- #71
zoobyshoe
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It's one of the hallmarks of depression that you no longer enjoy just about anything. It takes longer and longer to accomplish whatever you do undertake, and formerly enjoyed activities are no longer rewarding.EnumaElish said:I agree with zooby that depression is more debilitating than enabling. At a very general level (I am not commenting on individual experiences, and I am not a mental health professional), I think fighting with depression (therapy, emotional awareness, etc.) is more likely to contribute to one's focus and productivity. IMO, the people who are more creative are the ones that have a handle on their depression -- they might be conscious of their anger and looking for a way to deal with it. (Or perhaps they are "riding the manic cycle" -- the opposite of depression.) Contrast this with someone who is not even aware that there is anger inside, just depressed; he or she would be more likely to just stare at the TV all day.
I think it's fairly common for people to try and fend it off before it reaches this point by undertaking solitary and introspective kinds of activities like art, journal writing, practicing musical instruments, and such.
This kind of therapeutic impulse isn't what drives real, working artists. The ceiling of the Sistine Chapel did not represent a place where Michaelangelo could go and work out his emotional problems. A day's painting represented a huge amount of preparation, the gathering together and supervision of his assistants, and it had to be done in one fell swoop before the plaster dried. It was work. This is the way it is for working artists: you can't just drop things if you're not in the mood. You have to push yourself through distractions and keep the work going.