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Comment by Xeoncross | Hacker News Reader

"the "self esteem" movement that took over United States schools after I graduated from high school may have actually INCREASED risk of suicide in the United States"

Yes, "self esteem" is again putting the individual up directly in front of themselves to examine and focus on which only brings existing problems into sharp center-focus. Depression and Pride both have a common denominator in too much self-absorption.

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This is one of the most common misconceptions in my opinion of depression. Depression is not caused by self absorption. Depression is not vanity, imagine someone who has been rejected by a loved one. A depressed person might think, "I was never good enough for them," while a person who is not depressed might think, "I learned a lot and will do better next time." Viewing them as selfish or self absorbed is completely wrong. Do you think the depressed person wants to feel like they are not good enough? Is non depressed person self absorbed for their thinking?

> "I was never good enough for them."

> "I learned a lot and will do better next time."

Both of those are pretty self-absorbed (which is not the same as vane). In both scenarios you are seen as the person responsible, even though the rejection came from someone else.

What if our theoretical person is responsible? Everyone is going to view any event like this with some sort of "self-absorbed" (I disagree with your definition of self absorbed here, but lets continue) response because they had some part in it (by your definition). The difference between a Depressed person and a non depressed person's response is the self deprecating thoughts. "Self Absorbed" has nothing to do with it.

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