Those who have never experienced depression have no idea what it feels like. This guy is absolutely correct. When you're feeling depressed, you no longer feel joy in the things that used to make you feel alive. Everything feels like such an effort, from getting out of bed to eating. It's like flipping on the switch lights in a room where the electricity has been shut off. It doesn't matter how much you flip that switch, the lights will never turn on when there is no electricity.

The “poverty of our language” is so profound. English skims over realities of the human condition. It oppresses truth, while enabling a false sense of security.

Depression is the absence of hope. That even if something pleasant is experienced, it will be fleeting and get you nowhere but back to the feeling of hopelessness. It's "safe" form includes anxiety about feeling no hope; this is how most people experience it and that's why most people who are depressed continue to live. It's dangerous form is losing that anxiety and embracing or embodying true and complete hopelessness. Then there is truly nothing to live for. Depression has no real source or object; the worst question of all is "what is making you feel this way?" Because the answer is "everything".

"Our current mental-hygiene philosophy stresses the idea that people ought to be happy, that unhappiness is a symptom of maladjustment. Such a value system might be responsible for the fact that the burden of unavoidable unhappiness is increased by unhappiness about being unhappy ... the incurable sufferer is given very little opportunity to be proud of his suffering and to consider it ennobling rather than degrading" so that "he is not only unhappy, but also ashamed of being unhappy."

I always remember what I read once about depression. Depressed people see the world as it is. That has always suck with me.

@michaelqdlap

10 ай бұрын

I disagree. Depressed people have a skewed perception of reality, just as manic people do

Would love to hear more from this interview

His TED Talk is one of the most memorable.

@ThePersonalDevelopmentSchool

7 ай бұрын

agreed ❤

His definition of depression is spot on.

I love Andrew Solomon! And I have always loved Esther's insight! Wonderful combination of people to talk about mental health!

@amelialee2142

Жыл бұрын

I wholeheartedly agree!

@impactmakerstribe

Ай бұрын

Couldn't agree more

Thank you two so much …. This is incredibly Educating… thank you Esther this Helps us all grow… the ability to Love, Hold Space Understand with Compassion… Depression is not discussed as much as it should be ….More people suffer than people will admit.. this message is a beautiful gift to all- more people are effected by it in one way or another… certainly Grateful that you have taken the time and shared this💝

Wow! Thank you both for sharing such a great way to understand what depression is (feels like)🙏🏾 Absolutely appreciate all of your insight Esther. I have now learned who Andrew Solomon is!! Thank you!!🩷🩵🩶

I LOVE ANDREW SOLOMON! THIS IS SUCH A GREAT PAIRING!! THANK YOU!

If there are such people who can scoop underneath…many don’t have anyone to lean on

Finnallyyyyyy!!! The talk of the century!!! The best two people to talk to each other! Can you please also discuss depression in relationships and people who have depression in relationships, and how to navigate that as a person who has depression and as their partner!! I have been struggling with this all my life and I continue to

Esther you are so wise in your language ❤️❤️

How about documentary dubbing Andrew? Wowww, what a voice 👌🏻

As an Interventionist i have gone to people's homes and gotten them out of bed and off to breakfast out because they would lay there all day, eat nothing, and worsen.

“…you are going to die anyways, why bother.” That quote resonated with and how I think when depression is at full force. Be kind to others because we don’t know what they are going through.

Hi Esther, Good to hear and learn for your video again!

What a beautiful conversation! More please!

Those descriptions of depression have defined me my entire life. I'm 51 and I'm *_BEYOND_* exhausted now. I've simply been existing for the better part of 5 decades but, never really felt "alive" for 99% of that time. Whatever good times came around, came and left like a spark in the dark. In that time, I've seen the world sink deeper and deeper into darkness and I simply can't keep "tricking" myself into believing that things are "going to get better" like the majority of others do. Things have supposedly been "getting better" since I was a child and yet, they're still the same, just given a fresh new coat of paint and a modern facelift to give the impression that things are "different" now - they aren't. I can't keep up this "facade" of positivity and optimism that we've all been indoctrinated and programmed to see and accept as "real". I can't remember the last time I was truly happy and fulfilled. Add to that the fact that death has now come knocking on the doors of many people I knew personally now and I'm about done. Nothing I've done really matters. Any positive things I have accomplished have been obscured by the negative things that loom over everything and seem to happen at the worst times possible. I feel cheated out of the life adults promised me as a child. Back when adults surmised that life now _(the future to them, back then)_ was going to be "so much better!". A futuristic "utopia" where mankind was going to "evolve" and "grow". That things would be so much better for the human race in almost every way and yet, it's now nearly 2024 (!) and things haven't changed - life conditions are just as bad as they've ever been for a large majority of people around the globe, while the small number of "elites" live their life of grandeur and ignorant or apathetic bliss while the world around them rots and devolves into nothing. We still have pointless wars, the environment is worse off than ever. Our food, water and air are now altered and/or polluted more than ever. People are still working their lives away in meaningless and fruitless jobs. Realizing that they never accomplished anything truly meaningful to them other than being able to buy a house, car, education that enslaved them in debt. Not to mention, the fact that for all the technological "advancements" the medical community/big pharma likes to pat itself on the back for, they've yet to truly cure any major diseases in more than half a century. And yet, society still wants me to buy into the myth that life is "so good!" now.. "Better than ever!"... What a crock. Could've fooled me.

0:38 - 0:51 WOW!!! SO SAD yet SO TRUE for many of us!!!

So eloquently put! ❤

Avoidance of months or years grief and forgiveness towards oneself leads to depression. Depression is like the long term unhealthy sitting with grief, often done alone and in isolation for the shame of one's actions and is repeated daily in our brain/memory. It becomes the norm to accept that we are f-ups, not worthy of love or anything. Breaking that cycle is so very difficult. Drugs are usually the stand in "help".

Andrew's TED talk on depression was a life raft to me when I was going through it myself. Very grateful for his work ✨

@ThePersonalDevelopmentSchool

7 ай бұрын

Sounds like you are better now which if that's the case I am happy for you ❤

@Alice_Walker

7 ай бұрын

@@ThePersonalDevelopmentSchool thank you. Yes I am well now for a long time. It was a horrible experience but it taught me a lot about taking care of myself.

Is there a place online to watch this entire conversation? I really wanted to hear more.

@ThePersonalDevelopmentSchool

4 ай бұрын

yes please!

Yes. Neurotransmitter imbalances in genuine depression can make taking a shower virtually impossible, or make it take all the energy you physically have for the day. Unless you've had genuine clinical depression, that will be almost impossible to grok. Their negative attitude will make you think they're just being stubborn, but that's a symptom too. So chances are you'll be suggesting things they literally cannot do. Like telling a heart patient to just make their heart behave normally. If they'd only try, they could make it so? The brain is also an organ, and it doesn't work like that for the brain either.

And also sometimes you just don't want to go to the movies, not going isn't then a sign or cause of depression even went you are currently struggling with one. Saying no is still valid.

Holy shit. The beginning definition and description of depression is extremely powerful and wholly validating in a sort of way. This was really meaningful

@echillykahlil

Жыл бұрын

Unfortunate that the full interview is outside my price range, but I thank you for sharing what you did when you didn't have to.

Depression is often misunderstood as sadness. You can be looking at someone smiling and laughing and not realizing that they are experiencing depression, because it likes to hide. Some of the most happy looking people are struggling hard. The mindfulness workbook "30 Days to Reduce Depression" by Harper Daniels offers good basic practices.

@ThePersonalDevelopmentSchool

7 ай бұрын

good recommendation ❤

We can change our vocabulary & self talk to be more positive.

This Topic Needs to be talked more about ❤

@ThePersonalDevelopmentSchool

4 ай бұрын

agreed ❤

Most depressed people dont have healthy people around to scoop them. I haven't done much to anyone except for have problems and depression. It's like having flies following you. You didnt even ask anyone to help get rid of them but they run when they see you coming.

I used to believe I could share some of my peace and happiness in this world and it could benefit both of us. I’m not so sure anymore 😞

@ainachristiansen6372

Жыл бұрын

Same

Is there a full interview?

@emilyb5557

Жыл бұрын

He has a ted talk apparently?

Dear Esther, how can I obtain your videos in spanish. My english is not god and when you interact with someone else, I'm in a real problem 🥺

And what happens when a person has literally no one to.scoop them??. When all family is dead and friends are in the other side of the ocean?

⭐💕

lol. Yeah, like what’s a movie going to do for me if I don’t even want to bathe, eat, or live! Sadly

I think most young people are depressed today....

@hahamasala

Жыл бұрын

Most people of any age

@hm2011100

9 ай бұрын

I’m an educator & can sadly attest to this

So my daughter is in this condition. I can't just let her sleep all day. That's more destructive than enforcing some kind of normal sleep/wake cycle.

Other people you can collapse on ! NOOOO that other people will need therapy themselves...you can't expect someone else to do for you...that is copedency, that person will never cure themselves if someone is always there to pick up the pieces....they are always broken and the picking up, the collapsing never ends....I ❤ you Esther but I 100% disagree with this...I am sure you can analyze where I am coming from 😮😮