Serendip is an independent site partnering with faculty at multiple colleges and universities around the world. Happy exploring!

Reply to comment

Paul Grobstein's picture

Depression as a "settling embrace"?

Interesting, both as test case for some of the issues raised last night about the relation between happiness and conflict as desiderata in mental health considerations and as a prelude to next week's conversation. There is an interesting letter from the philosopher David Hume to a doctor about whether depression is best dealt with by trying to "drive ... through it," as opposed to taking it as an opportunity "to strike root in a deeper ground inside onself." For what its worth, my own experiences are more consistent with the latter approach. My own version of a wise man once told me that, appearances notwithstanding, depression is actually a time of great (unconscious) creativity. Yes, that's not exactly the approach currently in cultural favor. Another reason to think seriously about changing culture, and about how to do it?

Reply

The content of this field is kept private and will not be shown publicly.
To prevent automated spam submissions leave this field empty.
3 + 10 =
Solve this simple math problem and enter the result. E.g. for 1+3, enter 4.