Depressive Love: A Contemporary Form of Self-Alienation

Both love and depression are central concepts in science, art and everyday life. They are frequently used to capture the fundamental needs of human beings: love is seen as the result of the recognition or satisfaction of those needs, whereas depression is seen as the result of the misrecognition or violation of those needs. 

Love and depression are key elements in the cultural script of emotions or affectual life within contemporary Western society.

In this paper presentation the following surprising observation will be discussed as a form of self-alienation:  Love and depression tend to be intertwined in the cultural script of emotions or affectual life in contemporary Western society to such an extent that it is informative to talk about depressive love as a sign of the time.

The surprising observation triggered questions by help of which a concept of depressive love as a contemporary form of self-alienation will be developed:

In what ways are depressive love expressed in contemporary Western society?

Is depressive love a new phenomenon? Is it possible to find expressions of depressive love in other epochs or time periods of Western society? 

If so, what distinguishes the depressive love of contemporary Western society form the depressive love of other epochs or time periods of Western society?

What (dys)functions do depressive love have in contemporary Western Society?