Abstract Thought and Depression

[JLMC]

INTPs tend to dream big and think abstractly, often neglecting details (at least factual ones -- I'm personally very attentive to how to do things). I've been reading about studies that connect depression to that kind of abstraction.

Specifically, the NY Times had a piece about how non-depressed people recall detailed memories, while depressed people may recall only vague concepts. New Scientist also alerted me to the concept of "depressive realism" where depressed people may lack optimistic biases and (more to the point) not pay attention to the context of their actions; which is already related to ideas in Cognitive Behavior Therapy about judging yourself too harshly, and not allowing for context. An overview of depressive realism is here.

So this makes me wonder if INTPs are inherently prone to depression. I have had it to varying degrees since the beginning of college, and see myself in the articles: I don't tend to recall specific things, including good things, and can dwell too much in my head, away from the world. The NY Times article suggests meditation, and I know other people here do as well. I'm also experimenting with consciously tallying even very small accomplishments and positive things, both in my environment and from the day -- basically trying to encourage specificity.

Thoughts? Is being to INTP (or any type) problematic? Is the solution to minimize the extremes of INTPness?

 

[Dr. Freeman]

Your statement might be the truth, or it might be the equivalent of saying the flu and a cold are the same thing because they both cause coughing or congestion. I don't have enough information, either from my own expierences or what I have been able read on the subject to either confirm or deny your statement.

I personally do not have a history of depression, but I still tend to ignore certain details.

 

[snafupants]

people, especially as they age, tend to romanticize the past. sure any childhood has its exhilarating moments, but there was also a lot of boredom, along with feelings of incompentence and unfulfilled needs and confusion about your own world and the larger world. these things shouldn't be discounted wholesale from the panoply of the past, because they're just as valid. the same seems relevant to relationships, although there was that initially thrill, and if you were lucky something more, there were periods of awkwardness and dissonance too that perhaps led up to that thrill and whatever else. happiness and sadness, contentment and depression, are so close together that they should basically be considered the same thing. it's similar to how close excitement, anxiety, and fear are to one another - realistically, any one of those emotions could fairly easily take a hairpin turn and lead to the other. i think if you're still living life, you might be less prone to look back as often. at least when i look back, instead of having a neutral stroll, i think i'm looking for something to regret and wince about so i can avoid moving forward. it's clever in a way, but the wrong type of substance to build a life around.

 

[Hadoblado]

Describes me exactly.

 

[JLMC]

I think they romanticize the future too: studies show people are consistently over-optimistic and over-estimate how happy good events will make them -- when in fact their day-to-day mood probably won't change that much (though this says nothing about satisfaction and other emotions).

As those articles state, it would be scary if depressives were the most accurate, and everyone else were deceived...

 

[IfloatTHRUlife]

I found both articles quite interesting.

Funny thing about the one article, i may be depressed because my thoughts about my life are realistic, but the same thoughts lead me to believe that it is normal to feel this way, so do i even have any kind of disorder that needs to be fixed? or do i just continue to cope with the fact that life just actually does suck this bad?

 

[JLMC]

Perhaps the Buddhists are right: the real problem is discord between desires and actuality. And so the problem may not be your assessments, but that your culture has made you expect certain things -- a higher standard of living than your parents, a career that is exciting and pays big, your "one true love," &c. I hate to be one to just blame consumerism/advertising again, but...maybe there's something to be said for isolation and being a large, modest fish in a small pond.

 

[snafupants]

Perhaps the Buddhists are right: the real problem is discord between desires and actuality. And so the problem may not be your assessments, but that your culture has made you expect certain things -- a higher standard of living than your parents, a career that is exciting and pays big, your "one true love," &c. I hate to be one to just blame consumerism/advertising again, but...maybe there's something to be said for isolation and being a large, modest fish in a small pond.

the shortcoming of buddhist thought is that it assumes all depression is is thoughts and feelings synergizing to make one unhappy. sometimes feeling low is completely beyond one's conscious mind, sometimes it is mainly chemical, and sometimes it is something one has little control over. the notion of surrendering the will to ameliorate conditions one was born into seems extravagant and like throwing the baby out with the bathwater, but okay.

 

[pjoa09]

don't remember the sad shit well.. don't remember the boring shit well... but do remember the good shit just fine.

yeah.