Watching TV vs depression

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!	magz wrote:
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Nothing wrong with watching TV at all!

I watch YouTube all the time.

Yes, there is nothing fundamentally wrong with drinking alcohol, gambling or eating junk food once in a while either. But it is very-very wrong to do it as a coping strategy, especially if you are doing it instead of doing something actually good for your mental health.

Watching TV is not the same thing as drinking alcohol or taking drugs----I do it all the time.

And I don't drink alcohol or take drugs. And I function okay.

Nobody functions "optimally." But the idea is to get as close to "optimal" as possible.

The veterinarian works hard; it's not like he doesn't do productive things. He's entitled to a little "down time."

If it means eating a bag of pretzels while watching TV, who am I to judge?

I do not judge. I didn't say watching TV is bad. But it is to some extent same thing as drinking alcohol or taking drug - just tickling our reward system by doing something useless or, if abused, even harmful for our wellbeing. Doing it as depression or stress relief is a very dangerous path.

If he watched TV all through his waking hours, without otherwise doing something else productive, then you might have a case.

This is not the point. Person might falsely believe they are doing something to help with depression or stress, while they are doing something completely useless or harmful instead of focusing on what would actually help. This is what dangerous, not watching TV or drinking.

There are times when not focusing on what's depressing you---is a surefire way out of depression.

And not judging one's self too much helps as well.

That's exactly how people get severely depressed or become addicted. Majority of people have no idea what really makes them depressed and have misbeliefs that something that upsets them makes them depressed, while it can easily be stuff that they love doing.

Watching TV isn't helpful and in many cases contributes to onset depression. If you are trying to distract yourself from false reason of depression by doing what makes you even more depressed, this vicious circle drives you into severe depression.

It can happen with any activity that is empty fun without any benefits for your physical or mental health. Reading books, playing games, watching tv or movies.

How does "reading books" not benefit anybody?

THAT has certainly helped me out of a lot of depressions.....

I also happen to walk about 10 miles per day, and run at least 3 miles a day every other day (and sometimes more frequently).

Reading good books has a lot of potential benefits for your personal growth and it can be a lot of fun, but it is pretty much useless for depression.

Again, people confuse having fun with fighting against depression. They get well for variety of other reasons, but experience first signs of recovery doing something fun, and attribute their recovery to this activity. This is fallacy. And when they have depression again, they are trying to fight it by doing this fun thing and fail.

The acquisition of new knowledge is well known as a frequent counterpoint to depression.

Sometimes, depression is caused by feelings of futility---which might be offset through reading something which contradicts what one is "futile" about.

Even if it's "chemically induced."

I used to lift weights. It really didn't do anything for me. And I did it "right." I used relatively light weights with a considerable amount of repetitions.

In essence, we should intervene (or not intervene) on an individual basis.

"well known" very often means another fallacy. Learning is a function of reward system which is impaired by depression, so there is in fact strong correlation between learning and depression, but it's the other way around. Is there any study demonstration causation?


It doesn't work this way. Intellectually I know for a fact depression can be prevented and cured by being intentional and doing simple things I made a priority. I also know if for whatever reasons I'll end up severely depressed and end up feeling "futile", knowing something intellectually will not matter. Like at all. Depression is irrational, you can't really fight it with reading something. I just hope I will keep doing those simple things even when I don't believe it will work on emotional level.


What makes you believe this is the "right" way? I've never heard anything like that.

How do you know it didn't do anything for you? What if it actually helped you to enjoy your reading a day later? And now you believe reading helped, not lifting weights. How would you know?

Lighter weights and lots of repetitions in weightlifting is supposed to be more the "right way" than heavier weights and a small amount of repetitions.

I am of the belief that the "treatment" of depression is a very individual thing. Reading has helped me---I know that. I don't need a research study to confirm this; I know this in my heart.

It must be said that I'm more a "reactive" depressive than somebody who has some sort of chemical imbalance causing the depression.

It really seems like you have fun being the "devil's advocate." You will never agree with me, no matter what----because agreeing with me wouldn't be entertaining to you.

Well, this contradicts what I know this far. When I do weightlifting, I lift heavier weights and small amount of reps, just enough to trigger all the processes, but not too much to lower inflammatory response and avoid overstressing my body.

I also do cardio as endurance training and HIIT burpees for mental health benefits. If I had to pick one, which I often do due to circumstances like travel or just being busy, I pick HIIT burpees and do them every day no matter what.


That's one the big issues with depression. Unlike some less "sensitive" conditions like dehydration, depression leads to deeply individual, deeply personal, emotional experiences, it feels like part of our personality, not something happening to our body. It makes it extremely hard see things objectively and to approach it like any other condition. Objectively, what you know in your heart is extremely likely to be false. We just must accept this truth and always take it as possibility, not matter how strong our feelings are. These misbeliefs is what makes it hard to get rid of depression once and for all.

Brain is part of our body, whatever is happening in our "mental" realm, doesn't happen in some ethereal astral space, it is happening in your body, it is all fundamentally neural activity, chemical conductivity, etc. There is no way around this fact.



No, my only intent is to share my approach with this community, bust some myths surrounding depression.

And I don't even disagree with you, watching TV as entertainment is not bad, reading books is great, beneficial for personal growth, learning and having fun. But we should never try to use these activities as a way to overcome depression. Doing so puts us at risk of downward spiral.

Good advice thanks I believe you are on the right track with your learned exercise wisdom

The veterinarian is a woman, by the way.

And no, there's nothing wrong with watching TV. Some of us have agoraphobia, photophobia, scopophobia or other reasons why we don't want to "get out in the sun". Watching TV can be relaxing especially after a mentally taxing career such as veterinary science, and the life-death of people's pets. TV can also be informative and educational.

I don't think we are here to criticise anyone or to make them feel worse when they are already experiencing depression.

I hope the OP vet is doing well.