Are sadness and melancholy healthy emotions?

[alphamale]

Another thread made me think of this topic. Do you feel sadness & melancholy are healthy emotions? If so or not, why or why not?

[skydiveaddict]

Another thread made me think of this topic. Do you feel sadness & melancholy are healthy emotions? If so or not, why or why not?

 

 

To a degree perhaps. But long term these emotions lead to deprssion. Which certainy is NOT a healthy state of mind

[alphamale]

To a degree perhaps. But long term these emotions lead to deprssion. Which certainy is NOT a healthy state of mind

are you talking regular depression or clinical depression?

[Odyssey]

Sadness is something happening outside of yourself which you take personally! It involves plenty of over-thinking without acting. It's a healthy phase we all need to go through now and then, a part of the healing. I think like anger, sadness is just our response that alert us on a problem and hopefully working toward getting rid of the root of the problem. Often its more about finding and realizing your self-worth.

 

I think you have to make a distinction between sadness (above) and depression though. Depression that isn't primarily situational, but rather biochemical. In these cases depression isn't geared toward solving a real problem, but is rather like an auto-immune response (i.e., not healthy).

[Fouts]

They're normal moods and feelings, so in that regards they're healthy. But obviously if they're an everyday emotion it's a sign of depression or mental exhaustion.

[skydiveaddict]

are you talking regular depression or clinical depression?

 

 

clinical........

[skydiveaddict]

A lot of guys in my unit (including me), got treated for it after our last tour

[SadandConfusedWA]

I have a melancholic personality. I have always been like that (although I do wish I wasn't). I am also a natural pessimist and don't feel comfortable with being happy. Years ago, I saw a psychologist that told me that I am not clinically depressed and explained that what I am is within "normal psychology" albeit somewhat unusual.

 

Is it healthy? Probably not for others, but for me it is normal. I associate being happy with being anxious and over-excited, and I would take mild, peaceful melancholy over it any day.

[You'reasian]

How about mellow, bluesy and mysterious?

 

I'm talkin' about a rainy, quiet, cool evening - where your just relaxing.

[carhill]

When you posted about your cat dying, I recalled my mom's dog dying and how sad she and I were and then my mom getting sick and now likely dying soon. That made me sad, sad for you and sad for how things are going. It was transitory. I accept feelings as valuable parts of living; by accepting them, I can process them and move beyond them.

 

It was speaking to the psychologist about this process which helped him decide during MC that I was not clinically depressed, even though I had many down days. Those days were real; life was shyte back then and I had every reason to be sad. He called it 'situational'. He was right

[hendersongirl]

SadandConfused - I think I may be the same as you. I have felt melancholy almost all day almost every day for as long as I can remember. I have often wondered if I am depressed, and at times I think I have been, but only at particularly stressful times in my life. Generally it doesn't bother me, it's a normal thing for me. Or maybe I have been depressed for so many years that it feels normal? How do you tell between the two?

 

I have had suicidal thoughts reasonably often but only once gotten close to acting on them - had a knife to my wrist and was sobbing but got a momentary flash of a weird sort of joy, which made me unsure enough about dying that I stopped. I also cry most days, at least once.

 

However, even when I am walking around feeling on the verge of tears I don't really feel abnormal, or worried about it.

 

I don't want to see a shrink - they freak me out after having done a degree in psychology and knowing a lot about what they do and how they diagnose and what they prescribe.

[SadandConfusedWA]

HG,

 

It is hard to tell the difference between clinical depression and general melancholia. The thing with me is that if I am clinically depressed, then I was born clinically depressed because I was always like this. I also cry most days, sometimes multiple times but always when I am alone - I have never cried in front of another person (apart perhaps my mum and dad).

 

As for thoughts of suicide, I do have them and often. I have never been close to attempting it though, I just generally feel that my life is pointless and that I don't want to live anymore. It's like if something were to happen to me tomorrow, I would be OK with it.

 

I guess I feel that I am not clinically depressed because I still function normally. I enjoy things like going for walks and swimming in the ocean, and I don't feel like I want to stay in bed etc.. Also I have tried a number of anti-depressants, I have taken some for up to a year and they made absolutely NO difference. They only made me dizzy and tired.

 

It's hard to explain, I feel that this melancholia is a deep part of my soul and is not a chemical imbalance that is clinical depression.

[hendersongirl]

That's how I feel about it too. Wow, I thought I was the only person like this... I have slowly realised that this is just who I am, I am not depressed - and yeah, I still do day-to-day things fine. I would even say I generally enjoy life, even though at the same time I feel unhappy for most of it. They aren't mutually exclusive.

 

I don't cry in front of people, not even my parents/family. Except my partner, I cry in front of him. When we had been together about a year I told him I cry every day and thought I might be depressed, and that I was going to go to a counsellor. He was supportive and understood, and said if I wanted to talk to him ever that I could. But that he didn't think there was anything wrong with me, I didn't need to see a doctor, and that if I need to cry every day, then I should do it. I went to the counsellor twice, and felt uncomfortable and out of place there. A bit silly, like I knew there was nothing wrong.

 

Anyway, thanks for your insight. or maybe it should be ! haha

Edited March 6, 2010 by hendersongirl

[marlena]

Well, yes, it is the human condition, I think. You can not be a thinking adult and not feel sadness for the plight of man. That being said, though, some people are more prone to sadness than others mostly due to idiosyncrasy, I believe, and their overall theasis of life. People who are always sad lack humour, I think, and take life, themselves and others way too seriously. I think the ancient Greeks had it right - tragedy and comedy- two sides of the same coin that we call life. You can't have one without the other. If you do, then, something is very wrong.

Edited March 6, 2010 by marlena