Rudolf and Major Depression

“My grandmother, she passed away at Christmas time. So now, I have this built in sadness, you know, every holiday. ‘Cause I’m plagued with the thought of, you know, what she would have given me. ‘What didn’t I get to open this year?’”     – Laura Knightlinger, taken from the Comedy Central web site.

We finished our series on depression last week and this joke makes two points that are in line with what we covered.  The first is that depression has roots in selfish thoughts.  I don’t mean to use the word selfish in a derogatory way.  Selfish thoughts are merely ones that concern the self.  A person with selfish thoughts thinks about how events and situations affect them.  Selfish thoughts can turn into sadness when they take on the form of self-pity or guilt.  If we think about them enough, those thoughts can lead to depression.  The other point is that sadness might not be depression. 

When we get sad around Christmas time, we usually feel better once it’s over.  Depression is different, because it won’t go away after the Christmas tree is taken out to the curb.  Take Rudolf the red nosed reindeer for instance.  He was sad because the other reindeer, all of them, called him names and wouldn’t let him play any reindeer games.  (I’m not sure what reindeer games are but I’m sure they are a lot of fun especially during molting season).  According to the song, on a foggy, Christmas night Santa asked him to guide his sleigh, Rudolf went down in history as a happy hart. 

If he were depressed, however, happiness would still have eluded him even after getting the recognition and respect he’d always wanted.  He’d think thoughts like:  Does Santa only like me because of my red nose?  What will if my nose goes out or if it gets broken or reverts to normal, will he still like me? My nose makes me special on foggy arctic nights but the rest of the time all the other reindeer will still dislike me because I’m odd looking.  Will they still let me play reindeer games?  I wish my mother hadn’t let me drink coffee at so young an age and stunted my antlers.  Why isn’t the sky red, like my nose?

And so on.

So, if the feelings of sadness don’t go away after Christmas, you might be depressed.