Are depressed people more realistic?

[thesummerqueen]

I find that depressed people are often rather unrealistic, going so far as to think ridiculous things like 'nobody loves them' or 'they're worthless' or 'they aren't pretty' or 'they aren't thin enough' or 'I CAN'T MAKE IT!', or <insert baffling self-depreciation here>.

How 'realistic'(?) one's understanding of their life happens to be is not related to how they value it. Depressed people are negatively valuing, cheerful people are positively valuing... neither are more or less realistic than the other.

Infact... if we're going for 'outlook least likely to be affected by emotion to point of fabricating or modifying data': it is apathy.

This is exactly right, and what I was essentially thinking in my first post. I'm not blind to the ills of the world, and they still make me sad or angry...I just can't help being cheerful about it on a day to day basis.