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from the take-a-sad-song-and-make-it-better dept.
Arthur T Knackerbracket has found the following story:
[...] Traditionally, linguistic analyses in this field have been carried out by researchers reading and taking notes. Nowadays, computerised text analysis methods allow the processing of extremely large data banks in minutes. This can help spot linguistic features which humans may miss, calculating the percentage prevalence of words and classes of words, lexical diversity, average sentence length, grammatical patterns and many other metrics.
[...] More interesting is the use of pronouns. Those with symptoms of depression use significantly more first person singular pronouns – such as “me”, “myself” and “I” – and significantly fewer second and third person pronouns – such as “they”, “them” or “she”. This pattern of pronoun use suggests people with depression are more focused on themselves, and less connected with others. Researchers have reported that pronouns are actually more reliable in identifying depression than negative emotion words.
[...] The style of language relates to how we express ourselves, rather than the content we express. Our lab recently conducted a big data text analysis of 64 different online mental health forums, examining over 6,400 members. “Absolutist words” – which convey absolute magnitudes or probabilities, such as “always”, “nothing” or “completely” – were found to be better markers for mental health forums than either pronouns or negative emotion words.
-- submitted from IRC
(Score: 5, Interesting) by MichaelDavidCrawford on Wednesday January 02 2019, @09:33AM (3 children)
In addition to having experienced severe depression many times with two quite-serious suicide attempts, I volunteered for the Suicide Prevention Service Of Santa Cruz County when I was a UCSC student.
Such experiences lead me to assert the following:
- Every mammal, each in its own special way is a Pack Animal
- The very worst experience any mammal can have is to be isolated from their pack
- "Reactive" Clinical Depression is caused by the depressed animal having rejected the pack, not the other way round
- "Endogenous" Depression has no external cause, but the depressed animal will start finding depressing things to react to
As I have Bipolar-Type Schizoaffective Disorder for me specifically my depressions are far more often Endogenous than Reactive. But for me to experience either type of Depression will result in my socially isolating myself.
How Can This Possibly Be?
The very worst thing for every mentally ill person is not failure to take our medicine but for us to become socially isolated. That led my very first therapist to say at the very beginning of our very first session, "Never Live Alone".
It happens that the regulations that govern my "Permanent Assistive Housing" stipulate that I _must_ live alone. I expect that's done to avoid disputes between housemates, but again in my actual experience is a really good way to make me suicidal.
To avoid that I visit a cafe Every Single Day.
Lately I've just been asking for free water at Starbucks; they surely have a corporate policy of serving those without the means to purchase their wares as the baristas are _always_ quite happy to serve me, and even to give me their restroom combination lock codes.
Having mentioned this to one of my case managers led to two of them _taking_ me to Starbucks twice a week; one of them started doing so for her other clients.
LOL: when searching for "Suicide Prevention Service Of Santa Cruz County" - which may not have a website - at the very top of the page was an ad for "Amazon Suicide - Millions Of Books".
One such book is no joke: "Night Falls Fast: Understanding Suicide" by John's Hopkins Research Psych Prof Kay Redfield Jamison. I will _never_ read that book as I understand it's chock full 'o triggers, that is, to read that book would make me suicidal. In "An Unquiet Mind", Jamison writes of her experiences as a Manic-Depressive UCLA Grad Student, including her attempt to take her own life by overdosing on Lithium.
A mental hospital once overdosed me with Lithium, as it's quite tricky to get the dose right.
You Don't Want To OD On Lithium, it's a very unpleasant experience. Yes Sodium and Potassium are Essential Nutrients but Lithium is _deadly_ with its effective dose for Mania being just slightly less than its toxic dose.
Yes I Have No Bananas. [gofundme.com]
(Score: 3, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday January 02 2019, @09:54AM (2 children)
Maybe that's what the books say, but in practice about 1% of human population rejects the pack and happily lives away from others. Hermits are the ultimate expression of this, monks are a bit more common, but loving being mostly alone is a variant of the norm. Not everyone is a depressed girl who ran away; you have to leave room for submariners, merchant sailors, explorers, astronauts. They are certified as 100% sane; at the same time, they are fine alone or in a small group.
(Score: 4, Insightful) by coolgopher on Wednesday January 02 2019, @10:29AM
I'll add that's its also very easy to be lonely without being alone.
(Score: 2) by MichaelDavidCrawford on Thursday January 03 2019, @01:43AM
Not always, but there are some places in the world where lots of hermits live, albeit with lots of distance between each of them.
Consider Feral Cats: they are _highly_ territorial but they too live in Colonies.
Yes I Have No Bananas. [gofundme.com]