Depression is a mental health disorder characterised by persistent feelings of sadness, hopelessness, and a lack of interest or pleasure in activities that were once enjoyable. It can affect how a person thinks, feels, and handles daily activities, often leading to emotional and physical problems.

Symptoms may include changes in sleep and appetite, fatigue, difficulty concentrating, feelings of worthlessness or guilt, and, in severe cases, thoughts of self-harm or suicide.

Depression can arise from a combination of genetic, biological, environmental, and psychological factors. It's important to recognise that it's a treatable condition, and seeking help from mental health professionals can lead to effective management and recovery.

Is that your experience of depression? Is that how you would describe it? Well, it’s Chat GPT’s description. I typed in, “What is depression?” and it came up with the foregoing three paragraphs. I can’t say it’s got anything wrong, it’s just that it’s a very cold and clinical analysis. For those of us who live with depression there’s little we can hang onto and say, “Yes, it’s just like that for me.”  We might be able to recognise some symptoms, but the word ‘fatigue,’ is not the same as saying, “Feelings of constant tiredness.” We can agree that, yes, we have fatigue, but there is a real connection with feeling tired all the time. Everyone’s experience of depression is different.

My children use Chat GPT all the time. My elder daughter will write an email to a senior member of staff at the accountancy firm where she works and then put it into Chat GPT to have it cleaned up and made more professional – she doesn’t want it to be too “chatty.” My younger daughter uses it for her essays. If you check all the facts and then change around some of the wording, you won’t get caught “cheating,” she says. In fact, she maintains, it’s not cheating, it’s using all existing resources.

Is using AI cheating? I don’t know. It’s excellent in some ways. As I said, there’s nothing in that description of depression I wouldn’t agree with, and I can’t think of much I could add. I might say that some depression can be treated with talking therapy but that other cases need medication. I could add that depression can steal our creativity: I can write while depressed, but I can’t cook or make cards.

I know that Chat GPT is not for me. I prefer to use my own words and to speak personally through those words. I like it when a comment says, “I knew it was you before I got to the end of the first paragraph,” as I feel this means there is a connection between me as the writer and that other person as a reader.

I am reading a book called Bruised Soul, by Graeme Parker, better known from his YouTube videos as the Hoof GP. I can hear his voice in every word. Chat GPT can never replace the human contact the written word can provide.

Mary

A Moodscope member