Two researchers at Indiana's Notre Dame say some 'choose' depression as a reaction to life's roller-coaster early in adolescence and stay that way to the end. But their research is more interesting than the obvious.
They followed 206 room mates paired randomly. Students who ended up in a room with a depressive were likely to ‘catch’ their room mate's style of thinking and develop a vulnerability to depression themselves.
The reverse case was also true. Students who had a room mate not prone to depression showed a decrease in negative thinking and ultimately less depression.
Researcher Dr Haeffel concluded: ‘Our study demonstrates that cognitive vulnerability (depression prone) has the potential to wax and wane over time depending on the social context...this means that cognitive vulnerability (depression prone) should be thought of as plastic rather than immutable.'
Good news for the depressed and confused. Stay away from depressed, negative people if you are a depressive. And when you get depressed get your ass out of bed and mix with other positive people. You must stay away from booze and junk food. Many 'self medicate' trying to escape in a bottle or a bag of chips and end up worse off.
The 'choice' to remain depressed is yours. The sooner you stop feeling sorry for yourself the sooner you'll start to feel better.
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