in striving for greater significance initially believes that the things around him can give him meaning and value suddenly the desire to possess surmounts the desire to Simply Be life then becomes a series of instances to possess to control and own the things that he believes will give value to his existence this drive to possess in order to satisfy the hope of meaning originates at the very heart of the marcelian distinction between problem and mystery for the most part we see this absurd

discrepancy between being and becoming something meaningful as a problem to be solved the depressive for instance sees depression as a problem an obstacle to conquer this he argues to be certain extent is a product of the technical character of modern society the urge to systematize everything into problems awaiting a solution a problem does not involve the person who is asking the question or pressing the issue in fact the identity of the questioner can be altered while the problem remains a constant Marcel urges us to reframe our problem with existence into a mystery of existence or

being a mystery unlike a problem is meta problematic the identity of the questioner is integral to the question being raised this is the mystery of being one cannot address what being is and who one is separately they are only coherent as question when taken together furthermore solving Mysteries is very different from solving problems Mysteries may not even be open to Solutions however they demand participation and involvement they require our entire being when confronted by a problem such as feeling sick we hope to feel better however when we are confronted by a mystery such as depression

or life it's not always entirely clear what we are to hope for Marcel favors this hope a a general and absolute hoping the act by which temptation to despair is actively or victoriously overcome instead of hoping for x or y we simply hope there is no anticipation for a specific event but rather a strange but profound assertion that everything is not necessarily lost this does not mean that the person who hopes in this way accepts things as they are Marcel viewed this strange hope as an act of patience it analyzes probes and actively strives towards

being all well accepting the mysterious character of its very work this is not optimism that anticipates or desires a certain outcome the optimist's desires can be ruined by a turn of events but the one who Embraces this vague hope the hero that maintains their hope surmounts the despair embedded in all Mysteries hope consists in asserting that there is at the heart of being beyond all data beyond all inventories and all calculations a mysterious principle which is in connivance with me when all hope seems lost we nonetheless hope for something to hope for Hope then as

Homer Simpson has also championed alcohol to be is truly the source of and solution to all of our problems and as Yung writes the greater and most important problems of Life are all insoluble they can never be solved but only outgrown this does not mean that the problem is robbed of its reality it means that instead of being in it one is now above it we are the mystery of our being we are the hope that strives for its resolution we are perhaps Our Only Hope and as long as we remain breathing so too will

this undying light whether psychological or metaphysical guide us through despair urging us to push on at times we may find Strife in hoping for a better day for an alleviation from depression for sunny mours and Tender Kisses nonetheless in complete recognition of your personal struggle and your nightly flights of Anguish your sense of worthlessness your dread even in the depths of your hopelessness I ask you to betray all logic and reason I ask you to nonetheless hope when he would over philosophize and feel an unbearable dread in his heart the philosopher David Hume would retire

to his quarters and play games with his friends and when after 3 or 4 hours Amusement I would return to these speculations they appear so cold and strained and ridiculous that I cannot find in my heart to enter into them any further I didn't intend to compose an argument against or solve nihilism or the Deep loneliness you've been feeling I don't think the mysteries of being should be solved anyways overintellectualizing can imprison someone into a life of contemplative unhappiness sacrificing one's few breaths on Earth for a chance at some sort of higher order truth we

mustn't forget to live to laugh to listen to good music to mess up to create beautiful and ugly art I cannot hope to solve your depression and I urge you to seek the resources that are available and philosophy can't also hope to solve your problems it's not always very medicinal just take a glance at all of the philosophers that have taken their Liv lives in some respects only you can help yourself only you can decide if life is good I wish I could convince you but words always have a great way of impoverishing the most

necessary of truths after this long rant and to paraphrase the closing paragraph of kamuz the myth of Copus I leave you at the foot of the mountain you do always find your burden again but you possess a strange hope that rejects the needs for gods and instead raises rocks you two conclude that all is well this universe henceforth without a master seems to you neither sterile nor futile each atom of that stone each mineral flake of that nightfill mountain in itself forms a world the struggle itself towards the heights is enough to fill your heart

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