The analogy between depression and mashed potatoes

This article will discuss the analogy that has been widely debated online that being depressed makes you feel as if you are having mashed potatoes. It will explain why those can relate, and how people have even created a potato scale to evaluate the state of their depression.

What is the analogy between depression and mashed potatoes?

There has been a wide online discussion about how depression is related to mashed potatoes. It seems that people have created different meanings for the analogy between mashed potatoes and depression. 

But the first person to make this analogy was a user on Tumblr. And right after he made this post, a lot of people began to reply, saying they relate to this feeling.

In this user’s post, he explained why he was making this connection between mashed potatoes and depression. He said that when you are depressed, everything you will eat will, in one way or another, taste like mashed potatoes.

He continues by saying that it doesn’t matter what form, or how much spices you put on your food, in the end, it will all taste like plain mashed potatoes. This part of his analogy will closely relate to the apathy, and lack of color your life can get when you are depressed. 

Depression seems to turn your technicolor world, black and white. It will make you lose the ability to feel every emotion, from the happiest ones to the most difficult ones. It makes you feel like the most delicious chef-cooked meal is just mashed potatoes. 

You can feel completely numb. And even though sometimes people may assume depression will make you completely sad, that is not true. Depression can also make you feel empty. And this leads to the other part of the Tumblr analogy.

The user said that not only when you are depressed, everything will taste like mashed potatoes, but they also will not do their job filling you up. You will still be hungry. The sense of empty depression gives you seems won’t be filled by anything.

People can recommend you to go outside, and enjoy a little sunlight, the same way they suggest adding spices to your mashed potatoes, or eating something different to kill your hunger. But all of that seems useless. Nothing will fill you up. And this can make you, little by little, lose hope.

Mashed potatoes have turned into such a helpful analogy when talking about depression that each person seems to be using it differently. To some other people, mashed potatoes are related to the state their brain feels when they are depressed. 

Depression often causes cognitive functions to alter. It can make your memory worse, your ability to focus worse, and your energy levels as well. It can make you lose track of something that you are saying, and keeping track of a conversation can be impossible at times.

You can lose the clarity of your thoughts, and sometimes just thinking a little outside of your common pattern is impossible. What people will call mashed potatoes brain. That sometimes can be soupier, others more put together. But in some sense, depression usually leaves your brain a little out of the loop.

To other people, mashed potatoes seem to be an analogy to the state of their depression at the moment. There are online discussions about users that have created a mashed potato scale. In those, the person will tell they are feeling like solid taters when they don’t feel good at all, they would say everything is mashed potatoes.

This analogy gave the person using it a chance to talk more freely to people around them about depression. And this seems to be the beauty of analogies. They are what will help people understand something distant from their reality. 

Bringing to people that today you feel like a good curly fries, or mashed potatoes will allow your friends and loved ones to know when they need to be closer, and how to talk to you in determined moments. 

It is not a scientific scale, but it is something that makes people around you get closer. It is something that can make this difficult conversation a little easier.

In the same way, explaining that when you are depressed, everything will taste and feel as plain as mashed potatoes will also make it easier for your loved ones to understand why they may try to do everything to make you happy, and you will still be able to respond with the most exciting reaction.

In the end, the sum of all of these analogies leads us to a clear understanding of the areas depression will impact people the most. It talks about the lack of joy, the loss of interest even in things the person used to love. 

It also embodies the overwhelming sense of emptiness a person with depression will feel. In which nothing will ever make you feel satisfied and fulfilled.

It also discusses the cognitive impacts depression may cause. The lack of attention, how doing the simplest things can become harder, and how it seems your brain is just shutting off. 

In all these ways, as with any other form of analogy that can be used to describe depression, the biggest benefit of all of this is that people are talking about what depression is, how it can feel different from one person to the next, and how people around can be supportive. And putting those topics into a discussion is the most important thing.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ): Does depression make you feel like mashed potatoes? 

What is brain fog? 

Brain fog is a condition that causes the person to have a lack of clarity, memory, and focus issues. It can happen when you are going through a stressful situation, are having sleeping problems, or have even been spending too much time facing screens.

Brain fog can cause you to experience insomnia, headaches, low energy levels, or even become fatigued. It can also affect your mood, and make you more irritable, along with making you less motivated, and even a little depressed.

To help you cope with brain fog you should spend less time facing screens, and focus on doing more things you enjoy, as a way to help you cope with stress. Having a good diet will also help you feel more nourished, and energized. The same is true for exercising and avoiding stimulant drinks closer to your bedtime.

Aside from that, having a more positive outlook in life, and managing stress in a better manner can also help you cope with brain fog.

What are the most common symptoms of depression? 

Depression can cause a person to experience intense sadness. It will also make them lose interest in things, even the ones they used to love. Aside from that, when depressed you can feel less energetic, and more fatigued. Your cognitive functions may also get worse, making it harder for you to focus, and your memory to be worse.

When depressed, your self-esteem and your sense of self-worth will go down, and you may feel empty, more irritable, guilty, and ashamed. The condition will change your eating and sleeping patterns and can cause some crying spells.

Depression can make you feel hopeless and helpless. And to some people, depression can lead to self-harm, and in some cases even thoughts of death, or suicidal thoughts.

What are the forms of depression? 

Depression can happen in four forms. It can be mild, moderate, major, and persistent. The first one, as the name says, causes the person to experience mild symptoms, which will go on for a short period. And this makes it harder to diagnose mild depression. But fortunately, it can often be treated with some lifestyle changes.

Moderate depression is the one that will begin to affect the person’s life since the symptoms will be more intense and go on for longer. Moderate depression is often treated through therapy, but in some cases, medication can also be necessary.

Major depression, which is also known as clinical depression, will be the most intense form of depression and can make it impossible, sometimes, for the person to do the simplest things such as getting out of bed. 

Aside from the common symptoms of depression, major depression can make the person have hallucinations, or even become delusional.

To treat major depression people will often need a joint treatment of medication, and therapy. The same is true for persistent depression, which causes the person to have a long-term depression that can go on for as long as 5 years. During this time, the person will swing between mild and major depressive episodes.

Does depression have a cure? 

No, depression doesn’t have a cure. That is because there is a genetic factor to depression, which can’t be changed even through treatment. Aside from that, people that have gone through previous depressive episodes will have a higher chance of getting depressed.

But this doesn’t mean that you will always be depressed. Your episode will go into remission, and by that time, you will feel like you can get better control over your emotions, and you will be able to regain interest in things, and also feel joy.

It is important that once you go into remission that you keep caring for your mental health as a way to prevent, the best way you can, a relapse into a new depressive episode.

What causes depression?

Depression can be caused by several factors. It can be related to genetics, which means that when you have someone in your family that has gone through it, you have a higher chance of getting depressed. 

Aside from that, depression can be caused by a chemical imbalance in the person’s brain. This means that when they have a high dose of some hormones, and a low dose of others, they can become depressed.

Depression may also happen when a person is going through a traumatic experience, such as the loss of a loved one, or the end of a relationship. Going through financial problems can also be a traumatic experience that can make someone depressed.

Conclusion 

This article showed how people that are dealing with depression have been describing it as mashed potato. The article explained the analogy, how online people even created a potato scale of depression, and what it represents.

If you have any questions or comments about this article, feel free to write them in the section below.

References

https://www.refinery29.com/en-us/2017/01/136502/depression-analogy-tumblr-post

https://loveyourbrain.blog/2019/03/11/the-potato-scale-of-depression/amp/

https://mentalhealthathome.org/2017/11/08/mashed-potato-brains-depression/amp/