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Comment by acty1 | Hacker News Reader

Has anyone else noticed the odd "coincidence" that depression is associated with -depressive- states such as

- sitting around and not exercising - keeping to oneself and not socializing and helping others - repeating negative talk outloud - aimlessness and laziness to formulating a meaningful life purpose

Could it be that this "depression" is really a diagnosis of:

- sitting around and not doing something for others and the world?

We act like there's an abstract or canonical "depression"... but really it is our interpretation of a person's outward expression, action, and contribution.

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I think you need to distinguish between depressed mood and Major Depressive Disorder, as well as other mood disorders.

You may be right if you were only talking about the former. However, MDD, BPAD etc. are serious stuff.

Source: I'm a doctor and have seen serious depression.

How do you, as a doctor, reconcile that there is no test/falsifiable criteria for depression?

You may be able to identify "major depression" but how many times is it just a case of "lack of meaningful purpose" and just "bad decisions" that are compensated for with drugs that may do more harm than good?

Sorry for the late reply. I usually get notified of children comments.

I don't even know where to begin answering this. There are criteria for MDD. Everyone's case is different and complex. There is always a judgement call to be made. There are tools such as the K10 that go a way to making an objective assessment but I actually find the difference between MDD and "feeling down" pretty obvious. Like most of medicine, it's pattern recognition.

You might do all this stuff---exercise, socialise, work---and not begin to approach the root of the problem. I'm suspicious of the article's conclusion for the same reason. Exercise might distract, and might postpone the onset of total dysfunction, but that's not necessarily a good thing. I have worked with a teacher who was great at continuing to look like she was coping, but meanwhile caused more damage than if she'd stayed in bed.

Couldn't agree more. On the lighter end of the spectrum, when I'm feeling down, I often go for a run and it does make me feel better for a good 12 hours afterwards. But if the conflict isn't resolved, any anxiety comes right back.

At the other end of the spectrum, when people are truly depressed, you can't get them out of bed, let alone for a run. Also, one person I know with depression says their it starts in their head but manifests itself physically, making it painful to do physical activity.

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