Commentary from September 21, 2013
What’s special about this comic is that it’s the first time I allowed a character to say the “d” word. I’ve been avoiding it for artistic reasons; I felt that overuse of the word would ruin the comic. I couldn’t see any way around it for this strip, since one of the points IS the overuse the word. After this, the word will probably go back to being unsaid.
Spot on.
too damned true…
this is sort of not fair as being depressed is a feeling so its valid to say something is depressing, or that ___ made you depressed
Yea but being depressed is more then just feeling sad. Having your favorite show canceled doesn’t make you feel worthless. And I don’t know anyone that has actually been serious when they said they want to die/kill themselves after doing something embarrassing like tripping in front of people.
A caveat to the last sentence, Ise: unless they are already chronically depressed and find the embarassment a validation of their negative self beliefs.
Depression can be, and can by triggered by, many “trivial” and non-trivial things/non-things – just a feeling, not just a feeling or more than a feeling: Depressed social affect, depressed emotional intelligence, depressed financial liquidity/mobility, depressed mental acuity/agility, depressed psychological outlook, depressed career potential/achievement, depressed life assessment, depressed perspective/vision…
or marked by absence of feeling – depressed appetite, depressed initiative/motivation, depressed activity, in the way that a person might want to feel euphoria/dysphoria, or feel euphoric/dysphoric about something, but numbness prevents that. feeling or not feeling, or feeling about feeling, or not feeling about not feeling…
among the markers of humanity is the ability think dysthymically, and amplify or nullify/depress a desire to fight it or flee it, OR be unable to amplify/nullify and a thought/feeling/motive. What’s fair got to do with powerlessness motivating one person’s frowning inaction, another person’s smiling shrug, while still a different person’s face goes blank and he/she does what permanently negates powerlessness ever again.
Having the one show that resonated with your sense of worth cancelled may be the “superficial” last straw. it may be the shortest straw. it may be the thousandth needle in a 2-4 year haystack of dispair. The expressions,”I nearly died” or “I just about died” are applied by people to tripping and other seemingly superficial situations but, one of the truths that occurs over and over in these comics is that sometimes it’s the little things that make a person feel worthless. Similarly, “tripping” is a word with many possible meanings, a wobble on the catwalk can be career suicide for a model during fashion week, or trivial in another context. Some engage in serious self-injury over things like literally tripping in front of people. Did the woman in panel 3 lead with,”Realized I was an addict…” because I did personally know three people that killed themselves over that, one felt powerless over addiction but was revived and quit, one chickened out at the end of a week-long run for it and is a non-alcohol-related ‘wetbrain’ shuffling around like his vital organs suddenly aged 60-70 years in a week at the age of 30, and one simply succeeded in going quietly – suddenly she was gone. Check out vice.com for numerous examples of many kinds of figurative tripping – one example, Rehteah Parsons figuratively tripped, stumbling drunk, and she took her own life. Or did she trip and was pushed while she was off balance, or was she tripped, or was she first pushed, or was she kicked while she was down?
are there problems with what I just wrote? yes. Could it have used a few trigger warnings? maybe. Is it some trivial rhetorical questions/comments on triggers of depression or suicide? no. Do i have insomnia, disinterest in things i used to enjoy, guilt over what I wrote even though I’m not treating the anything about it lightly but trying to respect my “audience”/the subject(s), the energy to do all this instead of concentrating on recovery? It’s 2:30 a.m.
The problem here is with the English language. Webster’s first definition for the word depressed is
“a state of feeling sad”
That’s what a lot of people believe the word to mean. When it was given a clinical definition the linguistic waters got muddy. If clinical depression had been given it’s own name this whole issue could have been avoided.
Obviously it’s too late for that now and personally I’m all for the word being reserved for actual clinical depression. We can find another word for “a state of feeling sad” (personaly I like melancholy). But people don’t like to change their language that easily. It’s going to take a long time for Webster’s second definition
“a serious medical condition in which a person feels very sad, hopeless, and unimportant and often is unable to live in a normal way”
to become the first and only definition.
– Torger
I just read through all these comics. Great work.
Never noticed this before. After going through all these comics I have come to realize that people without depression really don’t get it at all. This is terribly frustrating for everyone concerned. Your images of a wall, a globle, rooms, shut doors are a pretty good metaphor for how difficult it is to have an honest two way communication. I relate very strongly to the fear of rejection in speaking with people. Hence I like the smile cutouts you use. Clever.
Sadly, many of the quotes I use for people who don’t suffer from depression are taken near verbatim from the internet. A lot of them come from Reddit. It’s almost like a culture difference between those who suffer and those who don’t. Thank you for your kind words and thoughtful comments.
From an outsider perspective: Most people who are not chronically depressed, or are involved with those who are, would interpret depressed as a synonym for sad. That is really all there is to it.
That’s pretty obvious. The dictionary gives “depressed” as a synonym for sad too ( http://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/sad ), and people who are depressed are very aware of this.
When I was a teller supervisor, a coworker stomped into my office, plopped into one of my chairs (uninvited, not really welcome, but that’s a different issue) and announced, “I am totally depressed!”
I looked up and told her, “No, you’re frustrated. There’s a big difference.”
Reaction to this story is split. When I told it on Wing of Madness way back then, friends with depression understood and appreciated it. Other friends think I was kind of obnoxious.
People who do this aren’t trivializing depression. It’s called exaggeration, and people do that all the time about everything. It’s an attempt at being dramatic to come off as more interesting. They do it subconsciously.
144 | depression comix http://t.co/e24OauytNs
Hello
I want to ask I always fell so sad. I thinking dead and something .If night can not sleep enought.
I always thinking when whappen dead so afraid .
Please help me
God, this is so fucking true. I’m so tired of it. I know it’s not really people’s fault, but…
they think it’s a joke of anyway trivial shit? i’m not amused …. if they would ONLY STUDY ABOUT IT AND UNDERSTAND TRULY THE REAL MEANING OF THE SITUATION it’s not a joke and it’s not something anything can relate to ….
it’s an eternal HELL!
Someone tried to convince me that my depression was “just a phase” and that depression was “when you feel a bit sad”…
I told them to go fuck themselves and now we don’t speak anymore.