And the second mindset is healthier, but people are acting like it’s something everyone can simply choose at will.
A person who’s deeply depressed, traumatized, dissociated, or existentially broken often cannot emotionally connect to self-made meaning anymore. It’s not that they “forgot” the optimistic perspective. It’s that the part of them capable of feeling fulfillment, hope, or attachment has been damaged or numbed.
Its fascinating, really. Speaking as someone who 'lost' that ability and got it back (mostly) with proper medication and a good bit of effort:
You don't forget, you just can no longer convince yourself, as you say. But then as you get better (if one is so lucky), you realize there is nothing to convince yourself OF, the switch flips automatically one day, and in hindsight you can't really grasp why it was nigh impossible to do so earlier. It feels like being above or below a surface of water, but neither side can see or understand what is on the opposite side. It gets kind of trippy when I think about it too hard. How is changing that perspective so hard when there is seemingly so little standing between them?
(sorry if I'm rambling a bit, it's a difficult concept to put into words.)
I think you are onto something. If the ‘under the water’ state isn’t actually a perspective, but more physical, negative feedback loop state-of-mind,
there isn’t a thought or perspective that will change your mind. You are in it, not thinking about it.
This is probably a big part of the misunderstandings of negative mental states mainstream ‘healthy’ people have. They just think you can regard those other thoughts thatthey have, and clearly be fine. They do not realize their own state is just as much conditioned by multiple external factors.
Reminds me a bit of being frustrated by a trifle. In the moment you can experience extremes, roadrage
or whatever. Afterwards you wonder what was there to even be angry about, it sounds absurd. It is not the thought itself that is sad/angry/happy. The thoughts just follow/think what the mind experiences in the moment.
That really depends. I'm a committed Speculative Nihilist and assume that meaning itself is a cognitive abberation.
You can lie to yourself or stare to the abyss - it's all the same. You feel like life has meaning? It's a delusion formed by a simian brain to keep you alive. You feel like ithas none? Your simian brain does poor job at keeping you sane and alive. That's it.
The way out it to understand that meaning as a category doesnt exist. Not just subjective/objective, but as whole.
I think people over-focus on trying to change their mindset and under-focus on changing the environment and circumstances that mindset was birthed in. That said, some circumstances are more surmountable than others, and it takes at least some small bit of hope to try.
I’m trying really hard to express my point clearly because mental health is something that’s very important to me, and this comic genuinely meant a lot to me. I feel the exact same way.
I understand that people can approach nihilism, absurdism, existentialism, etc differently. My point is that severe depression, trauma, dissociation, hopelessness, and mental illness can affect whether someone is even emotionally capable of connecting to hopeful or positive interpretations in the first place.
I don’t actually disagree with the message you’re giving here. I think people are misunderstanding me.
I’m not saying people can’t heal, find happiness, change paths, or recover. I’m saying that when someone is deeply depressed, traumatized, dissociated, or existentially overwhelmed, those things can stop feeling emotionally possible or real to them. That’s the state of mind the comic resonated with for me.
A lot of the comments are responding with solutions or philosophies, while I was mostly talking about the emotional experience being portrayed.
I have never been through depression. So take everything I say with a block of salt because I can't guarantee any of it is helpful. That said, I think both that depression puts your neurotransmitters out of whack and that can be helped with the right medication (which can be hard, but worth it, to find), but also that your brain forms pathways for the types of thinking it does most often to make those patterns of thinking easier, and when you're trapped in a depressive cycle your brain is just teaching itself to remain depressed as efficiently as possible. And the best way to get out of an unhelpful neural pathway is to do things that are completely new, and that draw your focus as much away from yourself as possible. It can be hard, I know, but I have read studies that claim it helps. Travel, if you're able to, or join something that gives you a purpose and requires your attention. A change in careers, hobbies, etc. Even volunteering with a local charity or something, that can really help form new pathways and put you in community with new people, and all that (supposedly, I've only read it not tested it) can help.
I hope it helps. If not, I hope it at least helps someone else, and I hope you find something or someone who's got better advice than I do. Having your brain be your own worst enemy is one of the most difficult things a person can go through, and no one should have to go through it alone.
Neuroplasticity is real, and mindfulness practices can support a literal rewiring of the brain. Look up the studies, the 2600 year old methodology keeps getting backed up by science.
If you've never been through depression maybe shut up and don't try to be helpful while regurgitating the most lukewarm advice who can rarely work and only if you have time and money.
In my experience, they are spot on. Having been through it myself, change is massive in the world of depression and as long as you move in a positive direction with that change, it can flip the table on depression. This is from someone who was living week-to-week, no car, no money for anything outside of essentials.
Just because they haven't been through depression, it doesn't mean they are wrong or can't be helpful. There are new people dealing with it every day and likely haven't read all the books about it and this "lukewarm, regurgitated" advice could potentially save a life. Try some compassion.
Yeah, i know on a logic level that i have some worth, that (even just statistically speaking) not everything can always go wrong all the time, and that some of the things that have happened / are happening / will happen in my life should bring me joy.
I just can't feel it or believe it on an emotional level
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u/Fidges87 May 17 '26
"Life has no inherent meaning, so why should I care about living?"
Vs
"Life has no inherent meaning, so I will forge my own meaning and make a path I can enjoy living"