Depression: Exploratory Writing

Phillip Greiner
English 1101: Depressive Exploratory Writing
Rebecca Giddens
February 17, 2009

Depression is a psychological term that is used to describe a physical mood or condition of a person which includes chronic or severe levels of sadness, perceived helplessness, loss of interest and other emotional or personal behaviors. Because of the affects of depression on people that have physical and emotional struggles in life, they never think about the many applications of the word and how it is used in the English language. A geologist uses the term to describe impressions made to a planets’ ground surface and economists use the word to describe increases or decreases for a country or states economy. In either sense, there are many characteristics of the word to describe related contents for each of the definitions listed above.
Psychological depression has no single cause and results from a combination of things. Whatever the cause, it is not just a state of mind but related to physical changes in the brain and connected to an imbalance of a type of chemical that carries signals to your brain and nerves. Some of the common factors involved with psychological depression include family genetics, trauma and stress, low self-esteem or personality, physical conditions and other psychological disorders. No matter the cause, this condition may include mood conditions such as: anger, fear, anxiety, despair, guilt, apathy, grief and personal sadness. This condition is often harmful to the body and can affect proper functioning of the brain which can lead to suicidal tendencies.
Geological depressions are landforms sunken or depressed below the surrounding area and are formed by various mechanics. Some types of depressions are: sediment filled depressions; blowouts which are contributed by wind erosion; impact craters caused from meteors; valleys caused from erosion and oceanic trenches which are created from the earths tectonic plates moving against one another. This type of depression is a means of describing a force or act of being depressed.
In economics, depression is a sustained, long downturn of one or more economies which is similar to what we are experiencing at this present time. Economic signs of depression are characterized by increases in unemployment, restriction of credit, shrinking of investments, bankruptcies, reduced amounts of trade and commerce and price deflation. The term is often used to describe or indicate a deeper sign or more serious recession. In U.S. history, there was a depression during the twenties that lasted for a decade and took government programs and literally, “a war” to bring the economy out of this state. The next time that you get in a sad mood, think about depression and the levels to which the term is used. The psychological state can be categorized at different levels of depression similar to different geological depressions that exist. The economical state of depression can also create different levels of suffrage for individuals and may lead to the psychological condition of depression if economical depressive-effects are felt for an extended period of time.

Poetry Blog / The Immigrants by Margaret Atwood

I found this poem online and it caught my eye. The poem describes immigrants and an explanation of their travels during the move to another world or place. As I read the poem, it reminded me of the readings of American history and what other nationalities faced when they were sometimes forced to move to another country, without any idea of what they would be facing. More times than not, they faced hardships such as poverty, sickness, abuse from others and very little means of survival. They were looked down on by the same people that had been through similar circumstances but had survived and made a home for themselves at some earlier time. These people were afraid that their livelyhood may be at risk from the new people. These immigrants would often have to travel for miles after making the journey to a new land just to find a job, shelter or food never to earn many friendships.
I gained the knowledge of travel that these people had taken and the detail and feeling in the words that describes their clothing, looks, belongings and means of travel in their destination to find a new life. I appreciate my life and the journeys' that I have had compared to what these immigrants had to burden during that time for them. It makes you wonder if immigrants are going through similar circumstances today in search for a better life. I'm sure that somewhere in the world, the same burdens are being placed on immigrants even with technology and the modernization of civilization as we know it. The descriptions also remind me of the harshness that an immigrant might face on a boat during their travel to another country. Their is a lot of meaning in the words that describe the immigration process.

Peer Review of Narration

When I started the review of another persons' narration paper, I started to think about my own and some ways or styles that I should have written with my own. After I read the narration about reviewing some one's elses work, I had to read my co-students' paper several times to analyze the style of writing she used for her narration. Her paper had a good story line but the thesis and the conclusion needed more information to link the paragraphs together. Some of the sentences needed to be joined together and there could have been some more detail about the subject and place in the narration. By doing this review, It made me think more about my own paper and the necessary revisions that I will need to perform with my own work. I started my own narration with more information than I needed to fulfill the requirements of the paper. By doing this, I realized that I needed to shorten the title and concentrate more on a single idea so that I could add detail for the senses. Only then could any reader get a more detailed or imaginative feeling for the subject that I would be writing about. I am going to do this for my narration in the next revision.