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There are two categories of sadness: intrinsic and extrinsic, or internal and external. Within those categories there are is all manor of sadness, but for our purposes, we will make this single distinction.
Intrinsic sadness is sadness from within and without cause.[push]Intrinsic sadness is pain without cause. It is without beginning or ending. It is sea you fall into without shore.[/push]
It typically presents itself in a clinical sense as depression. In a physiological sense, it’s misfiring (or not firing) neurotransmitters. Research suggests that a serious deficit of this type (depression) rarely rights itself without proper medical intervention. Intrinsic sadness is the stuff I feel most of the time in varying degrees thanks through my bipolar. Luckily most “normal” folk will only experience very limited intrinsic sadness and it’ll probably lead to just a blue day, and not depression.
Extrinsic sadness is the type with which everyone is familiar. It’s the type of sadness you feel when you hate your job, feel trapped by your marriage, or find out someone you love has died. It is defined as extrinsic because it has an external source. There is something you can point to and say – that’s what’s causing my sadness.
You Can Actively Do Something About Extrinsic Sadness, Prevent DepressionExtrinsic sadness is a relief for me, because it means there is actually something I can do about it. Don’t like your job? Get a new one. Unhappy in your marriage? Try a separation (OK fine, therapy). Your father just died? Time will heal that wound. You can change your external factors. You can affect your sadness. You can change your perspective. You have control over that which saddens you. It isn’t necessarily fun, or easy, but there is something you can do.
There is actually a danger that extrinsic sadness will turn into intrinsic sadness and finally depression. There is evidence to suggest that if a person dwells too long in a sadness, no matter how external the source, it can actually lead to full blown depression. The extrinsic sadness essentially “trains” the neurotransmitters of the brain to behave in a depressed manor. These people do tend to recover better and more quickly from their depression, but really, I don’t recommend it.
This fundamental difference between intrinsic and extrinsic sadness is what people do not understand about depression. Depression has no external cause. If I am notably sad, the question someone will always ask me is why. When I tell them there is no reason, that the sadness is intrinsic, that it is simply driven by depression, they look at me with disbelief. People are looking for logical causes. It’s human nature. The logical answer is, I’m sick. I know I’m sick in a way you don’t understand, but that doesn’t make it untrue.
People don’t seem to want to take responsibility for making their own happiness.
I’m an extreme example, but my life is actually crafted to defeat sadness, decrease depression. Of course, I have far too many strikes against me so it doesn’t really work, but your average person has no such excuse.[push]If you’re lucky enough to have a brain that works, and neurotransmitters that run around pretty much as advertised, then for gosh sakes fix the extrinsic crap that makes you unhappy. Prevent depression.[/push]
Yes, there will also be choices that suck, and potholes you can’t avoid, but happiness is there, waiting for you. It’s practically holding the door open for you. You can’t see it, but I can. I can see your smile. You think you’ve lost it, but really you’ve just misplaced it. If life had a desire, it would be for you to be happy. Sadness isn’t a natural state of being, it’s a detour. We all take them, but then we get back. (Well, un-sick people in general get back.)
So it seems to me, that if you’re lucky enough to have a brain that works, and neurotransmitters that run around pretty much as advertised, then for gosh sakes fix the extrinsic crap that makes you unhappy. Oh, it might be hard, but believe me when I tell you, it’s much easier than bipolar me just trying to not get more unhappy.
(It goes without saying that the depressed should also fix extrinsic unhappiness factors too. I like to think if you’re depressed, you’re already be on top of that. But perhaps not.)
Natasha Tracy is an award-winning writer, speaker, advocate, and consultant from the Pacific Northwest. She has been living with bipolar disorder for 26 years and has written more than 2000 articles on the subject.
Find more of Natasha’s work in her acclaimed book: "Lost Marbles: Insights into My Life with Depression & Bipolar" on Amazon.
Connect with Natasha at the social media links below.
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What if intrinsic sadness is the only thing you have known since a very early childhood and reinforced with parental abuse. Can you change your neurotransmitters decades later?
If you write for a living, have something to say. And you have said it well. So did Shakespear, “As you lkie it.” All the world’s a stage. And all the men and women merely players. You write your life with what you have good or bad and choose your players with care. No one knows the author of your ills, nor do they care. The story of your making is yours and yours alone. Live it well and maybe well will be yourse to care.
E=mc^2
Einstein was right, energy equals mass times the velocity of light. No object with mass can ever go faster than the speed of light. What about the speed of thought. Does it create mass, or a mess? Can thought be channeled, stopped, or ignored?
Einstein helped create the first atomic bomb.
Timothy Leary opened Pandora’s box.
Eli Lilly (prozac) attempted to close the box.
And the beat goes on…
My first pdoc,a mood disorder researcher ( who I generally didn’t like,but I digress) admitted to me that there are some who will never be able to be “happy”. My baseline like others is depressed but manageable.There is no external cause,although those can trigger something more.At the time he said it I was sort of shocked…but for me it is true.The brain is a complicated thing.
Thank you for writing this Natasha. I found this via Twitter and I think it’s a very well written article.
Best of luck in your continued fight.
Amber
(currently awaiting my assessment for bipolar)
Please unsubscribe me from your site Natasha.
Hi Rita,
You’ve been unsubscribed. Just as an FYI, Feedburner handles all of that and you can subscribe or unsubscribe through them.
– Natasha
I was first diagnosed 30 years ago so maybe I have the benefit, for lack of a better word, of experience (again, lack of a better word.)
When I start having problems with depression, I always look for something external, just as something of a self test. But external or not, for me, blaming problems on being bipolar and that alone, is not right. I believe I have to take responsibility for your own life and never blame anything on being bipolar. That’s too easy. It might be a constant battle, but it is what it is. One thing I try to remember is that tomorrow things will be different: things may be better, they may be worse, but they will be different.
Hi Dave,
I think that if that works for you then that’s what’s best :)
Nevertheless, I think it’s entirely appropriate to understand that some moods are just bipolar-driven and nothing else. At least, mine are. And if I don’t realize that I can make myself (ahem) crazy trying to figure out what the heck is going on to cause them.
But that’s me.
– Natasha Tracy
I agree Natasha,
Before I was medicated properly, I had repeated, consisted rapid cycling: 2 weeks normal, 2 weeks hypomanic, 2 weeks depressed, over and over and over again. This had nothing to do with external factors, the cycle would never alter no matter what was going on in my life.
I believe external environmental factors can be TRIGGERS, but I don’t think they are the cause of intrinsic sadness, nor mania.
Hi. I am not bi-polar but I suffer from Major Depressive Disorder/Anxiety/Panic Attacks since 2005. I am not doing very well right now and I am kind of alone where I currently live. But I have a good therapist (I actually ended up emergency paging her late yesterday). Other than her – I have no one here locally that understands what I am really going through. People just say “oh, just go out and take a walk”. They have no idea how much energy it takes to actually get up – period. If it were not for my dog-I would never, ever leave my apartment.
I still don’t think I am on the right combo of medication but my current Psychiatrist said that he went through all of my hospital records from 05/06 & I have tried every medication out there. Almost ready to give up on myself.
HI Cindy,
Welcome. You don’t have to be bipolar to play here. :)
I’m sorry to hear you’re not doing well. You’re not alone in that, many people here say the same thing.
When they say you’ve tried “everything” that’s mostly balderdash. With the number of meds out there and the number of combinations that would virtually be impossible. Believe me, I know. I would pit my patient records against anyone’s. They may mean you’ve tried the likely ones, but that doesn’t mean you’ve tried them all.
So try to remember that and know that it’s not time to give up. That time is far away. The first med that ever worked for me is one that we tried _after_ my doctor gave up on me. Trust me. It happens. And there are new options being researched every day.
I don’t mean to sound all “rah, rah,” I’m just saying, it ain’t over. Not even close.
– Natasha Tracy
Hi
This is absolutely the best article I have read about sadness and depression! Clear, concise, plain English – ie easy to understand – and makes so much sense.
Thank you.
Thanks Anne, that is my goal.
– Natasha Tracy
Beautiful Natasha! I really helpful as always :)
Hi David,
You are very kind. As always. :)
– Natasha Tracy
Brilliant article!
Hey,
I’m bipolar too, and I really liked the way you clarified the difference between intrinsic and extrinsic sadness. A few weeks ago, my psychiatrist actually said: “there is a sadness within you all the time, even when you are manic. Where is that sadness coming from?”
My response was like: “from misfiring neurotransmitters? how the f*k should I know?” LOL! even my PSYCH was looking for an external factor that was “causing” my bipolar disorder. How stupid can you get? When are people finally going to understand bipolar and depression for what it is: an ILLNESS outside of our control? sure we can do cognitive behaviour therapy and take medicine to help us deal with it.
But even professionals treat you like the disorder is something you have somehow brought upon yourself. Idiots.
:P anyway, thanks for the great post, and good luck! :)
Hi Aravis,
Yes, sometimes even doctors can get confused about the two. I think it’s because when their treatment doesn’t work for so long, they are desperate to pin the cause on something else. Whereas, as you said, we, the people experiencing it, know that there _is_ no external cause, just an illness to blame.
And yes, anyone who says you brought it on yourself is an idiot.
– Natasha Tracy
I have always personally believed there are more than one way to “get back to happy”; but of course, bipolar people tend to experience that transition from sad to happy as an enormous feat.
It’s nice that there indeed are distinguishable characteristics about extrinsic and intrinsic depression. As far as my experience is concerned–being bipolar myself–I USUALLY look outward (extrinsically) for an answer to that which causes my intrinsic depression. Of course, most of the time this could be considered futile in a sense, but all I have to do is accept that, sometimes, there aren’t too many answers to something that’s “inside”.
Yes, I should agree that many (if not most) people think that if you’re depressed, you’re wholly to blame inasmuch as it appears that you aren’t “getting a hold of yourself”. Explaining is something of a mouthful; just how do you do away with the misconception? It is merely redundant to, at all times, extrapolate.
Hi Reira,
I believe that most of us look outwardly for causes of intrinsic sadness because that’s what we’re trained to do. “Why are you sad?” “What happened?” And the all important, “how can we fix it?”
And psychotherapists are the worst for this. They will endlessly try to look for external factors even if none exist. It’s a pet peeve of mine. It’s like they don’t understand that concept of depression.
(That being said, of course, sometimes it’s hard for us to see our own external factors, so it is worth at least looking.)
And yes, beating back misconceptions is something I do every day and I can attest to the fact that it isn’t easy. I think people should reply with what they’re comfortable with because it isn’t your job to fight every misconception – it’s mine :)
I find eventually something “clicks” for a person before the misconception goes away but that might be the first time they here something or the fifth or the fiftieth. So don’t worry too much if your explanation doesn’t produce the click. People figure these things out in their own time.
– Natasha Tracy