Here’s an excerpt from Christine Stapleton’s blog about learning to let others help her following the death of her mom: “So, I dealt with my grief and didn’t ask for help. I threw myself into my work and believed the more I helped others, the more I would get over the deaths of my parents and my dog. I figured that sorrow was something that melted over time. And while you are waiting for it to melt, work your ass off. That’s how I ended up on disability, antidepressants, and a therapist’s couch. The clouds finally parted and I realized that what my mother had taught me about self-reliance was wrong. You see, every time you deny someone the opportunity to help you, you deny them the opportunity to feel as good as you do when you help people.” Read her entire blog.
Is Self-sufficiency Making You Depressed?
Depression and Anger: A Destructive Partnership
Here’s an excerpt from blogger John Folk-Williams excellent piece on anger: “It took me a long time to understand the connection between depression and anger. One psychiatrist I visited would often ask a simple question toward the end of a session: How’s your anger? I couldn’t understand why he asked. I hadn’t been talking about anger. Depression was my problem.” Read his entire blog.
5 Positive Things I’ve Gained on My Journey With Depression
From the website The Mighty, depression blogger Rob Harper writes: “Now, don’t get me wrong. Depression is a hole — a deep, dark place of isolation, loneliness, and confusion (amongst countless other negative things). But does this mean nothing good can come from having depression?” Read the rest of his blog.
On Losing Self-Blame and the Pressure to Feel Joy
Blogger Therese Borchard writes, “I have always felt terribly guilty about these thoughts. They are a source of great shame for me because I know I am so very blessed. Every day I scribble plenty of things in my gratitude journal. Intellectually I register all things considered good and I thank God for them, but the emotion is inaccessible. I see my ten-year-old hold a lemonade stand with tips going to the SPCA and I smile, but the joy is not there. And the more I try to force it, the faster it escapes.” Read the rest of her blog.
Is This Depression? Or Melancholy? Or . . .
Therapist Will Hall writes, “One of the great sadnesses I encounter in my work is when people, struggling to find their own language, have adopted the language of others, or doctors, or the media in a way that only obscures and confuses the sense of who they are. Their very description of self has been usurped. I don’t have contact with the person, I have contact with a cloud of terms and jargon repeated from someone else. But just using the word “depression” does not always have to mean someone else’s language – sometimes people have their own definitions that are clearly personal and intimate revelations of their direct experience.” Read the rest of his blog.
Coping with Depression Improves with Practice
Tiffanie Verbeke writes: “Did you know that coping with depression improves with practice? I wish that depression checked prerequisites before working itself into someone’s brain. I want to know that I’ve met a checklist of skills that guarantees that I’m fully capable of coping with depression. Fortunately, coping skills can improve with practice, in which case I think that depression could almost be viewed as a sport. Athletes have basic skills that help them succeed, but they must practice smaller, more specific skills in order to improve their overall success at the sport.” The same goes for coping with depression. Read the rest of her blog.
8 Fall Foods That Boost Our Mood
Depression blogger Therese Borchard writes: “Even with its gorgeous foliage and festivities, autumn triggers anxiety and depression for many people. The shorter days and lack of sunlight affect our circadian rhythms; we feel the stress of upcoming holidays, and the claustrophobia of winter is lurking around the corner. Mother Nature, fortunately, has done her part in providing many foods and spices during this season that can aid our sanity. From enjoying some freshly picked apples to munching on some dry pumpkin seeds, autumn is full of good mood foods that can help us to enjoy the season.” Read the rest of the blog.
Depression Isn’t a Personality Flaw
Ashleigh-Rae Thomas blogs, “Depression, anxiety, PTSD, borderline, these are all diseases and disorders. You haven’t done anything wrong! It’s taken me a long time to realize too that I haven’t done anything wrong.When I was going through it, and if I’m being honest, I still am, I felt utterly alone. The symptoms of depression sometimes present themselves as flaws. I kept thinking if I adjusted my attitude or if I weren’t such a bad person then I would feel better.” Read the rest of her blog.
6 Types of Light Therapy for Seasonal Depression
Therese Borchard writes, “It’s that time of year again when the highly sensitive types among us who thrive with lots of sunlight begin to wither with the plants as the sun begins to hide.Not only do we get less vitamin D (and deficiencies have been linked to depression), but the change in sunlight affects our circadian rhythm — the body’s internal biological clock that governs certain brain activity and hormone production. In some people, the change of mood-related chemicals can cause seasonal affective disorder (SAD), also known as winter blues or seasonal depression.” Read the rest of her blog.
10 Signs You Should See a Doctor for Depression
Ester Crain writes, “Feeling down in the dumps every so often is a normal part of life. But when you’re gripped by an unrelenting sadness or hopelessness that keeps you from going about your usual routine, it’s time to pay attention: it’s the hallmark sign of clinical depression, and an estimated 7% of adults will experience it, according to the National Institute of Mental Health.” Read the rest of her blog.
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