So, my girlfriend and I are both atheists, and we both have similar outlooks on life (i.e., there's no real 'purpose' to existence anymore than there is a purpose for a tree, beyond self-perpetuation and the survival of the gene). Whereas I view this in almost an absurdist and humored way, it's made her extremely nihilistic. She sees no reason to go on, and has become incredibly depressed without any purpose.
She has told me she doesn't feel anything but poorly (what I mean by that is that she feels numb, for the most part, or just 'bad'), and that without a modicum of control (her therapist has tried getting her to recognize that much of life is beyond her control; I agree, I told her a lot of life may involve planning, but that 'rolling with the punches' and HOW you react to a situation is what matters) she feels lost and worthless. She doesn't even know what makes her happy, anymore. She gets up in the morning only because she doesn't want to make anyone else suffer if she doesn't. It's killing me, because I care about her so much, but I have no idea what else I can offer her beyond her own happiness (she says nothing inertly makes her happy, beyond helping others-- and her psychologist apparently said she needs to figure out what makes her happy APART from that) and her life as it is.
This is further complicated by the fact that she refuses medication (in the past, it really screwed with her).
I offered her the quote by Dawkins that put my life a bit into perspective about the sand grains of Arabia, but even that hasn't affected her. I'm at a loss, and I'm hoping one of you can give me something that I might not be properly thinking of. Please.
