Indecisiveness is a prevalent and impairing symptom among people with depression. Difficulty in making decisions can be caused by several factors, such as a fear of failure and a lack of confidence or information. Indecisiveness can also be a symptom of a mental health condition, such as depression, post-traumatic-stress-disorder (PTSD) and attention-deficit-hyperactivity-disorder (ADHD).
Depression affects a persons decision making in several ways. They have more trouble making any decision at all. One reason for this indecisiveness may be an attempt to minimize regret later on. If someone makes an active decision that leads to a bad outcome, they tend to feel worse than if the decision had been out of their hands. Not only did something bad happen, but they are responsible for it happening. Delaying or refusing to make a decision is a way of accepting the default option, so even if it turns out badly, at least they are not responsible for it. This is connected to another feature from depressive thinking, pessimism. Depressed people are more likely to believe, that a situation will turn out badly. IF they think an active decision will have a negative result, they are less likely to make it.
This is compounded by the fact that depressed people, as part of their pessimistic thinking style, believe they have fewer resources to deal with problems in the future. So, for example, if someone is depressed and is offered a promotion, they may be more likely to decline, because they believe they will fail in the new position.
A common feature of depressive decision making is risk aversion. Studies have found that people with depression often make decisions specifically to avoid anxiety. People with depression often feel hopeless and as a result do not want to waste energy on plans, they believe will not work. This leads to less information gathering, less idea generation, and less thinking through options. These tend to be labour intense activities requiring mental energy and focus, which depressed people have in short supply.
Another reason for indecisiveness is the lack of motivation. Motivation is impaired in depression and without it, the rewards of making a decision are reduced. This may account for slowness in decision making as well.
Impaired decision making in depression is thought to be a physical problem. One study has linked grey matter loss in the medial and ventral prefrontal cortex areas of the brain to reduced motivation and impaired decision making ability. This grey matter loss is often seen in people with depression
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Rain Are The World's Tears
Non-FictionI'm at peace on rainy days when my tears fall with the droplets of the light rain. It feels like the whole world is crying with me. Depression is a major obstacle to overcome, so it often times is easier to focus on the different aspects and sympto...
