flo_writer

Depressed? Sweet, sweet sorrow!

Samson:

Well it seems as though I’m severely depressed and should seek immediate professional help!  At least according to this latest “test.”

http://health.yahoo.com/depression-symptoms/interactive-tool-are-you-depressed/healthwise–tx4369.html

Now I’m the last person to deny that I feel lonely at times.  The emotional state of sadness is certianly not foreign.  Like most normal people, my emotions are expressed adequately as the situation warrants. Winning money makes me happy, watching the NBA championships is exciting, presentations make me nervous, annoying questions make me irritable and losing a puppy will definitely make me sad.  But I must honestly state that I am not clinically depressed.

This link is inclined to disagree.  After answering a smattering of 20 questions the test calculates your responses and, in it’s infinite wisdom, comes back with devastating news: “You may be suffering from major depression.”  I wasn’t even borderline in the graphical scale they present; I was deep in the depression scale.  This little novelty questionnaire apparently knows me better than I know myself!

I find these things wholly innacurate and insulting.  The question is not just the effectiveness of the test but the implications thereof.  I firmly stand that one cannot arrive at a proper diagnosis simply by answering a few questions with the click of a mouse.  My advice?  Trust a professional with years of schooling and experience instead of the internet.  The implications of these tests seem destructive.  Imagine test takers improperly identified as happy; or worse, imagine them seeking to justify the act of suicide.  The test is preposterous.  Something as serious as depression should not be diagnosed by silly questionnaires.

Moreover, it is perfectly okay to feel sad.  It is normal, it means you are human, vulnerable at times, and emotionally well-rounded.  The book Against Happiness: In Praise of Melancholy by Eric G. Wilson explores this very topic.  It was recently covered on NPR.

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=18885211

One should not scorn at being solemn.  It is, I would argue, quite healthy.  Only in this state of mind do I, personally, find myself in clear thought. In this state do I feel the world in a very real way.  In this state can I fully evaluate the truth, my sense of being, and the effects of my actions.  It is where I draw the purity of my experiences and gather the source of inspiration.

If you feel sad, go ahead and feel sad.  Read the book and you may just call it “sweet, sweet sorrow.”