(August 10, 2015 at 2:07 pm)abaris Wrote: Only one question: Did you personally suffer from a clinical depression? And by that I don't mean feeling down, but a real one with all the symptoms associated with it.
The advice of just learning to appreciate yourself is exactly the New Age nonsense that's more likely to worsen the situation. Sometimes well meant, sometimes ignorant of what you're dealing with and - in extreme circumstances - used to make a dime. Depression is an illness needing a combined therapy of medication and professional analysis.
I've been hospitalized eight times for it, yes, and I've been on anti-depressants for the last twenty years.
I've never said "just" learn to appreciate yourself. I said learning to appreciate yourself is a valuable tool in fighting depression.
Even if the open windows of science at first make us shiver after the cozy indoor warmth of traditional humanizing myths, in the end the fresh air brings vigor, and the great spaces have a splendor of their own - Bertrand Russell