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Originally Posted by JinnKai
The "suck it up, bucko" effect works for those strengthened by negative reinforcement. In their case, they were ignoring the negative consquence on their health and well-being until someone pointed it out. In this case, I called them a failure. It worked for me, it worked for my girlfriend. It worked for my roommate. It's worked for quite a few people - those strengthened by demonstrations of the flaws, rather than false praise. Someone telling me that "You will get through it" does nothing for me, whereas something like "Can you really handle this task?" does. Both are *SNIP* methods of conditioning.
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No, actually, you're confusing a few concepts and oversimplifying here.
1. "Suck it up, bucko" works for those who just need a little reality check. I doubt that would work on anyone with actual, serious depression. If I'm depressed, and you tell me to suck it up, I'm liable to punch you.
2. "Can you really handle this task?" isn't negative reinforcement. It's reverse psychology. And if said to a honestly depressed person, it will probably send them deeper into a depression.
3. No, saying "can you really handle this task?" isn't an ACCEPTED method of conditioning. I doubt anyone but you would recommend it.
Based on your OP and subsequent statements, I have to say that I doubt you've ever dealt with a real depressed person. You, your girlfriend, and your roommate were probably having bad days, or were in a funk. Mind you, I'm not them and cannot presume to know how they feel, but if they're saying "oh, you're right, I'm being an idiot to be depressed, all better!" I can't think it was that serious to begin with.
There's a distinct difference between melodrama queens and people who are having a bad week and people who are actually depressed clinically. You don't just get over clinical depression. You CAN get over being a melodrama queen (at least I hope so).