Can Depression Become a Habit?

 

Author of this article, Patrick Clark.

Can the depressive state some people fall into become a habit? --That is can it become the default behaviour when facing something the individual does not want to deal with. My initial answer to this question is a gut feeling of "Yes, it can become an automatic reaction." Over the course of the coming days and months this article will expand as I find related documents and topics either disproving or proving this question. In actuality it probably will be somewhere down the middle of the road, but we shall see.

My family, especially the males in my family, have all suffered bouts of serious depression, occasionally becoming clinical. So I'm very familiar with the question above. Currently I'm going through a mild depressive state and it annoys me because there are things I must do in life. Yet I have noticed that whenever I approach the actual task my emotions tend to tank. Today is no exception, and I have a large amount of paperwork waiting for me on my other desk. I really feel of resistance yet and I will get this done today. But it does annoy me having to go through this mental brick wall. Even five shots of pure espresso to didn't help the matter.

Just a thought on the spur of the moment... I decided to ask Chat GPT this question. Can Depression Become a Habit. Here is its response verbatim. Note remember this response is generated by an AI. To make it clear in the text is a different colour.

 Depression is a complex mental health condition influenced by a combination of genetic, biological, environmental, and psychological factors. While it's not accurate to characterize depression itself as a habit, certain behaviors and thought patterns associated with depression can become habitual over time. For instance, persistent negative thinking, social withdrawal, and avoidance of activities once found enjoyable can reinforce depressive symptoms, creating a cycle that's challenging to break.

Understanding these patterns is crucial in addressing depression. Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) is one therapeutic approach that focuses on identifying and modifying negative thought patterns and behaviors. By recognizing these habits, individuals can work towards developing healthier coping mechanisms and breaking the cycle of depression.

If you or someone you know is struggling with depression, it's important to seek professional help. In Canada, resources such as the Canadian Mental Health Association (CMHA) offer support and information. You can visit their website at https://cmha.ca/ for more details. Additionally, consulting with a healthcare provider can provide personalized guidance and treatment options.

Remember, reaching out for help is a vital step towards recovery, and support is available.

The following is most definitely my personal opinion. Depression can become a habit. A knee-jerk reaction, if you will to any sufficiently distressing situation. After all is the ultimate disconnection a method of letting go of all issues and responsibilities. Your subconscious doesn't care however if this hasn't any negative impact on your conscious mind. The subconscious just knows this is one way of immediately resolving the situation. Especially if it is something you truly don't want to do. Your mental circuit breaker has just blown wide open and you stop and so to speak.. Even if that means falling into the sea. You have changed things.

If an hypothetical "Operations Manual for the Human Brain" was ever written, it most certainly did not take into account the current environment the human brain and mind are currently in. It may be, trite to say but, life and society are moving so fast and there is so much information needed to be filtered and processed that evolutionarily it is just not prepared. Like a Commodore Vic 20 compared to a current smart phone it has not yet acquired the processing power meeting to keep up with things. Yet, in society's race to discover new things we have not considered this fact. Now, I am not saying we should slow down progress, what I am saying is we need to consider the impact before we bring something new to the party.

By not considering the impact of new technology and social change we end up overwhelming our minds and brains collectively. I remember many years ago I was working with a gentleman who was very excited to look up a new laser printer to his computer. Initially I got a phone call from him saying that the print out from the brand-new printer was very slow. When I took a look at the computer it was obvious what the problem was, the machine was ancient I think it actually might've been an early Pentium and of course whenever it needed to produce his company logo the amount of data he needed was just beyond what the old computer could produce at a reasonable pace. To be clear it worked, but you could have a coffee break in the time it took to print a single page.I believe this is the situation some people find themselves in now and it is no wonder that depression appears more frequently in modern society.

A partial solution to this is then not so much to slow down, rather it is to realize the impact life is having on the individual and make appropriate adjustments. Depression can show up when one least expects it but in my experience that means that things in one's life need to be paid attention to. "Timing is everything." as they say. 

An Aside: Artificial Intelligence Does Something Interesting with a Photograph. 

While trying to think up an image for the top of this article I decided to use a photograph of an atomic bomb exploding and render it through some AI software I have. What it came up with is so unusual that I just have to posted here

Image created using Vision FX 2.0  software 
by Distinct AI.

 I did give the AI a little direction saying that I wanted it rendered in a comic book style with saturated colours. My idea was to create something which depicted the "explosion/implosion of the mind" a person sometimes feels with depression.

Unfortunately I cannot display the original photograph due to copyright restrictions. Of course the above picture has no such restrictions, so feel free to download it and use it as you wish.

 

Even though that the feeling of depression can become a reaction to any sufficient the negative situation, this does not mean it set in stone. Reactions can be altered by changing a routine and the first step to that is to recognize that something has become a routine. Sometimes this is not the easiest thing to do in the moment, so we visited when the situation is different, perhaps later in the day. There are always ways to alter one's interpretation.

As always, feel free to leave comments. 

Take care, Patrick.

 

 

You Don't Know What "Democracy" Is, Because You've Never Lived In A Country Without It.

My views on politics and life in general are pretty simple: "Everyone has the right to govern their own lives and are also responsible for what they do." Of course this is an extremely oversimplified statement, but at the heart of my thinking, that is it. The individual is free to do what they want and they must owner what they do. But It seems that today people are yearning for the exact opposite, rather than freedom, they want more "guidelines". There are now more socially implied  rules and it is much easier, at least from my perspective, to step over some politically correct boundary. What is going on here? Globally, societies seem to be throwing away the idea of democracy. They may call it something else in the media but I think that's what it boils down to. You just need to look at what is going on in the United States right now to see how polarized the liberal and conservative camps are becoming. It doesn't matter the topic either. There is less true debate and more justification of why any particular viewpoint is correct. It is almost as though every idea is being approached as though it were a sales pitch, literally a commercial. Rather than discussing a viewpoint or position, individuals are selling their point of view. There is no discussion and interaction involved.

Don't take democracy for granted. The "Good Old Days" were not as good as you remember.

Democracy and the responsibilities that brings with it are being thrown away bit by bit. My concern is that the people doing the "throwing away" don't know what their giving up because they've always had it. Some of you reading this paragraph may say "Patrick, don't be ridiculous. It will never get that far." My response to them would be "Look at the world. Look at how polarized people have become in their viewpoints." There seems to be far less a willingness to discuss and debate any issue now days we seem to go straight for the extreme.

On 11 February 1990 Nelson Mandela made
his first public speech, after 27 years in jail.
Source: South Africa Gateway.
License: CC BY-SA 4.0

Is this because modern communication systems have taken face-to-face meetings and interactions out of discourse? Instead of dealing with a real person in a group, the debate is happening over a video chat? Which takes out that small but very important responsibility involved with dealing with someone personally, physically in the same space. They used to  call this  video chat side effect "The Ivory Tower"; it meant that the person was out of touch with the topic and not seeing the broader picture. I think this might be what is happening today with society. Therefore it becomes easy to complain about democracy or any other concept because people are seeing it only from their own ivory tower. It is very much like dealing with someone over the phone rather than a person. When you are right there with the individual there are many more subtle cues and motivations. The two people may understand the issue much more thoroughly, because meeting in person brings the topic alive for them. They still may not agree, but there is much more understanding and I bet her list of the tendency to become polarized on the issue at hand.

The bottom line is: People need to gather in person more. To rebuild those connections that originally brought societies together and allowed sincere debates to occur without the dangers involved in thinking in extremism terms. It's a slower process absolutely. But everyone wins no matter what the outcome because dealing with people face-to-face makes you acknowledge the humanity and the complexity. People are stronger emotionally and I believe intellectual as well.

Whereas with the Internet and other communication media it is far easier to write your comment, click the submit button and off you go to somewhere else. You can't do that in real life. You have to deal with whatever the issue is, with the people right there with their comments and rebuttals. Everybody comes out of this real-life experience with them far richer understanding.

As far as democracy goes, debated with someone in real life. Meet with them over time. Go through the pros and cons of not only democracy but any other system you can think of. Then you will know what it is like to live without it or at least have some depth on the topic.

Take care Patrick.

Fractured Days

Photo by: Wenjie, Zhang License: CC BY 2.0

This article might turn into a rant.

Constant interruptions.

Yep, that's what I call the last few days. A collection of small, albeit not intended, disturbances. On a both personal and public level. I'm going to get a little X-Files here but I really am beginning to believe, at least a little bit, that my building and/or the inhabitants even though they are well intentioned go through cycles of disturbance. No sooner does one have a plan in place that there is something that happens. Could be a knock at the door or as it happened earlier today, one staff member ran in flew around my apartment counting of all things garbage cans. When I inquired with another staff member, because the first one it already flown the coop, as to what the heck was going on. The reply was "Last time we ordered garbage bags in masse the size was wrong. So this time, were going to fix that."  ... Yes indeed it was a garbage can audit. I'm guessing that it'd be dropped on the staff out of the blue because the "auditor" was running like mad.

The day went on like this with people running in and to checking the various things. Or wanting to make relatively small talk. Just important enough that I couldn't say "no" to them. There have been a few other days like this in the past week.

Minor chaos presides.

Something is going on with our flooring and painting redo of the building. It was started in a flourish of activity then all of a sudden it stopped before completion. About a week is gone by and I noticed the handyman is doing a lot of part on his own. No word as to what is going on when things will be completed.

Even my computer has gotten into the chaos act. The software I use to create videos for this site and other projects has decided to become rather unstable. Quirky might be a better word to describe it. 20 minute projects turn into an hour-long at least. When I finally finished one project I went uploaded to YouTube and I gotta very ambiguous message saying that it on no one error had occurred. Now fortunately you can go to YouTube and drag-and-drop your material in a standard browser. But the automated system is much nicer because it compiles the video into a finished product and then uploads it. If you do it the manual way you have to check back several times to see if the movie is ready for uploading. The process of compiling and converting the video to the right format is rather lengthy. And so this automation feature is very handy.

Mind you I have a few odd issues to deal with myself and am feeling a little bedraggled. I get this way whenever things don't progress. Where I live, although I love the staff and a general environment it is all very segmented. I really do miss the days when I can get into it six-hour stretch and just work on a project. Over here two hours is kind of the average. The days go by a little too fast for my liking. A friend of mine said to me the other day "Well at least you're not bored." I laughed and said "I am working now more than I ever did when I was younger." And that is true.

Tomorrow will be better I hope, and I'll get more done. I had planned today to get a package out for a board meeting I'm having with another organization next week. That didn't quite happen. So tomorrow's going to be another lightning finish to get it out the door. Because one of our members does not do email. Yes you read that right. Because of their condition they can't look at a monitor. Or any screen for that matter. It gives them a relatively quick migraine.

Okay that's enough for now.
I shall report more tomorrow. Take care everyone and thanks for stopping by.
Patrick

Why does pessimism exist?

Graphic based on image by
Peggy und Marco Lachmann-Anke from Pixabay.
Used under the Pixabay License.

 I am, by my very nature an optimist. It intuitively for me doesn't make sense to me to waste one's time on negativity, and that's not to say that life is been a breeze, sweet and easy. Far from it, as a matter of fact, the way one faces challenges indicates whether a person is either a natural optimist or pessimist.

Being an optimist is fairly straightforward and it makes complete sense, because it focuses on the benefits of a "bright" point of view, for lack of a better word. It is self reinforcing. If you see the good in that challenge, you don't feel overwhelmed, indeed one gets a sense of accomplishment and joy. In short it is "Good in One End results in Good out the Other End."

So why does pessimism exist?

I have met people who, even when positive events occur they intuitively and automatically strive to think up some negative angle.   If let's say they win $1000 they would immediately think "That's good, but gee I wish I won the $10,000 prize." This behaviour goes on with the person in the myriad of more  subtle ways as well, and in some cases it seems they are in a constant negative loop. It truly is, I believe an addiction mentally - An addiction to pessimism - the default mode of operation for their mind. Still they must be getting something out of it. There must be some larger benefit greater then the grief caused by pessimism.  It has become clear in the last while to me that these people put themselves through hell. They are anything but content. They are not even neutral, but buried in the darkest of emotions. So what is their big payoff?

One possible answer occurred to me. Their pessimistic outlook relieves them of any responsibility. Their negative situation is always due to something else. It is an eternal playing of the "victim card" - something is always being done too them - And whatever it is, it is beyond their ability to control.  In the short run this appears to greatly simplify their life. By transferring all responsibility over to someone else, in the short term, they get to sit back and enjoy the beninifts. Taken to the extreme, the person may believe themselves to be utterly incapable of doing something, and therefore the rest of the world runs in to save the day. Whoever plays the superhero will goes away initially feeling empowered. While our pessimistic friend gets the benefits of some action taken on their behalf without any of the consequences. Or at least that's how it appears at first.

This stage would be equivalent to the "high" effect of a drug. But it only lasts for a short time, because more often than not, since they didn't take any responsibility for what ever occurred, they don't appreciate the value they received. It becomes inconsequential because they know they can call on the superhero at any time. In my view the pessimist then misses out on a great deal of life. To work toward an achievement and then eventually reach the goal is a tremendous feeling. Even if you don't achieve the end result at least you are aware of what you learned along the way and that may be knowledge that you could not have of gained any other way. The person who avoids such challenges limits their opportunities to grow, and become resilient.  Every incident crushes them, because the don't know from passed experience that it is possible to bounce back.

I am so glad that as I was growing up, I met the people I did, and had marvelous creative parents who existed just a little bit outside of the normal line. My father was one of the first anesthesiologists in British Columbia Canada with Polio in the late 1950s, while mother was registered nurse, and I have Cerebral Palsy.  Yup, we were and are, outside of the "norm" and thankfully so.

As in the movie Star Wars "The Force" has both a light and a dark side. Both sides, optimism or pessimism,  regardless require some form of payment, either in effort and challenge or the loss of control over one's life.  Ingrained pessimistic behaviours send a message to everyone that this individual is "incapable" to one degree or another. Once people have made that judgement about a person, they often have to fight very hard to prove themselves as capable. It takes the very things and actions they are so conditioned against: 1) Taking a risk, and 2) Being responsible for the outcome. This for them must be a frightening situation. Yet if their life is to improve by what ever measure they choose, they must undertake it. In small steps no doubt and they must get used to failing and approaching their challenge in different ways.

As one deals with the various challenges in life, a degree of appreciation for the all too rare skill of "patience" is acquired. Knowing that true gratification comes in bits and pieces, and appreciating them as they appear. From my own perspective I find the little achievements much more gratifying, simply because I know that I have the appreciation to be aware of them. It's not the big gift, that makes life worth living, it is a little diverse ones. That if you're observant appear every day. That, I think, is one of the founding pillars of my continued optimism.

The hard part is of course getting others who are addicted to their pessimism to see that little achievements are made up of their own perceptions and their reality is really what they make of it. The key point is that they can change it. I suspect the first step in combating pessimism is disengaging the negative autopilot. And it is obvious this particular pilot is not going to want to let go of the steering wheel. Because it is used to being automatic. Putting one's outlook on life back into manual is at first incredibly difficult and inefficient because one must face a myriad of resistive ingrained to be a views. In many ways, from my point of view this resistance is actually a good sign it means that the individual is altering the very thing that needs to be altered. It is the beginning of a journey, but if one can see the steps and the progress, then one is truly on the way to improving their outlook and well-being on the whole.

If you have overcome pessimism or are dealing with this challenge please leave a comment with your story.

Take care Patrick Clark

Are We Daydreaming Our LivesAway?

 "Think about all the time in one's daily life we as a modern society are absorbed in the attention we give twirl electronic devices." 

Putting aside for the moment what happens after one dies, and let's assume for this little question that you only live once, each moment in one's life is unique, and never to be repeated. On the surface this is something everyone knows and acknowledges. Now think about all the time in one's daily life we as a modern society are absorbed in the attention we give twirl electronic devices. I bit the average for most people is several hours a day. Next time you take public transit have a look around and you will see many people, almost mindlessly quietly interacting with their phones and other devices. There is also a good majority of people with earbuds completely tuning out the world, and to some extent reality.

This is a completely new situation for the human animal, at least that's how I see it. We may be closer to the original themes of the Mattrix movie then anyone would care to admit. Riding home today on transit I was struck by how quiet it was and no one was really making eye contact. Faces buried in the various devices… You could tell most people were just trying to make it home and ignore the current boring reality by distracting themselves. But what made the event boring? Everyone reading this knows the answer, it was boring because no one was interacting. I wonder how conscious people on my train were of this fact. It's over an hour ride from Vancouver to Surrey British Columbia each way twice a day. When you work it out that it's over 730 hours a year if one were to do this every day that would add up to an entire month. Which is just gone… A month of adventure, a month of discovering, a month of being loved and loving. All missed because we are distracted. The human lifespan is not all that long, and even when they manage to extended to 150 years with the coming technologies in the scheme of things that still short.

Your entire life, is a one time event, which just happens to take 80 or so years to unfold. And even if there is a glorious afterlife for humanity it will be different than this reality. There will be things you miss, because it just won't be the same.

Before the masses were so distracted people worked together, played and occasionally had arguments together. Indeed, they did also two things together, and the human being at heart have evolved to do just that, in concert with one another or with the group. Not alone. Even introverted people when you examine their lives closely have a few cherished connections throughout their lifespan. They may indeed understand the topic better than most of us because the quiet introverted people I know cherish their realities and are usually not caught up in distraction. For some of them the world is too real, and so they pull away for a while. For the rest of us we need to find a balance between these two extremes. Cherish being aware of every moment whenever you can. It never does repeat.

The above few paragraphs just occurred to me as I was travelling home tonight and I wanted to get them down "on the modern equivalent of paper". Comments are welcome of course.

Patrick Clark