I was on stumbleupon the other day and found a Wikipedia page titled "Depressive Realism". The idea of it is that people who are thought of to be depressed are actually that way because they see the world as it actually is. Since they don't see things are being better than they actually are because they are pessimistic, it's possible they see the world without any other constructs blocking it.
I don't know if there really is an "actual world" exactly, I just think that the world is the way we see it. We can't see it any other way than we do, so that is the world to us. If there is just one "actual world", then it does make sense that people who are depressed would see it more accurately than people who aren't. Without the positive emotions to make the world look better than it could actually be, it could make you see the world as something closer to what it actually is. But at the same time with people who are severely depressed they would see everything with a negative light to it which would also be away from reality.
Either way, I think the world only exists as we see it and that there isn't a "correct" view of it. How we see it is what the world is to us and even though our view of it may change that doesn't necessarily mean the actual world changes. To us it does, but that's just a shift of perspective. I don't know if anything I just said makes any sense but I tried.
I was afraid this was going to be about how depressed people are the only ones who see the world the right way. I was prepared to jump on you for being so negative.
ReplyDeleteThe problem with depressed people is that they dwell too much on reality. Yeah, if you really think about it, life sucks. The world is as you see it, so I think it's better to see the world to be better than it really is because it means you'll be happier. Who cares if you're too optimistic or have illusions. At least you're happy.
I wonder what it's called when people only see the world as optimists. Why is there a word for depression, but not the opposite? Happy doesn't cover it, because happy isn't perpetual like depression is. Do we just call it "perpetual happiness"?
ReplyDeleteThere's a word for depression because it's considered to be a sort of disorder which means it needs to have a name (because people want to be classified to know they aren't the only one who's going through what they are). Being constantly happy isn't bad so it doesn't need a name for it XD But I guess perpetual happiness works xD
ReplyDeleteIn Patch Adams there's this ass that tries to get the main character kicked out of med school and he wrote in his file that Patch was "excessively happy" like it was a bad thing XD
ReplyDeleteI just think happy people need to feel like they aren't alone either. Wouldn't it be terrible if happy people became unhappy because they thought they were the only ones who were happy?