This saying about depression made sense to me - does it make sense to you?

[Suzbj]

The friend that held my hand today and has been through depression herself said something that was passed onto her. "Depression is anger turned inwards". Still out on that re the jury of my mind but it did hit a cord. What does everyone else think? I think there is some merit to that saying to some degree...

Cheers

Suz

[White_Rose]

Good one Beetle.

You are on the ball. As I said above, anger is a symptom of depression, and at times a huge problem.  But there are other symptoms which Neil has listed. Is depression any emotion turned inwards?

Anger is anger whatever the cause. It doesn't cause us to become depressed. It's like having aches and pains when you have the 'flu.

I thought I had cooled down a little over this but obviously not.

What upsets me about this whole process is that it is constantly happening.  People are labelled one way or another and put in a pigeon hole.  Once there you cannot get out because the illness or disability or whatever has defined you. You are no longer a complete person, you are a diagnosis.  e.g. you are a diabetic, a Down syndrome, deaf, a paraplegic, a schizophrenic etc. etc. etc. Please forgive me if I have upset anyone here.

People with depression also come into this category because they are their illness. Not "you are a person with an illness", you are that illness.  And there you are expected to stay.  The whole person has been shrunk to that one description with no recognition of the rest of their skills, ideas, life.

At work I spent so much of my time fighting the stereotypes that ruled the organisation.  The only reason I was tolerated was because of legislation and the need to appear to comply with it.  There were huge reactions if a woman was promoted beyond a certain level as they could not possibly be competent, sexual harassment was not recognised and neither was bullying.  Little understanding of the needs of the clients because they were not seen as people but as useless and hopeless.

So when someone makes a glib statement about any illness, in this case depression, it's time to stand up and shout that this is not true.  Depression is horrible, painful and complex.  It doesn't go away because someone has thought of a smart-**** comment and it certainly doe not help the person struggling to manage their condition.

Cool down time again.  Would love to know your reactions.

White Rose

[Neil_1]

White Rose,

I agree.

Neil

🙂

[Damien]

I can't say I agree with that at all!

When I was Depressed it wasn't about Anger so much as Sadness.  Now I am working through Anxiety which is fear.  Anger is part of it, but it's not the defining factor.

Depression is having been brave for too long.

[White_Rose]

Hi Damien

Not sure what you are disagreeing with.  Is it the statement depression is anger turned inwards, or something in one of the posts?

[Damien]

Hello White Rose,

Yes, it's the original comment I was disagreeing with.  I think "anger" is too easy a target, and therefore a cop-out.  As you said later in the discussion it's an easy mark for those who want to posit simple solutions.

I'm agreeing with you, and disagreeing with the original concept.  It was good of suzbj to ask it though, it's got us all talking.  🙂

[JessF]

Well this is a good talking point! Depression can be a lot of things. Swallowing anger and keeping it in can be a big part of depression, but also it can be anger turned outwards. How many times have you lashed out at a friend or family member or partner when depressed?

[TryAgain]

Depression as anger turned inwards... that strikes a cord for me too.  The two are definitely intertwined.  However, as everyone here likely already knows, the symptoms and causes of depression are never as simple as equating it to one phrase.  And the way depression is experienced can vary dramatically by each individual.

I would like to explore this anger-depression connection further, as it has affected me personally.  Sometimes the anger can be manifested both outwardly and inwardly.  Anger can be a symptom of depression - often a reaction to the inner suffering that is going on, such as the feelings of powerlessness, isolation, guilt, shame, and having to bottle up the pain for so long.  Those repressed emotions have to come out somehow sometime. 

For me, it could start out as being very irritable or "ornery" for no clear reason.  The "smallest" things, like my partner forgetting to run the dishwasher, for example, would set me off.  The irritability/anger may have felt like a distraction from my inner pain for a moment, but in the end, would only exacerbate my turmoil.

I think another close relative to anger/irritability is criticism.  We are often our "worst enemies", and that inner critic can sometimes come out on others, so I have to watch that.  It's not fair for me to hold such high expectations of others, and I shouldn't be holding expectations of such high caliber on myself either.  

I had come across this Psychology Today article a while ago, which sheds some light on this depression-anger connection and mentions a study that confirms the association to a degree.  It concludes by stressing the importance of managing not just the anger itself, but clarifying all the details surrounding our pain.  As we all know, so much of this is unconscious - what we see is just the "tip of the iceberg".  So it's important to try to go deeper and uncover the roots of our various symptoms.