Quote from: meth mouth on September 24, 2012, 09:36 pmThere are some good answers, and some incredibly stupid answers.People who think the solution to depression is to look at panda photos, have sex, or listen to good music, have obviously never experienced clinical depression. Such people are likely assuming that depression is the same as their own fleeting feelings of sadness. With real depression, you have a reduced capacity to even feel pleasure, even if you were to do all of these things. If you're just sad, you can be cheered up by having sex or something, but it's not the same with depression.IMHO...The vast, vast majority of people, and I do mean 99% here, diagnosed with depression do not have the kind of depression you're describing. Most of those who do, literally have something chemically wrong with them from birth, it's not a new feature, or else they were exposed to some kind of toxicity that caused brain damage.The fact of the matter is that words like "depression" or "anxiety" are so broadly categorized almost anybody can be slotted into them, because psychology is a bullshit science used by pharmaceutical companies to infantalize people into believing they are life's irrecoverable victims unless they pay $$$ for the magick beans *cough*, of course I mean pills.This is not pine trivializing people who feel blue or down. People who feel temporary melancholy do frequently kill themselves, so I'm hardly saying it's not a problem. I am saying that is there a fuck ton of pseudoscience going on, similar to how placebos work, only in reverse. You tell people they have something wrong with them enough times, and they begin to believe it after a while. Work ethic slipping? Depression! B- instead of an A+? Depression! Accidentally cut oneself with a knife or tripped on a stage? Depression! Your girl/boyfriend left you? Depression! And so it goes. It actually reminds me of one of those tribes in central Africa or south east Asian islands, where a witch doctor will curse somebody, and the people believe in this so strongly that they do actually die due to the sheer stress of the belief in some cases, a sort of self fulfilling prophesy. I think some witch doctors still live among us.The real problem is that we have an entire society in which many people feel directionless, purposeless, powerless and some parts of the pharmaceutical industry feed off this. I think this is a new thing, that our ancestors didn't experience the general funk that I think has set in in the late 20th century onwards. This may be partly because they were outdoors more and worked physically (endorphin release combats blues), but I also think this is because society has become too centralized and people have become more despondent because of this. I can't put numbers on such a thing, but I'm always stuck by the incredible optimism for the future that many libertarians have, even when they are seeing a dystopian future (or present), they seem to have a reserve of inner conviction and pride that makes them more independent, maybe seemingly more arrogant to others, but still!One of the smartest persons I know is categorized as autistic. There seems to be this myth, that unless you have everything, or are perfect, that you are expected to be unhappy, discontent with your current lot in life. Anyway, writing about depression doesn't make me any happier, so I'll stop here. But remember! Take the fight to the real enemy! Fatalism! You're fine :)P.S. I think platypus pictures are worth a lot more than you think...! I also think it's wicked that MDMA and LSD are considered illegal drugs when depression and anxiety medication is usually more dangerous by a long shot.