Dealing With Depression

I recently read that depression is often the result of our expectations not meeting with reality. This may very well be true but I'm thinking that depression is mainly the result of a combination of unexpressed anger turned inward and guilt.

When it takes hold I found that I cannot think my way out of depression. I can only act my way out by moving muscles. Doing simple things like taking walks, exercising, cleaning a small portion of a room, anything that requires physical movement. The more physical the better. I have to remember to start off with an easy thing because once I am in the grips of depression just breathing can seem to take more energy than I have. Fortunately I can start off doing very simple things like sitting in a different chair than I normally do. This gives me a different view of my environment. Then I can move up to physical movement, rearranging the magazines, dusting the end table, emptying the trash and just maybe taking a walk. These little things can break up the emotional and thinking patterns that go along with depression. While I am doing something physical I bring my thoughts to the here and now, putting my thoughts on what I am doing this moment. This is not the time to dwell on all my life's problems. Doing so will only overwhelm me and drive me deeper into the grips of the depression.

Once I am in motion I may be able to use one of the most powerful weapon I found to combat depression that is the making of a gratitude list. So I actually pick up a pen or pencil and start to make a list of the things that are right in my life. This list puts things in perspective. It show me that everything, including myself, is not all bad. My list will often starts off with putting a positive thing down like I have a roof over my head. I'll immediately think something like, "Big deal, sometimes it leaks" Okay, you have a car. "It's a junk that doesn't start when I need it to." Well, I have my friends, "Yeah where are they when I need them?' Then as I continue making the list gradually the negative comments subside and I begin to see that all is not as dreary as I thought and guess what, somewhere along in this process I realize that I am not the great failure I started off believing I was.

Another valuable tool I found is prayer. When I am depressed I don't feel much like praying but I can muster up enough energy for a one word prayer."HELP".

When I get to where I am ready to reach out and be with other people I think of Ghandi's words “the best way to find yourself is to lose yourself in the service of others.”. I may still want to die but I usually end up being too busy to do it any time soon.

Notice that I haven't mentioned the taking of drugs to combat depression. That is because I "personally" believe that they cause more problems than they solve. They often just mask the symptoms and not really solving the problem.