Posted by Janelle on March 21, 2002, at 15:28:37
In reply to types of depression feelings, posted by JohnX2 on March 21, 2002, at 6:41:10
Hi JohnX2 (what's the X2 for anyway?!!)
Yay - finally a chance to *help* you and respond to an issue that you raise - you are so helpful to me, that it is a pleasure to be able to answer a post that you put up!
First, I would ECHO exactly what beardedlady and Penny have both posted and stated so well.
As for my take on what you've said, when I get extremely depressed I also feel extremely empty and lose all ability to feel pleasure. I also think about death (suicide, though I'm too *chicken* to ever carry it out). I also get those bad feelings of worthlessness. HOWEVER, I do cry, sometimes it's major sobbing that I can't stop.
The feeling of SADNESS you describe, I've experienced those also and compared to DEPRESSION, sadness is a delight. I hate to use this word, but I would consider SADNESS to be *normal* and also healthy. Everyone experiences it, and it's usually in reaction to circumstances, e.g. death of a loved one, loss of a job, meaning it is ENVIRONMENTALLY induced.
Sometimes prolonged sadness (e.g., grief) can lead to depression (this happened to a relative of mine) - however, this kind of depression is ENVIRONMENTALLY induced and either responds to short term medication (this was the case for my relative) or lifts in a resonable amount of time.
Sadness and environmentally-induced depression aside, this leaves BIOCHEMICAL depression, which can also have a genetic component (runs in families). This is the most difficult depression to treat.
To answer your question, I think it varies from person to person in terms of the level of emotion depressed people feel and whether they get teary eyed or not. Since my depression comes with anxiety, I personally *do* get emotional and teary eyed.
Therefore, I would say that certain depressions/dx's (e.g. agitated depression, anxious depression) ARE prone to these symptoms, while other depressions are not - these depressions are like what you described - void of emotion, void of tears, basically void in general.
Best wishes
-Janelle
poster:Janelle
thread:99188
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20020318/msgs/99249.html