AIM Framework glossary
Depression
Canonical definition
Depression is the absence of motivation that follows once the Thinker has committed a Futility Belief: the Observer computes Salience under the Belief Register, so every Object whose attainment the Futility Belief marks as unaffected by action loses approach Salience, the Thinker values pursuits less, and the M signal falls with the Salience that drives it. The Scalar is low across the Objects the Futility Belief covers, while the Thinker remains available and is applied in the usual way. The Futility Belief is reached by the closure of Anxiety, by the default left unrevised where action has never been followed by outcomes that depend on it, or on the Mimetic Treadmill. Depression lasts as long as the Futility Belief does: relief of the problem that installed the Futility Belief ends Depression where the Futility Belief covers only that problem, and is not sufficient where the Futility Belief has generalised.
Explanation
Depression is what happens when you have come to believe that nothing you do makes a difference. Once you hold that belief, things stop looking worth going after, even though you can still think and act as well as before. You can get there by struggling with a problem you could not solve, by never having had your actions pay off, or by chasing things that never satisfied. Fixing the original problem helps when the belief was only about that problem. When it has spread to everything else, it has to be undone by finding out that your own actions do work.
Epistemic status
Framework-Specific Construct. Derived from the Futility Belief, the Observer's computation of Salience under the Belief Register (Chapter 4, Section 4.4.7) and the release rate of the Belief Register (Appendix A, Sections A.5.6 and A.9.7). The construct characterises the motivational configuration; the affective, hormonal and chemical processes that shape the accompanying experience lie outside the characterisation (Chapter 9, Section 9.22).