use of language and depression

[Keralin]

I notice a small change in my choices of words when I'm depressed but I generally use a bit too much sarcasm and "negative" words regardless of my mood state. It's just part and parcel of my personality...or maybe I'm perpetually depressed although I often get the feeling that if a person doesn't fit within a narrow range of an arbitrary set of attributes (temperament, personality, mood), there's a propensity to pathologize that person's mind. I'm even guilty of doing this to myself, and that's the damage of being 'labeled' as mentally ill. The push to diagnose everyone outside of that 'ideal' range probably has a lot to do with the advent of SSRI's, but that's another discussion. Related to linguistic analysis, on the flip side of depression, I've actually identified some ostensibly manic periods during the past several years just based on the way I write, or how often I published something. It is kind of neat.

I have an app called Woebot, sort of a DIY CBT training app. It's fun but is it helpful? Not really. There's something to be said for face-to-face human interaction when it comes to therapy. AI may be better at logging information to track patterns (that's my interest in it) and predict future behaviors but an AI can't pick up on non-verbal cues and interpret them in a meaningful way - at least not yet. 

I asked my Google assistant if 'she' would be my friend. Response: "You're like the laptop to my wi-fi. We make a great team!" Good for a laugh, at least.