“Depression is about feeling completely powerless and really angry at yourself because you're powerless.”

— Teal Swan

Last update June 3, 2021. History

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Teal Swan 226

American spiritual teacher 1984

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“Simply put, anger feels better than powerlessness. That is why it benefits people to get angry. And independence feels better than powerless victimhood. That is why it benefits people to get independent. But if our progression stops there, we will never achieve true happiness and our civilization will never achieve true alignment.”

Teal Swan (1984) American spiritual teacher

“Our love for children is so immediate in part because we feel their powerlessness immediately; conversely, part of the way we deny our love for men is by denying men’s powerlessness. Too often we have confused love for men with respect for them, especially for their power to take care of us---which is really just love for ourselves.”

Warren Farrell (1943) author, spokesperson, expert witness, political candidate

Source: Why Men Are the Way They Are (1988), p. 360.

“Many people feel they are powerless to do anything effective with their lives.”

Rollo May (1909–1994) US psychiatrist

As quoted in Think and Grow Rich : A Black Choice (1991) by Dennis Kimbro and Napoleon Hill, p. 104
Context: Many people feel they are powerless to do anything effective with their lives. It takes courage to break out of the settled mold, but most find conformity more comfortable. This is why the opposite of courage in our society is not cowardice, it's conformity.

“They hate because they fear, and they fear because they feel that the deepest feelings of their lives are being assaulted and outraged. And they do not know why; they are powerless pawns in a blind play of social forces.”

Richard Wright (1908–1960) African-American writer

Native Son (1940)

“Sometimes people say terrible things when they're scared. They don't mean to, but they can't help it. They lash out because if they can see that their words hurt someone else, it makes them feel as if they aren't completely powerless.”

Jonathan Maberry book Dust & Decay

Source: Dust & Decay

“Because that's how it feels when you're depressed.”

Harry Harlow (1905–1981) American psychologist

when challenged on the design of his "vertical chamber apparatus".
as quoted in Love at Goon Park: Harry Harlow and the Science of Affection, by Deborah Blum, Perseus Publishing, 2002