Is it really bad to be sad? "
It 's really bad to be sad?
begins with this provocative title of an article writer in scientific Jessica Marshall, recently published in the journal New Scientist.
"Clinical depression is one thing, but it is fair to allow people taking drugs to combat the sadness that follows unpleasant events? "- note the writer - the melancholy, suffering, unhappiness are almost drawbacks in a society where personal happiness is above everything."
You can be sad for good reasons, in an almost physiological, the abandonment of a long-cherished illusion, the breaking of a loving relationship, the loss of a loved one, the uncertainty of a precarious employment or the lack of a source of income.
biological significance of sadness Sadness is something that we can easily do without, or represents an essential component of human nature? Several hypotheses have been formulated in this regard.
Our propensity to experience distress following the occurrence of adverse events could have evolved as a strategy of self-protection.
Daniel Goleman, former teacher of psychology at Harvard, author of the bestseller "Emotional Intelligence" suggests that one function of sadness is to create a temporary state of suspension that allows to take stock of the situation, to metabolize any sense of loss and to evaluate the options that remain open.
The discontent, frustration and the brood can lead to significant changes, unusual activity the creative processes.
In this sense, the emotion that evidence and information, the signal that something must be reconsidered in a new light.
Jerome Wakefield, a scholar at New York University, argues that the sadness can even act as a deterrent, preventing and deterring the possibility of falling into situations that previously have been associated with pain (for example, take the second time in a relationship with a married partner, or insist on a job very rewarding).
Keewell Paul, a psychiatrist at Cardiff University (UK), moves the analysis on the communicative value of melancholia: showing our grief to the other members of the community, indicated that they need help.
Sad or depressed?
"You can debate whether a slight sadness to be useful or not, but definitely a clinical depression is not. And 'most dangerous super-medicating normal sadness and clinical depression sottomedicare? "- Jessica Marshall asks.
It 's very difficult to draw the line where the sadness can develop into depression. Waiting for the next edition of DSM (Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders), scheduled for 2012, comes on the debate between those who believe that the limit should be moved higher, including in the diagnosis of depression is also common manifestations of sadness, and who believe that progress should be tracked more down, narrowing the field of depressive symptoms to a group of clearly recognizable.
Strategies to bring up the morale
rid of a negative mood, and unable to console himself is practically a full-time job. Individuals adopt strategies that can sometimes be effective or sometimes inconclusive.
Whichever method is chosen (distracted, going out with friends, reading, writing, sleeping, even daydreaming), should be to decentralize themselves, avoiding as much as possible obsessive rumination about their miserable condition.
One thing not to do, according to Goleman, is to try to distract themselves with other equally depressing thoughts. A typical case of Mary M, employed in a company to bankruptcy.
She is sad because the man with whom she has an affair a few months ago has vanished into thin air as soon as you mentioned the desire a more stable relationship.
Mary wants to distract the other talking with coworkers.
But imperceptibly the conversation revolves around the risk of an imminent dismissal, while the woman has the feeling of sinking into a whirlpool of despair. Even Guido, a colleague of Mary, is distressed to the idea of \u200b\u200blosing their jobs.
He talks obsessively, introducing the sore innocent in any discourse, even between a biscuit and the other during the coffee break, creating between themselves and others a short circuit depression. Result? All the carefully avoid.
Those who implement the most effective strategies rely on mental visualization of possible events enjoyable. They come to pre-plan opportunities for recreation and comfort, combined with a mental reservation of thoughts with positive connotations.
I "repressors," puts into place a particular emotion regulation strategy based on the mechanism of "repression": the ability to stop at the first onset, their emotional turmoil.
With exercise, detuned emotionally, "change channel", becomes an almost automatic process.
contrast, in subjects with depressive tendency, the mechanism of repression is altered, and in moments of intense emotional stress evoked by negative mood, anxiety you have other thoughts to mind automatically and insistently, as if they were ready for use.
know how to activate the mechanism of repression provides benefits, especially when it is convenient to clear the mind from unpleasant thoughts to focus on a challenging task, but if carried to extremes, can succeed in eliminating all but the awareness of negativity (the denial optimistic), which refers to the initial question: is really a bad thing to be sad?
|  | | by: New Scientist
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