I wonder....

[slaptyback]

Can one mock themselves out of a mild depression if the person in question finds no rational basis for their own depression?

Comments

[weetletang]

From personal experience; yes :)

Though normally the laying out of why there is no rational basis comes first, then mockery.

[grumpymonkey]

Depends on the source of the mild depression. If it's just a mild malaise from a multitude of small sources of stress, it's easy enough to laugh at yourself and use that to help realign all of your perceptions. Sometimes, for me, being depressed is a matter of not seeing all the good things with a fresh eye, or letting small not-so-good things weigh heavier than they should. Small changes of perception, small changes of behavior, all of those things can be just the trick for kicking the vertical hold back into alignment.

Real depression, the kind that comes from something with deeper roots, something you aren't properly addressing or even from chemical imbalance, that's a bit tougher. You can stave it off the depression symptoms sometimes, but it tends to come back. I know you talk to a professional pretty regularly. Might be something to being up just to help you get a handle on where it's coming from.

[selayna]

I've always felt that the ones with no rational cause are the hardest to, well, rationalize away, with mockery or anything else.

Hugs.

[promethius]

Maybe? Depends on the reasons it happened. I find that sometimes that works, if the reason is really flimsy. However, if it's something persistent that put me there (continuous stress, sleep deprivation, a particularly crappy event) then it takes something a little more substantial to pull me back out again.