Depression Essay, Research Paper

Depression

If something in your life goes terribly wrong, gets horribly thrown off track, or you come to a very traumatic realization, you feel shocked, and that shock can lead to can lead to depression. Depression is an emotional condition, either neurotic, or psychotic, characterized by feelings such as hopelessness, and inadequacy. Depression can sometimes have severe effects on the person, mentally, and physically. There can be many different causes of depression such as low self-esteem, or there can be outside problems that have to deal with other family members, or friends.

Pessimism and Paranoia can also be factors in causing depression. This is stated by Janeane Garofalo in the quote, I guess I just prefer to see the dark side of things. The glass is always half-empty. And cracked. And I just cut my lip on it. And chipped a tooth . If someone buys a new car, and everything is going fine, but they are still convinced that something can go wrong, they are a pessimist. Pessimism can lead to depression because it causes people to only see the bad, and that causes them to become depressed because they only see the criticism in a remark made by another person. Paranoia can also cause a person to go into depression because they are completely sure that something bad will always happen no matter what they do.

People can think they know things for all there lives, then one day, they come to realize that what they thought they knew was wrong. Ezra Pound states this in the quote, All my life I believed I knew something. But then one strange day came when I realized that I knew nothing, yes, I knew nothing. And so words became void of meaning. I have arrived too late at ultimate uncertainty . A doctor who might get the feeling that he is able to play God because he has the knowledge to save people s lives, but then one day he might lose a patient and come crashing down to the reality that he is just a person and isn t perfect. A change in the way a person sees himself can be a massive blow to his self-esteem and can cause him to fall into depression.

Most people when they finally receive something they have been working so hard to get don t take the time to see any of the disadvantages of it. This was well stated when Damien Cannon said If you pray for rain, don’t be surprised if you’re struck by lightning . This quote is saying that if you finally get something you ve been trying to get for a long time, don t be surprised if its not all good for you. A common example is a couple buying a house for the first time. Everything is going good, until they realize how hard it is to manage the home. This can cause marital problems, that will more than likely lead to depression of one, or both of the people involved.

Many things such as the loss of knowledge, or even a realization of how harsh the world can be can cause depression. It can cause people to do harmful things to themselves or others. It is very unpredictable how the person will handle the depression, whether it be by just keeping to themselves, or committing suicide, it is almost impossible to tell. Depression can be a very dangerous emotion

The book The Bell Jar, by Sylvia Plath, is a good example of depression caused by feelings of no self worth. The main character is plagued with depression. She thinks that she is ugly, and that everyone hates her. She feels like no one wants her, and that she is alone. The depression she is in gets so deep, that she eventually tries to kill herself because she thinks that no one will care, because she isn t worth anything.

In the movie The Stand, By Steven King, Francis Goldsmith loses both her parents to the disease. The first of them to die was her mother; this hit her very hard because she had just gotten into a fight with her mother a few days before. Although, when her father died, she almost went psychotic due to the depression caused by her fathers passing. Her memory would fade in and out, she would start something, and a few minutes later would forget she had started it, or why she had started it, because her memory had blanked.

In the movie Ever After , by Susannah Grant, Andy Tennant, and Rick Parks, you can find a good example of low self-esteem. Danielle used to live in a huge house with her father, but then her father had married a woman, who had three daughters of her own. One day, Danielle s father died, and being the only person who had a right to the house, her stepmother kept the house and everything in it. After her father s death, she was already in a state of depression, but her stepmother, and stepsisters made her a servant, and treated her like dirt. Her only friends where other servants, and when she went to the market, she was treated like dirt by everyone.

The Raven , by Edgar Allen Poe, can also show the depression brought on by the loss of a loved one. Eagerly I wished the morrow; vainly I had sought to borrow

From my books surcease of sorrow, sorrow for the lost Lenore (2.9-10). The narrator is reading, trying to lose his depression over the loss of Lenore in one of his books, when he hears a knocking on his door, While I nodded, nearly napping, suddenly there came a tapping, As of someone gently rapping, rapping at my chamber door (1.3-4). Here I opened wide the door; —Darkness there, and nothing more (4.23-24), He opens the door and no one is there. He goes back into his room, and hears the knocking again, but this time, it is coming from the window, Soon again I heard a tapping, somewhat louder than before, Surely, said I, surely, that is something at my window lattice (6.32-33). He opens the window, and in flies a raven, and lands above his bedroom door, Open here I flung the shutter, when, with many a flirt and flutter, In there stepped a stately raven, of the saintly days of yore. Not the least obeisance made he; not a minute stopped or stayed he; But with mien of lord or lady, perched above my chamber door (7.37-40). He begins talking to the raven, but all the raven ever says is Nevermore , and it begins to drive him crazy. At the end, the depression and the sense of loss drove him mad, And the raven, never flitting, still is sitting, still is sitting On the pallid bust of Pallas just above my chamber door; And his eyes have all the seeming of a demon’s that is dreaming. And the lamplight o’er him streaming throws his shadow on the floor; And my soul from out that shadow that lies floating on the floor Shall be lifted—nevermore! (18.108-109)

In Adams Song by Blink 182 depression is extremely evident. It shows a person who hides his depression. This can be seen in the lines,

I never thought I d die alone

I laughed the loudest who d have known?(1.1-2)

Also, this person has low self-esteem, and a pessimistic view of life. This can bee seen in the lines,

I never thought I d die alone

Another six months I ll be unknown(3.17-18)

Those lines show the persons low self-esteem, because he thinks that no one will even remember or care that the person existed after the person is gone. It also shows that the person has become suicidal due to depression. This can be seen in the lines,

I m too depressed to go on

You ll be sorry when I m gone.(1.7-8)

This song shows a person with a great deal of depression, and it has driven the person to become suicidal. It shows how seriously depression can affect a person.

Depression can be caused by very many things, and can be a very serious thing if not handled the right way. It can leave severe emotional scars that may lead to physical harm, or even suicide. Depression is not something that should be taken lightly, even if its only mild, it can escalate into something very bad if given the chance. The longer you are depressed, the worse it gets, even if it seems like it is just the same, it is getting worse, and you won t even realize it until you are not doing anything, just reading, or relaxing, and it will hit you like a bolt of lightning. Then you will realize that by trying to repress it, you made it worse.

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Plath, Sylvia. The Bell Jar. New York: HarperTrade, January 2000

Ever After: A Cinderella Story. Dir. Andy Tennant. Perf. Drew Barrymore, Anjelica Huston,

Dougray Scott, and Jeanne Moreau

Blink 182. Adam s Song. The Mark, Tom and Travis Show [The Enema Strikes Back].

MCA Records, Inc. 1999. Produced By Jerry Finn

Allen Poe, Edgar. The Raven. The Home of Truthie. 1998. 9 Apr 2001

Pound, Ezra. Quotation Center. 1999. 15 Nov 2000

Garofalo, Janeane. Quotation Center. 1999. 15 Nov 2000

Cannon, Damien. Quotation Center. 1999. 15 Nov 2000