The depressive concepts of happiness

Abstract

In this article, the authors examine the problem of experiencing difficult life situations by persons with subclinical symptoms of depression through the prism of their mental representation of the problem of reaching happiness. The study empirically grounds on following: qualitative research (multiple case study) of subclinical depression; quantitative research of adaptation of Ukrainian migrants with high rates of depressiveness. On the basis of a multiple case study it is deduced that depressive concepts of happiness tend to be: 1) rigidly concentrated on the only one aspect of life; 2) overdemanding (especially toward others) to that extent that happiness seems unreachable; 3) over-evaluated, that can increase frustration and anxiety; 4) accompanied by expectation that happiness should occur itself. Impatience and whimpering are defined as peculiar feature of how a person with subclinical symptoms of depression passes through actual obstacles in reaching happiness.