Ordinal Hierarchy of Feelings?

[Hadoblado]

Hi

Recently I've been battling depression by going to the gym and being more productive in general. I noticed that rather than being depressed and feeling helpless, I feel angry. I consider this a good thing because while both anger and depression are negative emotional states, anger is a productive one that is less self defeating. When angry, I have energy, and so long as I don't waste it punching stuff, I am more likely to circumvent my frustrating circumstances successfully.

So anger > sad

If feelings are not just a black and white dichotomy of positive and negative, and perhaps more a spectrum, what comes next and is it possible to convert anger to the next highest stage?

 

[Inappropriate Behavior]

It would be interesting to see how far you could go but there is a root cause of your depression somewhere. If that is not addressed you may only succeed in sending your depression into a remission. Only to return at some later time when your guard is down.

 

[BigApplePi]

One could argue anger is putting up a fight against being put down.

BTW, getting that blood circulating counteracts depression. It's an Si trick.

 

[Da Blob]

Depression, well may be an outcome of anger and anger is often caused by frustration of will.

Emotions can be seen as completely related to the primitive stress response of Flight, Fight Or Freeze. Anger is the mammalian version of the reptilian Fight response.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Animal_models_of_depression



There is a category of depression thought to be caused by social defeat and arrested stress responses. (e. g. your body tells one to flee a situation, but it is socially inappropriate to do, so one stays)

What comes after anger in a progression from depression? The best scenario is to learn how to use the energy provided by anger and manage one's anger for fun and profit. For example, that boring mountain of mindless work can be made to disappear, once it becomes a target of anger.

One could cobble together a conspiracy theory about how anger has been demonized in modern society, but the truth be told, our civilization was built by a large number of very angry men who knew how to channel that anger into constructive, rather than destructive, behaviors.

Anger > Sad?
Yes - Anger is often a component in the process of Grief, usually right after the phases of initial shock and then denial of the loss. (Freeze/shock, Flee/denial, Fight/anger)

 

[BigApplePi]

One could cobble together a conspiracy theory about how anger has been demonized in modern society, ...

Anger which intimidates others or is self-destructive seems to be the argument. Anger aimed at defeating an obstacle could be positive as anger at the inability to fly could lead to the invention of the gliders/ airplane. Often when we see anger we can't tell* whether it can be positively directed or not.

Prometheus had a little problem with this kind of thing.

 

[TriflinThomas]

All feelings are results of imbalances in brain chemicals (ugh, that's horribly worded but you get the point). Keeping that in mind helps a lot with my S.A.D. Think of it this way: you're not depressed, you just have low levels of serotonin in your brain. How you feel and the reality of it can sometimes get mixed up

 

[PhoenixRising]

"Remember that there is nothing stable in human affairs; therefore avoid undue elation in prosperity, or undue depression in adversity." ~Socrates

Moderation in anything is key. Feeling something to an extreme once in a while is a good way to test one's limits, but it can be damaging if one goes too far too often. An explanation for your experience of transferring depression into anger is that they are kind of the same thing. I was taught in psychology class that sadness and anger are interchangeable because they use the same pathways in the brain.

The thought of "negative" and "positive" emotions is inherently subjective (it's all just electrochemical brain activity). So, to be concerned with a tendency towards any emotional state is probably unwarranted unless it is getting in the way of life/goals.

However, I have been contemplating the idea of positive and negative emotions lately in light of the functioning of human relationships. It seems like sadness, stress and anger cause separation between people, while happiness and love bring them closer together. I think this is probably based on the activation of the pleasure center of the brain, the more dopamine, etc. is produced, the more you want to be with people.

In other words, if your sadness/anger isn't preventing you from doing what you desire to do in life, then why not enjoy it? If you want to be happy for some reason, then your emotional energy can certainly be transferred into happiness. Just make up a reason to be happy, it really is that simple if you focus on it as a goal.

 

[Da Blob]

There is a basic problem with the attribution of causality to the most simple elements of the brain: chemical imbalances, electrical activity, neurons etc. That problem is that these units function as mere components in a dynamic system.

One can deliberately cause 'chemical imbalances' if one chooses to, by provoking the reptilian brain into responding to mere imagery. The amygdala can be provoked by mere imagination, pure fantasy.

The converse is true also, one can create balance by an exercise of will. This is the basis for therapy. Counseling, meditation can lead to the ability to tame these 'wild chemicals' running amok in human brains...

Again, emotions are simply responses to stress. They have adaptational value when functioning properly, allowing one to cope with changes in the environment more effectively than the simple FFF response to stress.

Stimulus >Response = Change > Stress

 

[Words]

I noticed that rather than being depressed and feeling helpless, I feel angry. I consider this a good thing because while both anger and depression are negative emotional states, anger is a productive one that is less self defeating. When angry, I have energy, and so long as I don't waste it punching stuff, I am more likely to circumvent my frustrating circumstances successfully.

So anger > sad

Good stuff. I think I can make use of this. Been feeling groggy lately. What caused the transition? Going to a gym? Sheer willpower? I think i can do the latter. My usual remedy is simply talking to someone, but this is useful if others aren't so accessible.


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I see emotions as "signals" or physical manifestations of values. Unlike values, they tend to be fleeting and inconsistent. So you don't attend the emotion, you attend the values.