Depressive Personality and Negative Affect
Depression is a term that is widely used nowadays, sometimes the idea that I am depressed even in the momentary unhappiness is the most common thought that comes to mind, but is momentary unhappiness depression? Depression is a serious mental illness that affects how we feel, how we think, and how we behave. Depression can also cause feelings of unhappiness, low energy, and a lack of enjoyment of activities (American Psychiatric Association).
Some people are more prone to depression than others due to biological, physiological, and environmental factors. This can lead to a depressive personality pattern. People with depressive personality patterns see themselves as worthless, insignificant, unsuccessful, and inadequate; they have insufficient self-confidence, low self-esteem, overly adaptive, touchy, and fragile personality patterns. Their self-esteem and sense of self-worth are damaged even in the face of any evaluation they perceive as negative, even if it is not real.
With the change in our daily routine during the days of social isolation and quarantine when we are struggling with Covid-19, uncertainty about the future, and the negative emotions we feel as a result, the first thought that comes to mind may be, am I experiencing depression? But are the negative emotions we experience real depression or a harbinger of impending depression? Individuals interpret daily events according to their perspectives, in other words, existing events are shaped in our brains as positive and negative within the framework of our perceptions, and our emotions and actions are shaped accordingly.
Negative affect is the mood that arises when a person fails to achieve a goal, avoids a threat, or is not satisfied with their current situation. In this framework, when adverse life conditions arise, for example, in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic, which is the problem of today, people can perceive differently and make sense of the existing problem differently than it is, in other words, it can be catastrophized. In this way, individuals with negative perceptions and negative affect may be more sensitive in extraordinary situations and as a result, they may feel less safe. They may see themselves as more vulnerable to external threats and may suffer more than they would in such extraordinary situations.
Let's take a look at the relationship between negative affect and depressive personality, considering that negative affect is the state of being dissatisfied with one's current situation and depressive personality is the perception of current situations as negatively as possible, we can easily state that negative affect and depressive personality are predictors of each other. In light of these thoughts, we should not forget that negative affect and depressive personality can lead us to depression when triggering factors emerge.
So, if we are individuals with depressive personalities and negative affect, what should we do in epidemics and other extraordinary situations or in our difficult times? First of all, we should not define every unhappiness and momentary low mood as being depressed, let's not forget that defining momentary unhappiness as depression is a perceptual problem, and that this is a part of negative affect and depressive personality and can lead us to depression.
References
http://www.psikolojisozlugu.com/negative-affect-olumsuz-duygulanim