| 1. Depression is a View | (Contents) | 3. Why You Feel Depressed |
UNDER CONSTRUCTION: This is VERY ROUGH, but I don't have time to smooth it now...
Page 1 presented the idea that everyone has a view. As your thoughts shift from one set of things to another, different memories and meanings come with them, and you have emotions that follow, that are consistent with the view. As your thoughts shift, so do your emotions and your mood.
Here I'm going to diverge for a minute, because there seem to be two broad categories of depression. One occurs in healthy people when a circumstance effects their view. The other happens to people with imbalances in their brain chemisty, such as people with bipolar disorder (manic depression) or schizophrenia. Note some people who have an imbalance, whether mild or severe, may also be effected by circumstances, making their disorder-induced depression worse. [Can I escape disorder-induced depression entirely? And should I?]
Depression has a number of properties that makes it difficult to break out or it. As I list the properties below, keep in mind that none of them are true, though in the depressed view, they seem true and feel true.
It is held in place by powerful thoughts that keep you feeling bad. These thoughts are powerful because they seem and feel important, crucial to happiness. A good mood, or a fun event might distract you for a while, but the area is important, so you'll soon return to feeling low. These powerful thoughts keep you feeling down, and the bad feelings reinforce the assumptions.
You might feel the thoughts are horrible- like your world came crashing down, such as when a boyfriend or girlfriend or spouse leaves, or when a parent or close friend dies. A trip to the beach or a party might seem like an opportunity to relax and have fun, but the thoughts are so important, they bring you down the whole time. It seems like you just can't escape them. [!!!Do something here] Or, you might feel it's yet another bad thing that happened to you, or even the last straw.
[Give examples?]
Depression is usually accompanied by shame, preventing you from seeking help. It's very common for a teen or young adult to keep it a secret from parents and teachers. You might even keep it a secret from friends. If you don't talk to anyone, your view will be the only one you see, you won't get help analyzing it [SAY IT BETTER]
We tend to think depression is just a bad mood. Many of us are taught not to complain, to not "burden" others with our problems. Is your mood just a bad mood, or is it depression? Everyone has moods, and we certainly don't want to visit a therapist for "just" a mood. This also helps depression hide. And sometimes a parent or teacher will guess that it's just a mood, or that complaining, or being a "drama queen" is just part of your personality. This disguise as a bad mood can prevent you from getting help and prevent others from thinking help is necessary.
The depressed view usually comes with feelings of isolation, not being connected. So when you look around at life, you tend not to see all the people who could help, or you feel that you can't approach them, they're too distant.
The depressed view usually involves hopelessness, so you feel like there's no point in reaching out. Life looks bad, hopeless. You probably feel frustrated or lethargic, like there's no point in trying to get better. What's the point of doing anything if it's hopeless? This insulates the depression from [you taking positive actions.]
UNDER CONSTRUCTION
Most depressed people have a number of these aspects going on, making the depression hard to shake. The depression is held in place by powerful thoughts, it's accompanied shame, you or people around you think it might be just a temporary mood, you have feelings of isolation, you feel things are hopeless, there's little point in getting help. In later sections, we'll find ways of shaking the depression, regaining a positive, powerful view of life.
The key for now is to remember that while depressed, you're not viewing the real world. You're viewing a distorted world. The feelings are real feelings and the thoughts are real thoughts, but you're missing the many positive things about yourself, your life, and especially your future, and mostly, you're missing many positive views of your life. All these things tend to keep you stuck in depression.
Take a deep breath and keep reading.
| 1. Depression is a View | (Contents) | 3. Why You Feel Depressed |