I don't know who Grant is but at 5m followers, a lot of guys probably take what he says as truth... And the notion that depression is a "gift" from "god", and that working one's way out of it involves simply telling oneself they are not depressed, is ridiculous at best, deadly at worst.
The "get to work and stay busy" rhetoric from a clearly financially successful guy is, I'm sure, going to be very good at convincing some that they somehow deserve their depression, that it's not a gift but a punishment.
I got angrier the further into his video I got... what an irresponsible and idiotic thing to say to 5 million people.
Yeah, identifying as "I am a depressed person" is maybe not so helpful. And questioning that narrative can be the start of working with depression (possibly along with therapy and medical support). But his macho "just do it" stance smells very similar to the bootstrapism that's so pervasive all over social media today.
Thankful for voices such as yours for bringing a different perspective 🙏🏻
FWIW, I've really benefited with Cheri Huber's The Depression Book. Saved my life some decades ago.
I am curious, Brad, if being tough doesn't help at all? At least in the sense, Jordar Peterson talks about, for instance, taking responsibility, like being the strongest person at your father's funeral, etc.
Depends on how you define tough! Asking for help when you need it. Being fiercely self-disciplined but also having fierce self-compassion. Then yes. Repressing your emotions and white knuckling everything while berating yourself, not so much.
Thanks for the reply. I'm inclined to agree with you. But I would hypothesise, that being tough could be helpful for a certain breed of men. Andrew Tate type?
I think Andrew Tate is a severely misguided person (at best) grifting many other severely misguided people. I would never advise taking advice from him.
Some people talk too much these days. Opinions sometimes are worse than viruses. Depression is an energy problem essentially with complex biochemistry and forcing will only make the situation worse. Its not a belief problem for god sake.
Thank you Brad for this post
Thanks for this one.
I don't know who Grant is but at 5m followers, a lot of guys probably take what he says as truth... And the notion that depression is a "gift" from "god", and that working one's way out of it involves simply telling oneself they are not depressed, is ridiculous at best, deadly at worst.
The "get to work and stay busy" rhetoric from a clearly financially successful guy is, I'm sure, going to be very good at convincing some that they somehow deserve their depression, that it's not a gift but a punishment.
I got angrier the further into his video I got... what an irresponsible and idiotic thing to say to 5 million people.
Yeah, identifying as "I am a depressed person" is maybe not so helpful. And questioning that narrative can be the start of working with depression (possibly along with therapy and medical support). But his macho "just do it" stance smells very similar to the bootstrapism that's so pervasive all over social media today.
Thankful for voices such as yours for bringing a different perspective 🙏🏻
FWIW, I've really benefited with Cheri Huber's The Depression Book. Saved my life some decades ago.
I am curious, Brad, if being tough doesn't help at all? At least in the sense, Jordar Peterson talks about, for instance, taking responsibility, like being the strongest person at your father's funeral, etc.
Depends on how you define tough! Asking for help when you need it. Being fiercely self-disciplined but also having fierce self-compassion. Then yes. Repressing your emotions and white knuckling everything while berating yourself, not so much.
Thanks for the reply. I'm inclined to agree with you. But I would hypothesise, that being tough could be helpful for a certain breed of men. Andrew Tate type?
I think Andrew Tate is a severely misguided person (at best) grifting many other severely misguided people. I would never advise taking advice from him.
Some people talk too much these days. Opinions sometimes are worse than viruses. Depression is an energy problem essentially with complex biochemistry and forcing will only make the situation worse. Its not a belief problem for god sake.
Thank you for writing, Brad! I actually wrote about similar article in response to something YOU wrote about depression a few years ago:
https://open.substack.com/pub/karlastarr/p/just-do-it-doesnt-work-when-youre?r=3uou3&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&showWelcomeOnShare=false
We've lost vocabulary to describe what we're feeling. When we're sad unhappy blue sluggish uninspired unmotivated etc we call it depression.