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The Kinks’ “Misfits” As Melancholy

by Jeffrey Rubin, PhD

Welcome to From Insults to Respect. My previous post utilizes the Kinks song “Low Budget” to sympathetically discuss how our money woes can take a bite out of our feelings of respect for ourselves and others, while suggesting some helpful approaches to deal effectively with such challenges. The positive feedback that I received led me to see if I might utilize another Kinks song, partly…

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The Beatles’s Song “Rain” as Melancholy Metaphor

by Jeffrey Rubin, PhD

Welcome to From Insults to Respect.  In today’s world, if you are experiencing melancholy or depression, the pharmaceutical industry very much wants to sell you on the idea that you have an abnormal condition that is deemed an illness. You would think with the popularity of the blues type of music, periods of bluesy feelings would be viewed as normal as trees in a forest;…

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Bob Dylan’s “Melancholy Mood”

by Jeffrey Rubin, PhD

Welcome to From Insults to Respect. For many of us who have endured a brutally hot summer, the approaching of autumn sure is a welcome. This past weekend, I happened to be checking out some stuff on YouTube and came upon a wonderful version of the song, “Melancholy Mood,” sung, believe it or not, by Bob Dylan.   The amazingly prolific song writer and musical…

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William James’s Advice To A Melancholy Friend

by Jeffrey Rubin, PhD

Welcome to From Insults to Respect. In a recent post, I shared some advice the highly respected psychologist and philosopher William James gave to his depressed 13-year-old daughter. It was so well received, I decided to describe another example of James giving advice to another person feeling so very blue. Unlike my previous example, which occurred when James was a mature professor and father, today’s example…

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The Nature of Depression and Melancholy

Welcome to From Insults to Respect. Today we take an interesting look at two states of being, depression and melancholy. A central difference between the two has to do with throwing insults at ourselves; when we are depressed we spend a great deal of time doing that, in melancholy, not so much. To better understand what I mean by this, and to clarify the natural…

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Is Depression an Illness?

by Jeffrey Rubin, PhD

Since as far back as she can remember, Carla, 19-years-old, has been having periods during which she has waves of deeply sad feelings. She has family members who say that depression runs in their family, and she should see a psychiatrist for treatment. So, off she goes, and after a few questions, the psychiatrist declares she has a mental illness called Major Depressive Disorder. Carla…

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