Cynicism - reality or depressive construct?

I'm quite often accused of being overly cynical, and I guess I am, moreso now than I ever used to be. I'm not sure if I was always like this - I can't remember NOT feeling this way.

Anyway, if there's bad to be seen or doubt to be had, I can construct it. A lot of the time, my fears are borne out in reality (or have I just selected to remember those events that back up my predictions?).

My wife has said that I don't appear to be very happy at the moment and she is quoting my cynicism as evidence for this. I don't feel particularly unhappy...certainly I don't feel like I did a few years back, when I had depression quite bad - real desperate times. I came off anti-Depressants about 3/4 months ago and seemingly, so far so good. Work's OK, I train often and it's going well, I've got two fantastic kids and my wife is great.

My worry now is, am I slipping back? I always thought that since I'd hit that "low", I'd always recognise it if it came back. But that's one of the strange things about depression - it's insidious, it creeps in taking over you in such a subtle way that you don't notice it - it BECOMES your reality and you don't even see it.

So is my cynicism a construct of creeping depression, or am I just reflecting on reality?

I'm not looking for a psychological appraisal, just others' experiences and thoughts.

Cheers.

 

Cynicism is just a natural byproduct of exposure to the human race.

Now how's that for cynicism!

Being cynical doesn't automatically mean you have to be depressed, unhappy or down though. I'm pretty cynical, but generally quite cheerful at the same time. For me, cynicism is reality but doesn't have any depressive connotations at all.

 

How come people say "thats reality" to things like "10% of the worlds people have 90% of the worlds wealth." But dont say it to things like "last night I had the best sex of my life". The highest rates of suicide are for people my sex and age that makes me feel happy.

 

Past experience are what we best our future predictions on. A healthy cynicism will protect you from being too knocked down when things go wrong, just don't let it stop you starting from doing things. (I have this similar problem in that I am constantly plagued by doubt and have to get over the "inertia" to do anything really).

 

I've been pegged as a "cynic" many times, and maybe I am. I don't like to hide fro the fact that humans are imperfect creatures, and that we are ALL subject to weakness and pettiness from time to time. I'm sure we all would love to claim ourselves to be above selfish desire, but it's all a load of rubbish.

 

I keep a perpetually positive attitude myself. I have doubt, and don't trust other people easily, and keep myself guarded, but I'm not very cynical.

 

I doubt this is the real question you wanted to ask. What is your motive??

 

Seriously, life sucks and the human condition is deplorable at best. You may call that cynical, but it's realistic.

 

Cynical people only remember when they're right about something, is that cynical enough

Seriously though, I think we all have a cynical side to us, it's just important to remember that all it suggests to us is one possible course of action, it's important to prepare for it but it's also important to be able to reject what it tells us and not live as if the cynical side is the only side that's ever right.

 

Gutted for you. My life rules. Wooot.

 

well negative thought clings to more negative thought and positive thought clings to positive thought. by meditation while thinking of a particualr color such as pink well repeating the words love. Will change the type of thought that come out of your mind and change words that come out of your mouth. This is an effective way to get rid of cynical thinking, well also changing your way of thinking. lol The brain is a fun thing to experiment with.




Justin

 

my take
The word 'cynicism' generally describes the opinions of those who maintain that self-interest is the primary motive of human behaviour.
we humans as a whole. we must start to believe and trust our own thought's as an individual as well.

But as too your general question.
So is my cynicism a construct of creeping depression, or am I just reflecting on reality?

cynicism is thought on by a lot of people not just yourself if you think that depression could creep back into life through the construct of cynicism then you need think why, there could be more to it then you might see, understand or accept.

and if you think that the human race is based on complex and deep thoughts there is always something going on.

 

There is a difference between being realistic and constantly making the assumption that only bad things will happen. One is healthy, the other is not- mentally or physically. People who constantly view the world pessimistically get sick more often and have more problems with hypertension.

If one is realistic, one can look at both the negative and the postive side of life and know that while there is bad, there is also good. Most people denote cynicism with the *willfull* act of only acknowledging the bad.

 

LoL

YAAAAAAAAAAAAY!!

My life rules too. i love it.

 

Wouldn't realism be like nirvana?
Does LSD produce nirvana with less time and meditation?

 

LSD will produce a lot of things in you.

 

LSD produces lots of pretty special effects and people who can't walk in a straight line. Not a lot more than that really.

Oh, and maybe mental problems later in life if you use it too much.

 

Not sure what you mean by this. I'm trying to guage whether my degree of cynicism is normal or above normal. Am I overly negative? If I am, then perhaps I am slipping back to depression because actually, I have a whole lot to be happy about.

So far, I would say I appear to be fairly typical of the views out there. I've just picked up a book called "Learned Optimism" by Martin Seligman. I think sometimes I'm too quick to see the bad.

I've seen the articles which talk about how cynicism is proven to lead to higher levels of heart disease and have also read some stuff on how sports coaches train their athletes to use positive thinking to improve performance and ward off/recover from injury/illness with great results.

I want to live in a sunny world - I don't want to be naive, but I don't want to have a downer on everything.

Maybe it's a symptom of modern life - the media isn't exactly cheery is it? How much of a factor is that is shaping the way we subconsciously think about the world. Maybe I should just "tune out". Nothing really bad has ever happened to me personally, so why worry?

I dunno....

 

Alister, I'm not sure you can guage what's a healthy level of cynicism by comparing yourself to others. Like everything else, people have different tolerances for different things. (I'm not sure I've phrased that well, but it's the closest way I can think to explain it).

I know people who are dragged right down by things that cause a small cynical response, whereas others are so cycnical you'd think them incapable of functioning in society, but they're actually quite positive with it.

If you're concrned about slipping back into depression your best bet is to speak to a professional about it.

 

Very true. I guess I'm just paranoid as don't want to go back there and my fear is I'm there, or headed back there and I don't even realise. I don't think I am, but need to stay vigilant. God, I sound insane don't I?

I think a bit of cynicism is good, but being cynical to the extent that you exclude positive possibilities is dangerous. I guess I feel I'm on the tipping point. I'm hoping constantly checking where I am and just being aware of what I'm doing and how I'm feeling will be enough for me to "catch" bad stuff before it develops.

Cheers - this has helped...even if it was just me thinking something through - "virtual" counselling !