The reality of Depression Selfishness (understanding depression)

In this article, we will explain the reality behind depression selfishness and why it seems like a person with depression is being selfish.

Are depressed individuals selfish? The brief response is no. People who experience anxiety and depression become overcome with feelings. We tend to want to pull the covers up over our heads at those moments, and they can affect us all at one point or another, and just vanish. However, when individuals undergo depression, it may affect them very deeply, and they end up withdrawing from life. Since many people want them to just snap out of it, it can frustrate their friends and family. However, that’s just not how psychiatric depression and anxiety function. They’re severe disorders.

The reality of Depression Selfishness

It can be painful for friends and family to watch someone you love suffer from depression, and learning how to help and what to do can be hard. Depression is a very narcissistic condition and we are also seen to be able to drive people away to shield them. There are also feelings of remorse and fear of letting people down by depression. We may personally take stuff or say something bad, but we don’t mean it. It can be daunting to love and care about those with depression, but one of the best things you can ever do for us is to stand behind us and offer them true love and care.

You also become aware of the detrimental and unjust labels issued to those who are suffering while you deal with depression. Labels such as’ lazy’ or’ attention-seeking’ or, even, more often,’ selfish.’

You could cancel your plans because you’re struggling so hard that you can’t even get out of bed. You may not want to have children, and your loved ones feel you are depriving them. Or maybe your anxiety leaves you unable to help out with household chores.

If you’re dealing with a “selfish” depression manifestation, you’re not alone. The only way we can document “selfish” stuff that people do because of depression is to talk about it because these actions are not necessarily motivated by being selfish at the end of the day. Often, before we can be there for everyone, we need to put ourselves first and there is nothing wrong with that.

Depression and Selfishness

Depression is a disorder that is commonly associated with being “stuck” with a set of physical symptoms in a mood of depression or sorrow. From time to time, everyone gets sad. Yet clinical depression is usually characterized by a longer-than-normal period of this depressed or morose mood, which comes in several different ways.

In the sense that it affects the individual self, who we are in our brain and at our heart, Depression is a selfish illness. But this selfish trait, which can be understood as “mean,” prevents many from discussing their interactions with others. Instead, it allows them to internalize the conflict before their bodies break down before the very individuals they hide their disease.

Depression is selfish, aggressively self-consuming, and narcissistic. Depression is selfish and affects 20% to 25% of the population of the United States and 350,000,000 people worldwide.

Depression is selfish, and in the United States every year it leads to more than 41,000 suicide deaths.

Understanding Depression Selfishness

The symptoms of depression can sometimes be interpreted as acts of selfishness by the people around them. But the person is not selfish they are just really struggling with depression and here are the explanations of how depression symptoms lead to depression selfishness:

Unhappy and hopeless about everything

Depression makes a person hopeless and because of that, they look unhappy. People interpret this as being uptight and arrogant, hard to please people. It is not that the person is unappreciative of you they just don’t find anything good in life. 

Clinical depression is a disorder of mood that affects the general way you feel about life. The most prevalent symptom of depression is having a bleak or helpless outlook on your life. Worthlessness, self-hate, or inappropriate remorse might be other emotions. “Common, recurrent depression thoughts can be vocalized as, “It’s all my fault,” or “What’s the point? ”

Loss of interest in everything

One of depression’s major symptoms is a loss of interest in pleasurable activities. So when a person with depression postpones or cancels their plans with you it is not because they are selfish, it is because they can’t get themselves to be interested in the activity and find it as pleasing as they used to do earlier.

The things you love will take the fun or happiness out of depression. Another telltale sign of major depression is a lack of interest or withdrawal from things that you once looked forward to – sports, hobbies, or going out with friends. Sex is another place where you might lose interest. A diminished sex drive and even impotence include signs of severe depression.

Increased fatigue leading to sleep problems

Depression makes us so tired that we can not bring ourselves to do anything. A person with depression will be seen lying in bed all day rather than helping with chores but it is not on purpose. It is because you feel really tired is part of the reason you might avoid doing things you enjoy. A lack of motivation and an intense sense of exhaustion frequently contribute to depression, which can be one of the most disabling symptoms of depression. This could contribute to inadequate sleep. Depression, as one might lead to the other and vice versa, is often associated with insomnia. They can make each other worse as well. Anxiety may also result from a lack of quality, restful sleep.

High irritability levels

The sexes may be differently affected by depression. Research suggests that there can be signs such as irritability, escape or risky behavior, drug abuse, or misplaced rage in men with depression. Often, men are less likely to identify depression or seek care for it than women.

This is sometimes interpreted as them being selfish and lashing out at every small inconvenience, but it is not them but the depression that is responsible for it. The person is not being difficult or causing unnecessary problems or scenes, they genuinely are getting irritated by the fact that they are depressed all the time and nothing they do makes it go away.

Appetite and weight change

For people with depression, weight and appetite may fluctuate. For each person, this experience can be different. Some individuals are going to have an increased appetite and gain weight, while others are not going to be hungry and lose weight. If they’re deliberate or not, one indicator of whether dietary changes are linked to depression is. If they’re not, it could mean that depression is causing them. If a person is not having a proper diet, be it not eating enough or overeating it can impact their mood. People are not being selfish if they do not eat what you offer or do not leave enough food for you. Their diet is not in their hands.

Uncontrollable emotions

It’s a one-minute explosion of rage. The next one, you cry uncontrollably. Nothing outside of you caused the move, but your feelings are up and down at a moment’s notice. Mood swings can be caused by depression. Just because a person was happy a moment ago it does not mean that they will be happy the whole day. People with depression do not change their moods based on their choice, they are not being selfish if suddenly they want to engage in a different activity and not the one you both decided upon.

Trouble concentrating and remembering details

A person with depression has trouble concentrating and remembering minute details and because of that, they may seem lost and self-centered. They may forget what you told them to do, not because they didn’t want to do it but because they genuinely forgot about it. They may seem to be more lost and not remember what they were doing moments ago. The person is not deliberately not doing what you asked them to do, or are not able to give you their full concentration and attention span. They can not do that for anything nowadays. Following instructions is tough for them, they need to be reminded continuously and explained in the middle as to what is to be done.

Aches, pains, and headaches 

People with depression report having aches, pains, and headaches that just won’t go away, and complain about it all the time. It is not an excuse to not work or help you out. The person genuinely does not have the energy in them and the aches are present. A person with depression is not being selfish and faking their pain. They are genuinely not feeling well and are therefore unable to contribute to household chores or any other work. 

In case you have depression yourself or know anyone who might be struggling with depression, refer them to mental health professionals to help against the fight with depression.

In this article, we will explain the reality behind depression selfishness and why it seems like a person with depression is being selfish.

FAQs: The reality of Depression Selfishness 

References 

https://themighty.com/2018/03/depression-selfish/

https://young.scot/get-informed/national/10-things-people-with-depression-want-you-to-know

https://www.deltapsychology.com/are-people-with-depression-being-selfish