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Comment by formulaT | Hacker News Reader

Other people in this thread have claimed, based on their own experience, that severe depression is nothing like sadness. So for me it's useful to see both sides (I'm not discounting either). It seems a bit one sided for you to criticize this post on this ground, and not the others.

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You claim that depression is just a form of sadness. Other people prove you wrong by describing some episodes of depression that are not just extreme forms of sadness.

When someone says "all swans are white" someone saying "my swan was black" is useful because it makes you realise that maybe you're wrong and need to rethink. someone saying "my swan is white and I've seen some swans my friends own that are white" is less useful because it doesn't provide much on top of what you've already said.

Also I find it interesting -- and sad -- that I got a downvote for sharing my experience.

I think different people often experience different aspects. I've felt that extreme sadness, as well as feelings totally unrelated, i.e. the numbness I talked about.

The point I was making was to contradict the idea that it can _only_ be described as extreme sadness, but in no way discounts that as an experience.

Sorry you got downvoted for that, I for one found our different experiences of this disease quite interesting! Though I'd much rather nobody experienced it...

So do I. I supplied a corrective upvote.

I realise that my post does sound critical. Sorry for that -- I didn't intend that harshness.

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