An interesting , fascinating world.

A depressed person has little interest in life; he/she finds life and the world un-interesting, boring and has a pessimistic orientation towards the world and him/herself. The person loses interest in the world, cannot see beyond his miseries to realise there's lot more to the world than sadness, suffering and injustice and poverty. The depressed person fails to realise that the world is a giant , huge place full of diverse experiences . Depressed people lose the ability to derive enjoyment from the simple pleasures of everyday life. For example , a person who always had the thrist of knowledge will now find reading a worthless activity giving no pleasure. Instead of finding the new knowledge fascinating , they will wonder " whats the use of knowing all this, in any case my career is ruined and i am a failure "

It maybe because of these reasons that proper recovery from depression can instill renewed interest and curiosity in knowing more about the diverse, colorful world we inhabit. The person , who has recovered from depression/dysthimia after a long period , perhaps years, will now find the world a vast, interesting place full of fascinating knowledge and issues. In my case, I acquired a great deal of interest in psychology, a science I found so fascinating that I eventually decided to make it my career. Since mental illness over a number of years had spoiled my career and left me "unemployed " , after and during recovery , I used to pass my time , by reading newspapers extensively. This made me realise slowly, that there are many issues which I have a little understanding of-namely the economic issues. Initially this realisation only further dented my already deflated self-esteem, but gradually i started acquiring greater and greater interest. Eventually this became one of my major interests, but in this case the incentive was not monetary benefit but purely mental self-satisfaction. A non-depressed, psychologically well-adjusted individual finds enjoyment and mental satisfaction in knowing more about the world, in understanding how it works, and experiences a positive feeling , a sense of pleasure and satisfaction on being able to understand better the daily news items affecting the economy.

This is yet another example of how depressed people are deprived of the simple pleasures and enjoyment of life, and how alleviating depression can lead to a better lives for such people.