We can appeal to some famous names to expand the idea even farther:
- "And, as there is nothing like housework for the troubled soul of a woman, so a general clean-up is good for sailors. I had this from a general petty officer who had also passed through deep waters" (Kipling, Sea Warfare)
- "There is nothing like housework for calming the nerves" (Miss Bianca in The Rescuers by Margary Sharp)
To be serious about the matter, I'm not a psychiatrist but I suspect that we slap clinical labels on things that don't deserve it. "Theodore Dalrymple" wrote that many people labeled "depressed" are merely unhappy and don't require sophisticated intervention. Not all; I know some who do need help. (I'm not talking about professional judgment but the common language.(*)) I think quite a few of us use medical paradigms, and seek medical help, when older and simpler rules will suffice. IIRC followup work with people who survived 9/11 found that catharsis didn't make for a healthier outcome, but denial and repression seemed to work OK. (There may have been a link to it here, but it is gone now, though Schneiderman discusses the matter. He's a life coach, not a therapist.)
Unfortunately too much sugar isn't good for me. Maybe I need to take up cabinetry.
(*)The common language drives me nuts sometimes when people invoke "quantum leaps" or "energy flows" with no notion of what they're talking about.
1 comment:
Doing almost anything helps depression. Lack of energy or purpose is a symptom, so consciously fighting against that is treatment.
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