Do You Have Depression?

During my early life, I was not aware of a mental illness. Prior to college, I felt inadequate, experienced low self-esteem and was indecisive and insecure. I did not attribute these feelings to an illness. Starting in my early-twenties, more discrete symptoms of mental illness appeared: fear (afraid of my own shadow, pure terror), stay in a bad place because it’s familiar), confusion, isolation even in a crowd, unable to speak, hopelessness without end. In my thirties, I remember being in my backyard covered in a deep, dark haze. I felt like I had been carried off in a spaceship to some unknown, scary place. Episodes like that scared me out of my mind. Even so, I still did not associate these instances with a mental illness. I got married in my mid-thirties. I could not be present for my wife. I could not be present for myself. I just wanted it to end….and I didn’t car how. But it wouldn’t end. It couldn’t end. I had no idea how to end it. I could imagine what hell was like. That’s what depression felt like for me. Hell on earth. Unimaginable torment. Not until my mid-forties did I get my initial diagnosis of depression. In my early-fifties, PTSD/Developmental trauma became my “true”...

These support groups are valuable resources for living a life with depression. My experience with those groups that I’ve worked with has been wonderful. * * * Veterans of the U.S. Armed Services can get help for suspected mental illness from the local Veterans Administration (VA) facility. The VA has professional staff for Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) and other forms of mental illness. The National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) trains people, many of whom have mental illness themselves, to work with those struggling with mental illness. NAMI can direct individuals to groups that treat mental illness. Visit NAMI website at www.nami.org. Local Psychotherapists and Psychiatrists can suggest support groups for mental illness. Local hospitals have mental health facilities that often support the mentally-ill in group settings. Local media companies facilitate health and wellness fairs. Radio, TV and print media support mental health awareness and help. Yahoo Support Groups on depression provide a laundry list of online support groups. There are many resources available here. Dual Recovery Anonymous (DRA) is a peer support group applying the Twelve Steps patterned after Alcoholics Anonymous (AA). “Emotions Anonymous” (EA) is a twelve-step organization, similar to Alcoholics Anonymous. Fellowship is composed of people who come together in weekly meetings for the purpose of working toward recovery from emotional difficulties. This program has been known to work miracles in the lives of many who suffer from problems as diverse as depression, anger, broken or strained relationships, grief, anxiety, low self-esteem, panic, abnormal fears, resentment, jealousy, guilt, despair, fatigue, tension, boredom, loneliness, withdrawal, obsessive and negative thinking, worry, compulsive behavior and a variety of other emotional issues. About.com provides access to information on all forms of mental illness. Dial “211” in Connecticut for a wide array of health services. HealingWell.com has sections on diseases and conditions, forums and chats, blogs and videos. “Pysch Central” provides online support for depression that allows you to read other people’s experience with depression and also provide your own (if you’d like). Membership is free and the community is overseen by a team of dedicated individuals that help keep the forum safe for all. “Beating the Beast” is a thriving online support community for people with depression and related issues. The forums are run by people with depression as...

These are some of the better self-help books that I’ve seen. These resources bring help to your own home. * * * Depression workbook: 70 Self-help Techniques for Recovery by Tim Watkins presents a wide-ranging view of depression. This book discusses what depression really is, medications, talking therapies and other treatments. How to Pray Through Depression and Loneliness! By M.J. Andre discusses loneliness as the path to depression and the way out. Addictions and pornography provide fertile ground for depression. Love and a relationship with God are strong allies to overcome depression. Attracting Your Depression-Free Life by James Weaver and Kevin C. Clancy, Ph.D. The law of attraction promises that when we replace our negative thoughts with positive thoughts that positive experiences follow. Cognitive therapy, mindfulness and a structured approach called “The Therapeutic Lifestyle Change” are advocated for treating depression. Self-Coaching: The Powerful Program to Beat Anxiety and Depression by Joseph Luciani promotes a specific self-coaching model to manage an array of mental illnesses. The Ultimate Survival Guide by Heather Rose promotes the value of positive thinking and release of negative thoughts, social skills and developing a self-help plan. Attacking Anxiety and Depression Coaching Video by Lucinda Bassett represents a wonderful and doable approach to relieving the twin horrors of anxiety and depression and taking our lives back. The Noonday Demon – An Atlas of Depression by Andrew Solomon examines depression in personal, cultural, and scientific terms. Drawing on his own struggles with the illness and interviews with fellow sufferers, doctors and scientists, policy makers and politicians, drug designers and philosophers, Andrew Solomon reveals the subtle complexities and sheer agony of the disease. He confronts the challenge of defining the illness and describes the vast range of available medications, the efficacy of alternative treatments. Depression: Looking Up From the Stubborn Darkness by Edward T. Welch. Where Is God in the Struggle? Looking away from despair towards hope can feel risky. What if God doesn’t come through for you? What if you don’t feel instantly better? Instead of offering simple platitudes or unrealistic “cure-all” formulas, Edward T. Welch addresses the complex nature of depression with compassion and insight, applying the rich treasures of the gospel, and giving fresh hope to those who...

These are among my favorite depression quotes. I chose these quotes because they shine a bright light on depression and some of the quotes even have silver linings! * * * “I am now the most miserable man living. If what I feel were equally distributed to the whole human family, there would not be one cheerful face on the earth. Whether I shall ever be better I cannot tell; I awfully forebode I shall not. To remain as I am is impossible; I must die or be better, it appears to me.” – Abraham Lincoln wrote in 1841to his law partner * * * “Melancholy without reason grips me as in a vice.” – Anne Sullivan Macy, lifelong teacher of Helen Keller * * * “I can take no interest in my work just now, my heart is so heavy.” – Helen Keller, who did not suffer from depression, said in regard to her lifelong teacher, Anne Sullivan Macy * * * “I still think there is not much to life, except to learn all one can about it, and the only way to learn it is to experience much—to love, to hate, to flounder, to enjoy and to suffer.” – Anne Sullivan Macy * * * “I don’t like standing near the edge of a platform when an express train is passing through. I like to stand right back and if possible get a pillar between me and the train. I don’t like to stand by the side of a ship and look down into the water. A second’s action would end everything. A few drops of desperation.” – Winston Churchill * * * “Never give in, and never give in, never, never, never.” – Winston Churchill’s entire commencement speech * * * “My interactions with the larger PD population put another dimension of my good fortune into stark relief. For whatever reason, I had been spared the torture of depression. I don’t struggle with the chemical imbalance that triggers severe depression.” – Michael J. Fox * * * “Every man has his secret sorrows which the world knows not; and often times we call a man cold when he is only sad.” – Henry Wadsworth Longfellow * * * “Noble deeds and hot baths are the best cures for depression.” – Dodie Smith * * * “That’s the thing about depression: A human being can survive almost anything, as long as she sees the end in sight. But depression is so insidious, and it compounds daily, that it’s impossible to ever see the end.” – Elizabeth Wurtzel * * * “Do you not see how necessary a world of pains and troubles is to school an intelligence and make it a soul?” – John Keats * * * “Depression is the inability to construct a future.” – Rollo May * * * “Depression can seem worse than terminal cancer, because most cancer patients feel loved and they have hope and self-esteem.” – David D. Burns * * * “The world breaks everyone, and afterward, some are strong at the broken places.” – Ernest Hemingway * * * “If you hear a voice within you say ‘you cannot paint,’ then by all means paint, and that voice will be silenced.” – Vincent Van Gogh * * * “Do not quench your inspiration and imagination.” – Vincent Van Gogh * * * “If I’ve lost confidence in myself, I have the universe against me.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson * * * “You can avoid reality, but you can’t avoid the consequences of avoiding reality.” – Ayn Rand * * * “It’s a mistake to look too far ahead. The chain of destiny can only be grasped one link at a time.” – Winston Churchill * * * “The greatest griefs are those we cause ourselves.” – Sophocles * * * “The tragedy of life is not that it ends so soon, but that we wait so long to begin it.” – W.M....