It’s not some inevitable conveyor belt from mild meh to existential agony. It’s more like a chain reaction that can happen under certain conditions: Unhappiness — low-level dissatisfaction, vague discontent.
Being troubled — your mind starts chewing on it, turning it into a problem. Immiseration — now it’s identity-level (“my life is bad,” not just “this thing is bad”). Pain — emotional or even physical suffering. Illness — you can no longer withstand the pain.

llm