Talking about your feelings while depressed

Myrmidon

There is absolutely no way to do this without coming off like an angsty goth poem.

Wicked223

And that's why I don't do it.

well, that and general badness at expressing emotion.

Vorpy

Um, talk to people who won't think you are an angsty goth or reciting poetry, it's easy. If you are inserting morbidity and drama into your words though, you will come off like that.

It's as easy as going "I am depressed. X is making me depressed, and also Y and maybe Z." and the other person goes "Well maybe this A can help you, possibly even B?"

MadassAlex

Depression often involves self-loathing though.

Vorpy

Always remember there are worse people than you, and there is no need to hate yourself. I only hate things I do, never myself.

Counterclock

People being worse than me, Or worse off than me doesn't change the fact that I shouldn't be doing such stupid things in the first place.

inkblot

Don't worry, Myr, they will just think you're making a metaphor of Tongpu or Troper Tales.

DarkDecapodian

If you must write an angsty goth poem, at least set it to angsty goth music and put it to good use.

AXavierB

I know that feel, Myr.

Whenever I talk about my feelings with my friends I feel like I'm whining about things that don't matter.

DarkDecapodian

POETRY A GO GO BABY!

This anguish'd hell I cannot bear,
Lugubrious sorrow in the air,
I swoon and sigh, and soon shall die,
I can't find my pencil anywhere.

Thy scarlet coat, thy HB grade,
Thy graphite markings begin to fade,
O faithful friend, until the end,
In which dusty tomb are you laid?

Alas, poor comrade, you write no more!
Snapped in twain by brutish boor!
My heart it grieves, my soul it leaves,
My high hopes shall fly nevermore...

The_Edge

I'll try it Vorpy's way.

I am depressed. My job is making me depressed, and also the economy, and maybe my wife thinking she's not good enough for me.

Stormtroper

I don't talk about my feelings when depressed, but that's just because I can't bring myself to do so, not because it might come off as whiny. Instead, I'll post (in a more cheerful manner) about whatever depressed me days after the fact, which sort of defeats the purpose, but whatevs.

Gelzo

I don't want to start a new thread for this and I figure this is close enough.

Does anyone else ever get depressed and then go into some sort of denial about it, but afterwards it seems so much more obvious that you weren't in your normal mental state?

It also bothers me when I end up dwelling on social faux pases after I've already learned my lesson and forgiven myself for making them. It's like this lingering feeling of shame.

Bastion

I have a problem somewhere between that and the OP actually. I'll be down in the doldrums and want to talk to people about it, but whenever I get the impulse I suddenly feel like they wouldn't care and I'm just being overdramatic, so I end up not saying anything and pretending everything's fine.

(I was like that for most of last week actually (and indeed, in the other tab I still have a half-written JBM thread about it), though I went to a few good friends anyway, fortunately.)

Gelzo

To be honest, I generally don't find discussion about depression and whatnot to be all that interesting, and it doesn't seem fair to me to bring up a topic I wouldn't want to talk about at another time. I usually just save it for when I can think of something specific that's been bothering me.

Bastion

Oh, I see what you mean. Depression in and of itself doesn't give you much to talk about, though I think "hey, I'm depressed, send me pictures of cats?" might be an appropriate avenue. I was thinking of cases with a specific situation too. (Which I suppose technically doesn't make it depression, but I figured we were allowing ourselves a little clinical laxity with the term here.)

Gelzo

I know "feeling blue" and the medical definition of depression are different, but the differences as I understand them appear to be kind of vague. I can't tell whether what I'm dealing with is depression, but I'm pretty sure I've experienced some symptoms of seasonal affective disorder. Depression and feeling down are colloquially synonymous anyway, so I figure calling it depression is close enough.

It's kind of hard to put a feeling into precise words, anyway. We can't know for certain if someone's experiencing things the way their description leads us to believe even if they're truthful.

MadassAlex

Does anyone else ever get depressed and then go into some sort of
denial about it, but afterwards it seems so much more obvious that you
weren't in your normal mental state?

It also
bothers me when I end up dwelling on social faux pases after I've
already learned my lesson and forgiven myself for making them. It's
like this lingering feeling of shame.

---

Yes and yes. Part of what makes depression so insidious.

Malkavian

If people recognized their depression it wouldn't be a mental disorder now, would it?

MadassAlex

Well, recognition is a step to recovery, but it doesn't solve much at the time.

Malkavian

Also, recognition can often be incorrect self-diagnosis.

Usually it's better to listen to others and ideally a professional.