OK, let's discuss this in the short, roundabout, fast way. There is a big problem with any dissection I would do of what you just wrote, which is that you have used personal anecdotal evidence for your side of the argument... which means that, in order to address those issues, i'd have to get into ad hominem attacks. which i don't wanna do because i like you. :)
basically, any time you have a generalization, someone is going to be able to pop up and say "Yes, but I know person X, and they have exceptions Y and Z to this comment." much as a generalization may be true taking a percentage of a sample of people, and is just as easily NOT going to be true about the rest of that percentage, the anecdotal evidence of someone's Aunt Sally is going to be contradictory. They may relate to the same topic, but they aren't the same thing, and aren't really useful, in terms of logic, in a discussion. All you can really prove is that those people do not fit the criteria for inclusion in the group I'm discussing anyway.
Also, any exceptions to a generalization may have other factors. In your mother's case, medication may have helped, or she may have been dealing with more of a "general grey" rather than a major depression. In your own case, who is to say that you are producing your best work? If not troubled by physical and mental illness, you might in fact be producing stronger work or be working more consistently. In other cases, some issues may be different due to environmental factors or other conditions suffered by the people in question.
For instance, my mother and aunt were both abused children: physically, emotionally, and sexually. They both have a ton of psych problems as a result. My mother, while fitting some general depressive criteria, only really had any episodes that I noticed when my stepfather died, and it became increasingly difficult to even get her to get out of bed (this has been detailed here on my LJ). This is a pretty understandable trigger for a major depressive episode! Most of her problems have otherwise been expressed as anxiety or rage (and, um, the screwiness of the way I was raised). She is now on Paxil for her anxiety and depression. My aunt, on the other hand, does indeed suffer from major depressions, more than the general emotional grayness and low self-esteem that characterizes the momster's wee head, and has on numerous occasions threatened suicide (and on occasion, when her daughter was younger, thought about killing her daughter too, so as to "not hurt her"), or had phases where she just didn't get out of bed for days at a time (one of them while she was living with us), when she may have been suicidal, but in order to find out one would have had to get her to actually TALK. So... for every mom dad and me that one person can bring up, i can say, yeah, but look at my mom and my aunt and the contrast. neither of them is going to topple anyone's argument.
The fact is that the majority of people who have severe clinical depression, who suffer "major depressions" of the "cannot get out of bed, cannot wash hair" variety, the ones who think that picking up a pencil may just be too much effort, will fall under what i said, and it's documented, and i'm not the person who came up with it. I don't know why, I don't necessarily think it's a great thing. & it's not the case that they will be like that ALL THE TIME: I'm speaking of when they're having an episode. But I could send you to LJs, even, that you would find painfully boring because 90% of the time, day after day, they say, "My life sucks. It's too hard. I hate everything. I cried all day." etc. (continued...)
Re: not a very cohesive response, but my train of thought ran off the tracks
basically, any time you have a generalization, someone is going to be able to pop up and say "Yes, but I know person X, and they have exceptions Y and Z to this comment." much as a generalization may be true taking a percentage of a sample of people, and is just as easily NOT going to be true about the rest of that percentage, the anecdotal evidence of someone's Aunt Sally is going to be contradictory. They may relate to the same topic, but they aren't the same thing, and aren't really useful, in terms of logic, in a discussion. All you can really prove is that those people do not fit the criteria for inclusion in the group I'm discussing anyway.
Also, any exceptions to a generalization may have other factors. In your mother's case, medication may have helped, or she may have been dealing with more of a "general grey" rather than a major depression. In your own case, who is to say that you are producing your best work? If not troubled by physical and mental illness, you might in fact be producing stronger work or be working more consistently. In other cases, some issues may be different due to environmental factors or other conditions suffered by the people in question.
For instance, my mother and aunt were both abused children: physically, emotionally, and sexually. They both have a ton of psych problems as a result. My mother, while fitting some general depressive criteria, only really had any episodes that I noticed when my stepfather died, and it became increasingly difficult to even get her to get out of bed (this has been detailed here on my LJ). This is a pretty understandable trigger for a major depressive episode! Most of her problems have otherwise been expressed as anxiety or rage (and, um, the screwiness of the way I was raised). She is now on Paxil for her anxiety and depression. My aunt, on the other hand, does indeed suffer from major depressions, more than the general emotional grayness and low self-esteem that characterizes the momster's wee head, and has on numerous occasions threatened suicide (and on occasion, when her daughter was younger, thought about killing her daughter too, so as to "not hurt her"), or had phases where she just didn't get out of bed for days at a time (one of them while she was living with us), when she may have been suicidal, but in order to find out one would have had to get her to actually TALK. So... for every mom dad and me that one person can bring up, i can say, yeah, but look at my mom and my aunt and the contrast. neither of them is going to topple anyone's argument.
The fact is that the majority of people who have severe clinical depression, who suffer "major depressions" of the "cannot get out of bed, cannot wash hair" variety, the ones who think that picking up a pencil may just be too much effort, will fall under what i said, and it's documented, and i'm not the person who came up with it. I don't know why, I don't necessarily think it's a great thing. & it's not the case that they will be like that ALL THE TIME: I'm speaking of when they're having an episode. But I could send you to LJs, even, that you would find painfully boring because 90% of the time, day after day, they say, "My life sucks. It's too hard. I hate everything. I cried all day." etc.
(continued...)