Feeling Blue? Magazine Grades Cities On Depression (Texas Cities Found To Be Happiest)

Local 6 (Florida) ^ | March 9, 2005

[Texas Songwriter]

Texas pigeon

[Stoat]

I have a question. I've been in Seattle 4 years now. I can take the cloudiness. I can take the rain. I welcome it.

What I can't take is the summer sun. The unrelenting, clear, cloudless days. I find no joy or comfort in them at all.

Is it possible to have reverse SAD? My son and I both seem to have this problem. I truly don't even want to leave the house when it is a bright day. This was never a problem when I lived on the east coast, where I really think the light was a bit dimmer than it is out here, but maybe that's just the comparison between the usual greyness and the summer.

Do other Seattlites have a problem w/the sun?

I haven't heard of a 'reverse SAD' as a recognized clinical condition, but what may be the case is that you, like most longtime residents of Seattle, have simply acclimated to what is the norm here, and so sunshine then becomes abnormal and therefore less-friendly.

As for myself, I also tend to be happiest on the grayer overcast days mainly because of the cooler temperatures.  I tend to sweat when it gets even mildly hot and am made terribly uncomfortable by what most Texans would likely consider an 'average' day.

These are just guesses on my part, and if these conditions are negatively affecting the quality of life for you and your son you may wish to consider getting help.  This might be a good place to start:

Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD) Seattle, Washington

 

[Texas Songwriter]

Jackson, Wyoming is very nice.

[NYC GOP Chick]

Too funny! I mostly know Yonkers from when I was covering basketball and football there.

[Jorge]

I love Fairmount Park and the art museaum myself. Much of the city is either a ghetto (West Philly and the near north) or stuck in a time warp (South Philly and the NE).

I love center city Philly. But you go a few blocks north and it's a total dump. The houses are literally falling down before your eyes.

But Center City has really been cleaned up and revitalized.

New Convention Center, new Baseball and Football Stadiums in South Philly, Market Street Mall is HUGE and really nice, Liberty Towers and their street level malls absolutely sparkle, they are beautiful, downtown is clean, and Philly is known for having many of the best restaurants in the country.

I like Philly for the combo of big city atmosphere and small town down home warm friendly people.

I find New York a cold and strange place with rude people by comparison.

[Texas Songwriter]

Cut-N-Shoot, Texas, Dime Box, Texas, Dollar Hide, Texas

[Dark Skies]

Thx G-man...that is an interesting article.

I am bi-polar (but luckily I can make it without meds...at least so far).

Depression is an issue with which I am somewhat familiar.

Some people say you are shallow and cruel...I have not found that to be the case.

I feel we have a connection. Must be due to your hidden compassion.

I have to be a smart@ss or you wouldn't know it's me.

[Stoat]

Despite the fact that there has been nothing but sunshine here for the past three months, while Phoenix and LA get heavy rains, I will be out of here (Seattle) as soon as I get a good job offer elsewhere.

I'm very sorry to hear that  :-(  Seattle needs more right-thinking people such as yourself.

Hopefully you will settle in a place that has some proper Italian bakeries  :-)

[Boiler Plate]

Cut-N-Shoot TX, I don't think I've seen that one yet. Does it have more than 2 actors?

[Muleteam1]

Lubbock is the only city where I lived and worked during my career that I cared to have a bumper sticker stating my feelings about the town. My sticker said, "I Love Lubbock." As careers would have it, it was too soon that my family and I had to see Lubbock in our rear view mirror.

I also worked in New Orleans but that bumper sticker would have been censored.

Muleteam1

[Stoat]

99. St. Petersburg, FL -- F

Absolute nonsense!! I don't live there, but travel to St. Petersburg often on business and it's a perfectly delightful town.

Well, apparently something is lurking under the surface there that causes a great number of people to have troubles with clinical depression.  I think that there are probably many cities near the bottom of this list that would be perfectly fine to visit for recreation or work, but sometimes being in a particular place while the years roll by can make a world of difference in ways that may not be readily apparent from a short-term visit.

It could also be that for some of the cities at the bottom of this list, they are simply a magnet, for whatever reason, for people with a preexisting depressive condition.  Perhaps they are living in 'city x' and are depressed, and think " I'll be happier if I move to sunny Florida!"  and so they move but this doesn't address their condition.

99. St. Petersburg, FL -- F

Absolute nonsense!! I don't live there, but travel to St. Petersburg often on business and it's a perfectly delightful town.

[Texas Songwriter]

I believe Lyle Lovett is originally from Cut-N-Shoot, TX. I am almost certain his mother still lives there and he goes back quiet often.

[TheWriterInTexas]

Former New Yorker now proud Mama of two native Texans.

Get out whlle you can and come to the promised land. Leave the liberal nightmare behind!

[Churchillspirit]

WOW! My city is not on the list.

I must be happy.

Thanks.

[Muleteam1]

I was in El Paso a few months ago but I don't spend much time there. I do like the warm weather.

Muleteam1

[radiohead]

Nobody who's actually been to Philly and Newark could make such an absurd comparison.

Philly is much bigger.

LOL! That's pretty funny.

There are times when I miss Philly, but I have to admit, it's a different (and cleaner) world out here on the left coast. I don't think I could go back to big city east coast living.

I'll never forget moving to Philly and seeing the grafitti. Wow. I never saw anything like it, and I was moving from another big city. It was all over, on businesses, even in decent neighborhoods. It made everything uglier.

I did have a thing for Center City Strawbridges, however. If it's possible to truly love a store, I loved that one and hated to see it pass out of the Strawbridge family.

[Libertarian444]

Well, apparently something is lurking under the surface there that causes a great number of people to have troubles with clinical depression.

It may have something to do with the amount of retirees in the area. If I'm not mistaken, depression rates are pretty high among the elderly. Only problem is - whenever I visit St. Petersburg (mostly the downtown area), I rarely see anyone under 60.

[Stoat]

Former New Yorker now proud Mama of two native Texans.

Get out whlle you can and come to the promised land. Leave the liberal nightmare behind!
 

I would have left long ago, but I have responsibilities here which make that impossible at the moment.  I can, however, dream about a brighter future which may be different  :-)

What do you think is the 'best' city or town in Texas to live in?

It seems that Lubbock has gotten positive votes from a least a couple of people on this thread.

(I'm hoping that by asking such a question that I'm not going to start a fight among our Texas friends!)

Former New Yorker now proud Mama of two native Texans.

Get out whlle you can and come to the promised land. Leave the liberal nightmare behind!
 

I would have left long ago, but I have responsibilities here which make that impossible at the moment.  I can, however, dream about a brighter future which may be different  :-)

What do you think is the 'best' city or town in Texas to live in?

It seems that Lubbock has gotten positive votes from a least a couple of people on this thread.

(I'm hoping that by asking such a question that I'm not going to start a fight among our Texas friends!)

[Stoat]

WOW! My city is not on the list.

I'm guessing that what the researchers did was to first take the top 101 US cities by population and then extract the data from those cities, in order to make the study manageable. 

I must be happy.

If you feel happy, then you are.

Thanks.

You're welcome  :-)

WOW! My city is not on the list.

I'm guessing that what the researchers did was to first take the top 101 US cities by population and then extract the data from those cities, in order to make the study manageable. 

I must be happy.

If you feel happy, then you are.

Thanks.

You're welcome  :-)

[Muleteam1]

Although we probably have more fireants than people up here in the middle of the Texas High Plains, fireants can't usually make it through our winters. We do have grackles though. I think there is an unwritten corollary about how obnoxious and ugly an animal is and how well they can survive.

Muleteam1