Is Happiness A Choice?

[Theorist]

Re: Is Happiness A Choice?

@Sentry

From a personal perspective I believe depression is not a choice nor is it about not being able to control aspects of your life which in turn leads to depression. And I disagree, you can just wake up one day and all of a sudden feel like something just smacked you in the face, and that your life has no meaning even though everything you’ve done up until now has been positive. Of course some people get depressed due to constant failures in life but I wouldn’t say it was based on that for most. It’s easy for people who have never been through it to say “oh it’s cause you keep hanging onto the past or current failures” but the truth is, it’s not that and they’ll never understand. (Not you, just in general and i’m not saying you don’t know what depression is cause you’ve never been through it, you might well have but you have your perception and I have mine).

I agree your circumstances make you happy or “sad” but being sad doesn’t mean you’re depressed. I believe there to be a distinct difference between someone being sad and depression.

Like I said, I wasn’t talking about depression that is caused by chemical imbalance. Most depression cases are not caused by chemical imbalance or mental disorders. A lot of people are now depressed because they have either too many unmet expectations or they are bored of life. I know very well what depression is. I don’t just know it, I live it from time to time. Our pill popping nation thinks everything can be cured with drugs. No, not really. We are brought up with a self of entitlement and so many expectations of what life is supposed to be. When we don’t get it, we are destined to get depressed. Years of conditioning can also cause major issues. If stress can cause heart attacks and angina, why can’t our thought process be blamed for depression and other psychological problems?