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Depressed? Don't worry, it's good for you

By Suzannah Ramsdale on Friday 16 January 2009

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Marie Claire news: Depressed woman

Sadness, the blues, depression – whatever you call it, apparently it's good for your health.

According to new research, a bout of sadness helps us to summon the motivation to improve our lives.

Scientists warn that medicating for depression as if it were a disease removes our drive to change for the better.

Feeling low can help people be stronger, more resilient and better able to cope with life's challenges, which in turn leads to greater achievements.

A growing number of mental health experts are now warning against doctors and drug companies that encourage people to pop pills in order to handle depression.

Psychiatrist Professor Jerome Wakefield told the New Scientist, 'When you find something this deeply in us biologically you presume it was selected because it had some advantage - otherwise we wouldn't have been burdened with it. We're fooling around with part of our biological make-up.'

Professor Wakefield also believes that sadness can help us learn from our mistakes.

He said: 'I think one of the functions of intense negative emotions is to stop our normal functioning - to make us focus on something else for a while.'

The risk of feeling sad can also prevent us from being too blasé in relationships or with other things we value.

Plus, it's a good excuse for a duvet day!

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Friday 16 January 2009

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My wife is 33 years age and has had OCD since early age. She refuses to seek medical aid or see a psychiatrist, and her drive to cleanliness has been driving us crazy. Now our kids flock to the taps for various reason, for washing the car toy, for cleaning DVDs, etc. Every event seems to have the bottom in the cleanliness issue. It has a taken a toll in me, in that I am disappointed that she will ever get well and let us a live a good life. This disappointment is in the form of a constant low level frequency "hummmmm" of sadness. I don't want to be happy again, for it will be shattered yet again by the next issue due to OCD. Am I depressed, and can an expect advise me if its good for me?
Comment by Ranjit Kumar on January 16 03:59

its not true that depression helps us to motivate its the fight against the depression that helps us to move further and achieve our goals...
Comment by shashi on January 16 06:36

I think there's definately a place for anti-depressants. I've suffered for many years and I go through bouts of positivity regardless of whether I take anti-depressants or not. My life was a lot more difficult without them.
Comment by swr on December 21 16:05