Are people who are depressed just more humble then everyone else?

I don’t see any correlation between depression and humility. In fact the opposite seems more likely—someone with a big ego is more likely to be depressed, since nobody follows their lead, or even likes them. This would be very disconcerting to them.

@Yellowdog Interesting point.

Doubtful.

I am personally aware of several people who thrive on being clinically depressed- they use it to call attention to themselves and to make excuses for what they do or don’t do.

As far as I understand: Clinical depression is understood as a result of learned thought distortions that lead to a lost sense of self-worth and/or an imbalance of certain neurotransmitters (and/or a change in neurons’ receptivity of certain neurotransmitters). These two aspects—the psyche and the physical—are understood to be connected and mutually reinforcing. It’s not one or the other, and there isn’t necessarily a consensus on which begets which. There are multiple ways for a person to address depression and different approaches work better for different people. Depression is not humility, ego, or attention seeking.

I believe he said he wasn’t talking about clinical depression.

Thanks for pointing that out to me, my oversight.

Just sadder.

I don’t know what it means to be depressed other than clinically. Do you mean sad or pessimistic or self-effacing? These are all different from being depression, although being depressed can encompass all of them..

@LostInParadise Not depressed from a chemical imbalance, but rather than a feeling of depression from life events.

Life events can trigger a chemical imbalance. There is not a clear-cut separation between external and internal.

@LostInParadise Ok then.

People often feel a period of depression as part of grieving the loss of a loved one, for example. Is that the kind of life event you mean, @RedDeerGuy1? Ones that cause situational depression?

Unless I’m mistaken, situational depression is a time-bound depression in response to a specific life event or situation. It can be a natural and even healthy response to difficult or painful events… but the important factors are that it’s time-bound (has an end point) and is a direct response to a life event. Depression as a default state without an apparent cause, or depression that persists after a causal event, or depression that is negatively impacting someone’s quality of life regardless of its duration or cause, would seem like something more than that.

Even if the depressive symptoms are “mild” (not considered major or clinical depression), if it’s chronic depression, it’s still understood to have the same underlying causes as forms of depression that have more intense symptoms, and can still be addressed/treated. It doesn’t have to be a permanent state, or viewed as someone’s personality trait.

I still wouldn’t consider depression a result of someone’s humility, ego, or attention seeking, whether it’s technically clinical depression, something more like dysthymia (chronic “mild” depression), or a period of situational depression

I want to note I’m not an expert on any of this. I’m merely sharing what I’ve understood from what I’ve learned about it.

@Soubresaut Yes I agree. Most to all mental illnesses are not a moral failing, but rather a chemical imbalance or natural.

People with depression tend to have low self-esteem, which is not the same as being humble.

@LostInParadise Ok. I just thought I was on to something original and helpful.