Scott Lynch on depression
20 Jun 2011 12:36 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
firecatScott Lynch is writing a fantasy series called Gentleman Bastard, which I like a lot.
In his LJ, he writes very well about how a particular kind of depression affects him. (He writes as if it's the only kind, and I know of others, but I do struggle with this kind so I can relate to a lot of what he says.)
http://scott-lynch.livejournal.com/261555.html
Excerpts:
Scott also writes very clearly on why he wants people not to give him advice about medication!
In his LJ, he writes very well about how a particular kind of depression affects him. (He writes as if it's the only kind, and I know of others, but I do struggle with this kind so I can relate to a lot of what he says.)
http://scott-lynch.livejournal.com/261555.html
Excerpts:
It's a mental cloud in which one remains perfectly capable of taking action, but primarily obsessive action, self-centered action. Not caring, conscientious, or constructive action. A depressive is supremely skilled at entertaining themselves now because now is all depression ever lets you have. It sharply retracts your chronological horizon....He also puts forth an interesting theory about why people insist on minimizing illness and disability:
...The world loses emotional texture, and the height of your ambition is to fill all that now with something marginally diverting.
we need this particular special stupidity, as a species, as families, as individuals. Hope lashes us harder and drives us farther than fear ever could.I don't agree that human beings "need" to dismiss and minimize other people's illness as part of "hope." But I do think that it's a common, pervasive defense mechanism that's promoted by many cultures. I also think it can be unlearned, and I would like to think that it can be unlearned by whole cultures, but I don't know how to go about making that happen.
The damnable side effect, of course, is that we sometimes insist that genuine physical and mental problems are "all in our heads" and can be wished away with a bigger smile.
Scott also writes very clearly on why he wants people not to give him advice about medication!
no subject
Date: 21 Jun 2011 05:17 am (UTC)The part you quoted sounds very much in line with my experience -- I can remember trying to describe this kind of depression to someone as: "Welcome to the pit. You've always been here. You can't conceive of having ever been anywhere else. You will be here forever." And I've thought (in response to someone trying to shame me into "cheering up"), of course my depression is self-centered -- I'm all alone in this pit and I can't see out of it!
My emotional dysfunction of late has been more angry than bleak, but it's good for me to be reminded of the change in perspective.
And, there's going to be *seven* of them! Squee! I absolutely adored The Lies of Locke Lamora & liked the second (though it didn't knock me off my feet quite like the first one). *happy dance*
Drive-by comment that contributes nothing to the discussion
Date: 21 Jun 2011 07:31 am (UTC)