Hi, Dr. Goldstein -

I find that I am able to move through depressive episodes when I give myself permission to be depressed. I relate it back to how I would treat myself if I had the flu . . . I would give myself permission to sleep all day and hand off my responsibilities to other people. I would be kind to myself.

I see depressive episodes as my body (mind?) telling me that I need to take time for myself. Instead of seeing depression as bad, negative and something to avoid at all costs, I instead see it as a necessary form of self-preservation.

Thanks for a thought-provoking post!

- Marie (Coming Out of the Trees)

I have depression and there are many upsides to it, with probably just as many downsides to it.
Mindfulness and the ACT approach to depression has been enormously helpful to me, along with CBT and medication.
The upside for depression while I’m ‘on the way down’ and ‘on the way up’ is that it is a clear indication that something in my life is out of balance - and an opportunity to regroup, refocus, remember priorities, and strengthen my personal resources. When I’m at the bottom, the last thing I need is someone to tell me that ‘it doesn’t last forever’ BUT sitting quietly with my low mood without judging it, allowing it to pass, and moving on with gentleness and flexibility has meant that actually it does pass more quickly.
If I didn’t have this vulnerability I would not have developed awareness of the need to regroup, or to prioritise, or to remember that I’m human, or that other people matter. It think that depression is adaptive in some way, or people with depression would not have survived evolution.

An amazing short book on this topic is “Listening to Depression”.

The book explores the ways in which depression can be a gift that comes from an inner wisdom that is either telling you things you need to hear or influencing you in a way you need.

Depression can call you to your best life. Trying to suppress or squelch it can make things worse and keep you stuck.

Marie

This study doesn’t appear to address a longer-held belief about a possible upside: The human race needs pessimism to survive.

The idea is that humans have evolved to see life through rose-colored lenses. Humans are the only species with full consciousness of our mortality, & this unrealistic optimism allows us to cope with, or even ignore, the reality of death & invevitable loss. Non-depressives tend to believe they control their destinies, even control them completely.

People with active depression, on the other hand, lose that optimistic blanket & see the reality that life is (almost) totally out of our hands. The idea is that society needs this view, or it will charge headlong into rash actions based on that blanket of unrealistic optimism (the assumption, for example, that nukes could’ve ended Communism without destroying everything else on Earth).

The common reaction to depressive pessimism is to insist that we humans can indeed do anything, see what we want to see, etc. As comforting as this is to believe — & as necessary as it is to the sense of indivual value that helps keep us procreating — it isn’t true. The people who see that truth (& suffer from seeing it) act as a brake on optimistic stupidity.

That’s a big theory of the evolutionary value of depression, anyway.

Dr. Goldstein - First, thanks for sharing something about which you have mixed feelings - that’s not always the easiest thing to do.

I think that too often, depression is lumped into a single category. Perhaps the things listed are valid during mild or moderate depression, especially that which stems from situational influences. At those times, rumination and reflection may indeed be a gift.

However, I think the author does not adequately address severe depressions, where those same ruminations may instead be about suicide. Severe depression is a different animal. Once the climb upwards is underway and the depression can be viewed as moderate or mild, the introspective qualities of depression may become helpful. However, the severely depressed person simply doesn’t fall into this category.

I think that romanticising depression is a dangerous game.

I agree with Meghan. Major Depressive Disorder cannot be taken lightly, especially the first episode. Suicide is the response of MDD - until adequate help is found and implemented and the MDD person is heading OUT of the depressive episode.

I appreciate your perspective to see the possible positives amid a difficult time of life.