Been dealing with depression lately. Anyone else feel like there's just...nothing for them? Anywhere?
No job prospects. The work I do to support myself is come and go, and im probably gonna miss rent again. The older I get, the less friends it seems I have. None of my hobbies/passions excite me right now and just feel like a pain in the dick when I think about doing them. Every day is the same goddamn routine unless I go stay at my partners place.
It's cold and I hate going out in the cold, so that just compounds stuff further. Everything is dead outside. I'm tired, im always so tired. I can never get enough sleep no matter how much I actually get.
I want to be very clear that YES, this is the depression talking. Everything you described is real and frustrating but not insurmountable and it sounds like you are starting out in a down place before looking at each.
If you are not in therapy I would seriously suggest looking into it to try to learn coping skills to pull out of negative moods. If books are your thing I really really rely on the methods in David Burns's Feeling Good. At very least I think it is helpful to be vocal with someone you trust and who loves you about the kinds of moods you can fall into. Don't inflict it on them but just try to describe neutrally, and maybe tell them they don't need to solve it but just listen at first.
Also Seasonal Affective Disorder is real.
Sorry if any/all of this is already very obvious to you, maybe it will help someone else in the future also.
Source: constantly battling crippling depression but trying to make the best of it lol
therapy can't fix systems of oppression. therapy can't make everyone else tale covid seriously. therapy can't create third places in my car dependent suburb.
therapy is a bandaid and all these problems are gushing mortal wounds.
Would you rather I had just killed myself? Sorry for not consulting you in my treatment program, the prescription is obviously to overthrow global capitalism myself in my lifetime.
All-or-nothing thinking is counterproductive. When you have a wound, do you just let it get infected, or do you apply first aid?
Maybe leave it alone when my response was clearly trying to help a comrade who is suffering? Inappropriate
I just don't think "our society is garbage and our tools are useless" is a helpful thing to contribute to the conversation, and it sounds defeatist and pessimistic.
Yes, talk therapy ALONE is insufficient to end world capitalism. Yes, many of the problems people discuss in therapy are directly caused by the exploitative and rapacious nature of our economic system. Yes, talk therapy itself is captured in the privatized health care system if you are in . No one of us can resolve that, and the leftist utopia we dream of is unlikely to be rendered in our lifetimes.
HOWEVER, if a person is suffering from persistent depression that reduces their capacity to experience joy in life and to contribute to the projects they want to contribute to, ESPECIALLY if thoughts of self harm are present, they should absolutely explore all available treatment options.
Nobody is saying "don't put a cast on your broken leg bc our society sucks", mental healthcare is no different.
I don't want to say anything else on this topic bc this conversation is very upsetting to me, feel free to have the last word or whatever.
HOWEVER, if a person is suffering from persistent depression that reduces their capacity to experience joy in life and to contribute to the projects they want to contribute to, ESPECIALLY if thoughts of self harm are present, they should absolutely explore all available treatment options.
I don't want to say anything else on this topic bc this conversation is very upsetting to me, feel free to have the last word or whatever.
it's rough on me as well to talk about it. over 20 years like this and over a dozen interventions have done nothing or made things worse because the tools aren't appropriate and the goal of the capitalist healer is to recuperate a worker, not a person.
Going back into therapy and doing medication might have saved my life. I don't 100% know if I would be here rn otherwise. I get that some people have bad experiences with therapy, and people have very real problems that can't be solved by therapy, but what else are you supposed to do? Just curl up and die?
I don't mean to ignore or downplay the benefits of therapy, not in the least.
But capitalism is something that can be experienced to different degrees. Being able to escape from its dynamics, if even in just a small location and only for a little while, is something that I've found immensely beneficial.
You're probably not going to overthrow global capitalism in your lifetime. But you can absolutely experience a context where people house and feed and care for each other without jobs or rent or price-gouging or legal entities, at least somewhat sustainably for a little while.
And maybe, if we get enough people doing this in concert, perhaps it will form a critical mass that makes the capitalist colossus collapse. And if it doesn't do that on its own, it will serve as the material basis for the launch point of a revolution.
Oh, definitely SAD playing a role here. I am in weekly therapy thanks to my partner, but my guy is out this week, so no session tomorrow. I'll be recording instead during that time, so I have a reason to get up and out of bed tomorrow.
It might be worthwhile getting some bloodwork done. I know recently I was dealing with some feelings of despair… and it turned out I was vitamin D deficient. It probably won’t be a magic fix, but it definitely helps if it’s a contributing factor.