Episode Details

This episode explores the link between unhealthy compulsivity and depression in three parts: understanding what depression may be trying to tell us, how the negativity bias protects us and makes us miserable at the same time, and why compulsives get stuck on the hedonic treadmill. Click here for the written version. 

Transcript

Why Compulsive People Get Depressed Part 1: The Missed Potential of Low Mood

 
Constance was meticulous in everything she did. She was famous, and at times infamous, for accuracy at her job, for her fastidiousness in her home, and for her painstaking protocol when running the PTA.  Her friends and colleagues said that while she was really well-intentioned, her standards were just too high and she was way too controlling.  “You need to let go” everyone told her. But she was determined to get everything just right. And when a big project didn’t go her way, she found herself falling into into a funk.  She couldn’t care anymore. It felt like the drive that had throttled her through life so far was missing in action. 

But since we’re all very enlightened and tend to think that depression is nothing more than a pathological state these days, it didn’t occur to her that perhaps the depression was telling her something, and that it was telling her that walking away from unrealistic expectations just might be a healthy reaction. Not only did she miss the message, she interpreted it in a way that made her more depressed.  She thought there was something wrong with her. 

This is the first in a short series about the reasons that compulsive people get depressed. People who meet the full criteria for obsessive-compulsive personality disorder (OCPD), and those who have just a few compulsive personality traits, are both especially susceptible to depression, and it’s important to untangle the depression from the personality.  Otherwise they can each make the other worse. Being compulsive can make us depressed, and sometimes we try to cure or cover the depression by being more compulsive. Not a good idea.

Bringing awareness to the possible function of depression is particularly important for people who are compulsive because they often endure their suffering in the territory of “high-functioning depression”–hidden from all, but painful nevertheless.

These posts will offer a very different way to understand depression, and offer suggestions to help you break the cycle that can occur between compulsive personality and depression. However, I also want to make clear that if you’re suffering from a serious depression you should consult a mental health professional for help through psychotherapy, medication or both.

Contents

• The Potential Purpose and Value of Depression
• The Evolutionary Benefits of Depression
• Jung: Depression is the Unconscious Trying To Balance Us
• And Now–The Reality
• What happened to chemical imbalances?
• The Takeaway

The Potential Purpose and Value of Depression

Depression sometimes has a purpose. Especially if you’re compulsive or