Temporary depression
I suffer from temporary bouts of triggered depression. This is a far cry from real depression, of course, as it only sticks around for a little while (usually less than a day) after a strong sorrowful stimulus. What kind of stimulus am I talking about? Here’s a geeky example.
Yesterday night I caught up on watching Battlestar Galactica (I was behind by three episodes or so). For those of you who haven’t seen it, the show is very dystopian and depressing. Three episodes right in a row is a large dose. So I was in a depressive funk for the rest of the night. I don’t particularly know why this affects me so, but every time I watch something depressing, I start getting depresed myself. Is it empathy? Sympathy? I don’t know, other than to say that I believe I get it to a larger degree than most people.
I saw Children of Men when it came out and that was very depressing too, to the point where the effects actually lingered into the next day. But despite the sadness, it was still a really good movie and I’m glad I saw it. For me, experiencing the sadness that is shown on-screen just comes with the territory, and I have to live with it. I wonder, though, most of my friends it seems aren’t affected by on-screen melancholy at all. Are they faking it? Or do they really just keep in their minds the whole time that it’s fictional? But then, what if it’s not fictional, like that movie I saw over Christmas called The Pursuit of Happyness?
The “great” thing about temporary depression, though, is that you know exactly what’s brought it on, and thus it’s very easy to ride out, knowing it’ll be gone shortly. It’s a far cry from real depression, which I imagine is much worse, especially because you have no idea when it’s going to end (if ever!). I wonder if “temporary depression” is even a good phrase to use. I don’t know.
What I do know is that I’ll continue experiencing this probably to the end of my life, because I’m not going to stay away from watching sad things on screen. The world is a sad place anyway; you can’t shield yourself from it.
February 20th, 2007 at 02:24
That’s why I like Star Trek. I like looking forward to a future where life is good, for the most part.
February 20th, 2007 at 08:07
Yeah, I agree. I liked Star Trek too. It was certainly easier on ones psychological wellbeing than this new breed of dystopian scifi shows.
March 25th, 2009 at 17:50
I hope this helps you out, I used to have a similar problem (more like full blown depression), and ended up putting a lot of thought into it to cure myself.
I think you get saddened by these types of films because you haven’t learned to control your emotions as well as your friends. I think it’s important to shield yourself from those types of sad thoughts by not letting yourself get totally sucked into the movie, tv show, or other person’s condition. Sure it’s good to empathize, but think about how ineffective you are if you can’t stop your emotions from being controlled by outside influences. If someone is laying wounded in the street, for example, rather than get sucked into their painful situation, you need to control yourself so that you can help them out. It’s something that’s easier said than done of course, and comes from persistent effort to make it a habit.
What I do to control my emotions is consciously focus my attention on something other than whatever thought is causing me to feel sad, angry, or any other negative emotion. For example, after watching battlestar galactica, I’m betting you have thoughts swimming around in your head that are similar to what you’ve seen in the show, maybe you’re even remembering some of the scenes that you saw. Instead, focus on another task, or something that’s going on around you. With your friends, focus on the conversation, a car driving by or whatever. Like the cliche says, do something to get your mind off of it.