Depression and Self-Loathing

Abstract

Depression strikes a large number of people around the world. It can be brought on by many things, such as childhood trauma, social issues, and drug use. The one thing that sets depression apart from many other mental afflictions is that everyone who has it may have it for different reasons and are taking different steps to remedy it. Some seek psychoanalysis while some rely on a pill to make them feel better. Others turn to self-medication, in the case of depression known as self-loathing, self-mutilation, and suicide. There are endless studies regarding depression being performed worldwide which become very specific in nature. An interesting aspect of depression that sets it apart from other psychological difficulties is that depression can be brought on a person by themselves. If people allow themselves to be victims of self-loathing, depression and its symptoms are sure to be close behind.

A Literature Review on Depression and Self-Loathing

Research over years past indicates that depression is a more common affliction amongst the American people than most are led to believe. Depression is a multi-faceted adversity, as there are many things that are able to spawn it, and many things are able to come from it as well. Depression can be medically defined as a disease, and there are a number of treatments that medical professionals believe can remedy or abate the symptoms of it, although there have been numerous complaints about medical treatments designed to aid in a person's struggles with depression. While self-loathing is a common precursor to depression, it rarely stops there. Next comes the full-fledged depression which in some cases is followed by self-mutilation or suicide attempts. Anti-depressant medication and psychoanalysis commonly follow. It has been found that there are some outside sources that may influence depression in a person that would not seem to have any link whatsoever to the condition. Regardless, depression is an affliction that has been around for ages, and unless revolutionary findings are made, it can be inferred that it will be an infirmity that will plague people for time to come as well.

Problem

A major culprit behind the concept of self-loathing is today's media influence on the American populace. Today's information technology seems to choose not to use its powers for good and wishes to show only people who have chiseled bodies and airbrushed faces. These people lead billion-dollar lives and have anything they wish to own at their fingertips. The more common people of America see what the media is pushing on to their television sets and aspire to be just like the images on their screens. Seeing these unachievable standards set before them, people can acquire feelings of ugliness and become frustrated and disconcerted with their appearance. After prolonged distress due to these kinds of archetypes, certain hatred develops for that which can not be reached, but instead the hatred is cast to the person's self because they are the ones that cannot be what they wish to be. Here is where self-loathing is apt to begin. Once a person begins to hate him or herself, they become very susceptible to depression. Hateful feelings towards oneself easily can take the downward spiral to possessing a bleak outlook and sadness. Relationships, may they be platonic or intimate, tend to suffer from the emotional disturbance within the person. From here, feelings of depression easily evoke other destructive behaviors. People who did not use tobacco products or abuse alcoholic beverages previous to said feelings may begin now. They may either start because self-loathing has enticed them to do such things to make up for their unfit image, or to give in to the common misconception that such products alleviate whatever problems one may be experiencing. In some cases, those afflicted take the anger and harshness from inside themselves and turn to self-mutilation or even to trying to end their own life, a process more commonly known as suicide. In fact, it has been proven that some current cultures are becoming increasingly suicidal (Solomon et al., 2001).

These symptoms can affect people of most every age group, and people from any kind of background. Cases also vary in severity, and in the ways that they are approached. It is lucky for many that now many publications are offering lists of warning signs to the public so that if they know or are associated with anyone who exhibits any of these representations of depression, they can seek help for their acquaintance in need so that the odds of anything worse happening to said person can be significantly decreased (Cullinan et el., 2004).

Anti-depressant medication is a popular method of assistance, but there is often a period of time where medical professionals and their dependents must work together to try and find an effective brand and dosage of the medicine. The downside is that sometimes this period of trial and experiment may last for some time and the patient may experience a degree of discomfort in this time of uncertainty. There is a certain irony associated with anti-depressant medication. The irony is that, hence the name, the treatment is supposed to alleviate the feelings of depression that have been laden on the person and return them to a normal state of functioning, but it is a fairly common complaint by those who have been prescribed this medication that the way that they feel after this treatment can be described as anything but normal. It has also been proven that suicide and self-mutilation rates are higher amongst those who have been successfully diagnosed with depression and are on anti-depressants than those who are not on medication to help them, whether they have been diagnosed or not (Garfield et al., 2003).

Methods

Self-Loathing is often what leads to depression. If the depression is not encouraged by a dramatic and saddening event in one's life, it is common for such feelings to be brought on from within, where the person is unhappy with themselves and who they are. College years are very pivotal in a person's life, not to mention stressful. It is easy for things to become overwhelming with school alone, but when the media gets involved they have a way of making things worse. Self-loathing is when a person hates themselves for the flaws they see within. It is more common for media images to evoke these feelings than another source. A number of college students and their perceptions of body image - both their own and that of the opposite sex - were evaluated. The purpose of this excursion was to find out if body image in the eyes of the opposite sex is as crucial as the media would