There is something about half empty wine bottles, tipped over glasses and beer cans, and smelly ashtrays... It's just so Sunday-ish.
I guess it's my friend's way of coping with everything.
It worries me a bit. Not the drinking so much, actually, but the having to party several times a week in order to feel. Or whatever it is, I don't think i quite understand really.
Actually I think I'm more concerned with his intake of lasagna than with the alcohol. But then again, lasagna to him is just what tea and coffee is to me I guess - comfort.
This week has made me think. (No Nicole, that is not the week that is just your brain...!)
Adding words and diagnosises to the aspects of me which have made me feel like the weird outsider all my life, has really helped me - but naturally it has also made me wonder about many things.
It seems to me that nearly everybody has had a depression. I mean, I know the statistics. It really is a great number of people (who will have or has had a depression - obviously different degrees) but I still find it striking how normal (yes normal!) it is.
Practically all of my close friends have either serious permanent depressions or have been through a depression at some point and then recovered. And it seems to me that everyone I meet (or dare talk to) has been there as well. I meet someone new and he tells me he is also going through a depressive time. I meet someone I've known all my life - but haven't spoken to in a while - and he tells me the love of his life also has a serious depression.
Merlin's beard!! I mean, this itself is depressing! Wtf kind of world is this?
My anxiety doesn't seem to be shared by the same amount of people but it's still not uncommon at all.
I really want to study mental illnesses. And I want to study mental illnesses in other societies, other parts of the world. The extend of these illnesses and their epidemic-like fashion of attacking just about everybody must be a product of our screwed up society and its focus on values that seem to harm and damage more than anything. (Or is that just my depressive view??)
Or is it really a pandemic-like fashion? Or has everybody just always been insane but not spoken about it before now? Are we just getting closer to discovering he truth about how everyone is "ill"? Are we approaching a future where the question isn't whether you are ill or not but which diagnosis you have? Where everybody have diagnosises just like they have skin tones and certain heights. Nothing remarkable.
And where the main science will be the deduction of the evolutionary origin of each diagnosis - and which ones are closer linked to one another. (Pretty interesting I must say....)
Is there any hope? ....
Even though it seems very complicated, and somehow vague, to study thoughts, they are still a product of our bodies and their signals. It must be possible to make some sense of it all.
The odd thing is.... Even though I see how many have experiences like mine, I still feel like the frackin' weirdo outsider!! I feel like noone could possibly understand!
- But honestly..... How would I know if they could??
I think our society more or less moves towards a state where more and more people will feel depressed. There is constant focus on monetary wealth, human relations are not really valued as much as they should be. Most of our interactions in day to day life involve some sort of business transaction. I think this is why the partying is increasing, it allows us to interact with other people, and the alcohol helps forget that this is not what most of our lives are about.
ReplyDeleteI think the only way to stop this is less focus on oneself and financial success. But i don't thats just gonna happen, although i do see a counterculture blooming in a lot of younger people. Hopefully this would change things for the better :)
I must say these are pretty serious thoughts for a Sunday coffee. I agree with most of this, however.
ReplyDeleteOn the other hand, I think, the extent of this depression epidemic at least partly depends on semantics, that is, how we define what requires a diagnosis and what is simply a natural (and healthy) way to feel sad sometimes. I mean, I think, from time to time, it's natural for everybody to feel lonely and sad and gloomy and as though there's not much meaning in everything (especially in autumn, when it's so gloomy, cold and wet and it feels as though it'll never end).
I think, our society plays a role there, though, in creating this image or whatever that you're always supposed to be smiling and happy and so on, and if, for some reason, you're not, there's something wrong with you. Of course, I don't mean to undermine (for the lack of a better word) serious conditions that require professional help - they ought to be treated and everything.
But sometimes I think, it's just the matter of finding and daring to talk to someone who understands you. And I firmly believe that there's always someone like that out there for everyone :) (call me naive if you want, but it makes for a happier life for me).
You are so right about the focus on monetary wealth, Loke. It's truly concerning :(
ReplyDeleteAnd Justina, I see what you mean about definition. I've been thinking about that a lot. Defining illness and sadness or whatever we should call it. Where to "draw the line" so to speak.
And I do hope there is someone out there to talk to for everyone. Though I think sometimes the problem is finding the person(s). :-/