Althouse: Depression blogging.

December 22, 2007

Depression blogging.

The Top 10. (Via Culturite, via Metafilter.) Would you read a "depression blog"? Are you depressed? Would anyone answer "yes, no"?

20 comments:

Tim said...: No, no.; 12/22/07, 8:44 AM
Crimso said...: yes, yes.; 12/22/07, 8:54 AM
rhhardin said...: I like the blogs of dysfunctional women. It's a sort of ``they're all like that'' realization.

Yet they don't nag you! You haven't always done something wrong.

The company paper (a large anonymous nationally known telephone company) had an upbeat report of the beginning of the manic-depressive march across America, with some connection to the company somehow; anyway they seemed to be starting out in high spirits. But not a single further thing was heard about them.

Had there been blogs, we could have followed it as far as it got. This was a great loss, in my opinion.; 12/22/07, 9:08 AM
Dave said...: Presumably, people researching depression, who are themselves not depressed, would read blogs about depression.; 12/22/07, 9:31 AM
Trooper York said...: Don't bring me down bro!; 12/22/07, 9:33 AM
ricpic said...: It used to be called getting the blues. People got the blues. People got over the blues. End of story.
Now, the therapy racket has created depression. Depression without end. Without cure. Open ended. Sweet!; 12/22/07, 11:58 AM
hdhouse said...: i find this time of year very depressing. runs in the family too. no real reason that any of us can peg to but we all do.

to many republicans perhaps. i dunno.; 12/22/07, 11:59 AM
Trooper York said...: Now now hd, have a little Christmas spirit. Merry Christmas and happy holidays to you Fidel, Hugo, Bill, Hillary, Al, Barack, John, Chris Matthews, Katie, Koz, Feder and all the other little commies wherever they may be. I hope that their collectivist Christmas stockings are filled with goodies and that all of you socialist schemers have a happy and a healthy New Year. Buona Natale; 12/22/07, 12:23 PM
Eric Muller said...: ricpic, I hope that neither you nor anyone you love ever encounters serious depression.; 12/22/07, 12:41 PM
Christy said...: Some of my favorite writers suffer from depression. Still, I'm not much interested in reading the blog of the average depressed person. Wouldn't it be like group therapy for the depressed? But without the balance of a trained professional. Sounds dangerous.; 12/22/07, 12:52 PM
blake said...: yes, no

Anyone else find the exchange between ricpic and muller strangely typical of modern life?; 12/22/07, 2:09 PM
Ralph L said...: When I've been depressed, it took considerable effort just to get out of bed. If you're able to blog, you can't be too badly off.

Thankfully, regular exercise seems to keep my endorphins up. I wish this was advertised as a cure more widely. I suspect lack of exercise explains why women have a higher incidence of depression than men, who are more likely to get it as testosterone levels drop off in old age.

Or it could be that more women are nuts.; 12/22/07, 2:15 PM
Trooper York said...: I really have to line up with ricpic on this one. I often hear people complain about their jobs and how hard they work and how depressed they get. Then I remember how my uncles had to go to work on the docks at 5 in the morning in freezing weather to lift sacks of coffee beans and bunches of bananas and heavy crates that could fall on your head at any time. Pushing a pencil isn't so bad. Punching on a keyboard isn't the end of the world. Suck it up and get the job done. Enough of your bellyaching. Shut up and do you job or I'm gonna give you a reason to cry you pussies. (You know, I turned into a crotchy old man without realizing it. That fucking Dennis better stay off my lawn).; 12/22/07, 3:03 PM
Ann Althouse said...: "a crotchy old man"?

TMI!; 12/22/07, 4:48 PM
Trooper York said...: Urban Dictionary
1.crotchy
A: crotch-like; specially in action, speech, or thought
B : being a self-centered asshole
“that guy sure is crotchy today. what a jerk”
2.crotchy
a crotchy is when your penis gets stuck to your nuts and you have to maneuver it around to
free it; also known as a wedgie in your crotch area.
Dude1:Dude i freakin have a crotchy!!!
Dude2:So go behind that bush and pick it...
Dude1:Good idea

I was referring to definition 1B. But thanks for the thought professor.; 12/22/07, 6:32 PM
Trooper York said...: I also don't know how to freaking spell crotchety!; 12/22/07, 6:33 PM
Anonymous said...: hdhouse-

to many republicans perhaps.

What depresses me is that 50% of you "smart" liberals still don't know the difference between 'to', 'too', and 'two'...; 12/22/07, 6:41 PM
Ruth Anne Adams said...: Althouse: You have one more minute of sunlight today than you had yesterday. We've hit rock bottom and are pushing up to the top of the daylight pool. Aren't you excited by that?; 12/22/07, 7:04 PM
Ann Althouse said...: Plus, it's almost Christmas.; 12/22/07, 9:42 PM
Revenant said...: It used to be called getting the blues. People got the blues. People got over the blues. End of story.

Yeah, relative "got over the blues" by blowing his head off. But at least he didn't waste time seeking medical help, right? I'm sure a wealthy, successful man with a happy marriage and healthy children had good, rational reasons for killing himself. Even if nobody ever figured out what they were.

Now, the therapy racket has created depression. Depression without end. Without cure. Open ended. Sweet!

Was that before, or after, the medical racket created cancer?

Depression is a real illness, jackass. Our emotions arise from our brain, and like any other organ of the body the brain can malfunction. When people with no rational reason to feel depressed feel constant feelings of doom and despair, that is a medical problem, and it is not usually a problem you can deal with by just "getting over it". People with severe depression don't "get over it" for the same reason cancer victims seldom just "get over" cancer. There is something really, genuinely WRONG with a part of their body.; 12/23/07, 12:25 AM