Subnormality – The Inner Dark
February 17, 2011 in Education | Tags: Subnormality, The Inner dark | by The Arbourist
Not all self-talk is postive… another homerun for Subnormality.
Your opinions…
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9 comments
February 17, 2011 at 9:45 am
Vern R. Kaine
Arb,
I don’t get what this cartoon is trying to say. Is it to point out simply that not all self-talk is positive, or is it trying to say more?
I don’t know of one person – man or woman, young or old – who doesn’t have those thoughts at least occasionally and I don’t know of anyone who doesn’t know someone personally who “lives there” (again, man or woman, young or old), if they don’t in fact live there themselves (depression).
If the message is “here’s one woman’s thoughts”, I’d say it was a lot of work (and ink) to point out something both common and obvious as to anyone’s thoughts on any given “bad” day.
I dunno – maybe it’s a “lest we forget” message, or is there a criticism here?
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February 17, 2011 at 9:50 am
intransigentia
If only it was that easy to make the big black monster go away.
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February 17, 2011 at 12:03 pm
Vern R. Kaine
Physiology, language, focus + beliefs all help a ton. So do drugs!
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February 17, 2011 at 12:37 pm
intransigentia
Why thank you for your ever-so-helpful advice, I’d never heard of any of those things before! How kind of you to have bestowed your Fresh and Inspirational Wisdom upon me.
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February 17, 2011 at 12:49 pm
Vern R. Kaine
Glad you found it helpful.
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February 17, 2011 at 8:52 pm
The Arbourist
There are a few way to interpret this comic. One that I considered was that the messages people and particularly women get in society are not always the most positive and life affirming.
I imagine if my sex was often judged solely based on physical appearance I would get a little down in the dumps about it too.
Often, as it is with depression negative self talk builds onto itself becoming bleaker and more dire as the person grimly rationalizes the how and why of their lives through the grimy lens of depression and depressive thoughts.
Could this be a call not to give up hope? Certainly, as it is through social contact depressed people can be thrown a lifeline of sorts.
Many interpretations exist Vern, I hope I added a little to the context of what is going on in the strip. :>
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February 18, 2011 at 11:31 am
Vern R. Kaine
You did, Arb. Agree that many interpretations exist. Curious as to what yours was. Nice to see it show hope at the end instead of hopelessness.
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February 20, 2011 at 8:04 am
The Arbourist
Well sometime when I feel down I can relate to what the comic is saying. My experience with depression is limited though (thankgoodness) and it has not been as bleak or as dark as I know it can be (second hand knowledge); but it seems Subnormality has caught a good slice of what it is like for many who do suffer from depression, hence part of the reason why I posted it. :>
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February 20, 2011 at 9:40 am
Vern R. Kaine
One of my good friends suffers from serious depression and in one of my past relationships, my girlfriend suffered from it as well. It is of course the worst for the person suffering it, but also bad for those around them as well (especially guys, from my perspective) who feel helpless to do anything about it.
Comment as anyone might want to in regards to a guy’s primal instincts, but when a woman has those kind of thoughts and there’s nothing the guy can do about it to really help, there’s few worse feelings in the world.
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