Controversial thought: Depression can be caused by not challenging your brain

I just spend some hours playing Tetris all the time and learning how to solve the Rubik's cube

I can honestly say that my depression is basically gone right now for the moment

I know, this is a very controversial idea. And I know, that maybe this will not apply to some people. But maybe it can be helpful to someone here.

My theory is, that feeling depressed and unmotivated is just your brain giving you signals that it wants to be challenged, that it wants to be entertained.

If you think about it, there is some kind of logic here: You can't feel depressed AND think hard to solve something (or win a game) at the same time. At least that's the case for me.

Now I'm also not wondering why I was feeling depressed in my last semester at uni: Because I wasn't challenged, as the subjects were extremely easy. The other semesters were very challenging, and I didn't feel depressed.

I hope this will maybe help someone here.

At least for myself, I've found the "cure": Just occupy your mind with challenging tasks everyday.

 

Possibly. It’s definitely a multifaceted issue, but what got me out of mine was basically the idea of “what you focus on is what you get.” If you focus on the shitty side of life, you’ll get shitty emotions and actions. If you focus on the good, the good get better.

 

Then depression is caused by a chemical imbalance I reckon

I must admit that I also can't find any motivation to do anything besides eating, toilet, sleeping, eating and mindlessly surfing the internet. My parents tell me: "Just pick up an instrument, or study something right now for the next semester". They got good ideas what I could do when I got nothing to do. But nothing seems worth the effort really because it seems extremely overwhelming. It's a toxic cycle, you don't have any motivation -> you're bored and depressed -> you don't have any motivation -> ...

Basically, these "mental activities" one could do have the advantage that they don't seem to be "overwhelming". Because, in the end, if you can't win a chess game, can't get a high score in Tetris, can't solve the Rubik's cube: This does not matter! Because you already have used and trained your mind in some way.

It would make a difference if I would pick up chess, and would try to become a Grandmaster. This is overwhelming. But just playing a little bit, even if you will lose every game? That's nothing

It's even something you can do on your smartphone (there is a Rubik's cube app!), so you don't even need to leave the bed if you don't feel motivated to sit down at a desk.

But of course, everyone is different. For me personally, it works. If it was just super big boredom or depression? I would say it's still depression, because as I said: eating, toilet, sleeping, eating and mindlessly surfing the internet (I still struggle with brushing my teeth twice daily and changing my underwear daily). If I was only bored, I think I would find the motivation to try out lots of things everyday. It's just hard to believe for me that it was just boredom and not some degree of depression too