Depression strikes us all at some time in our lives. Having an unfriendly black dog follow us around all day is a truly horrible experience. There are many types of depression. There is the depression that comes and goes with life events: like when you lose you job, the cat goes missing or difficulty with a relationship.
Then there is deep rooted clinical depression often inherited or the result of early traumatic life events. Using anti-depressants with therapy is sometimes the best way to treat clinical depression – just to get out of that dark place to begin therapy. Anti-depressants work for many people and combined with therapy helps the healing.
It has been shown that if we monitor and record our feelings we will see that exploring new things makes us feel less depressed. For instance if you lie in bed not wanting to face the world you will feel depressed. If you take a shower you will observe you are less depressed when the hot soothing water hits your body. If you take a walk, have a coffee in a cafe, ring a friend, see a movie or be kind to others you will feel much better. The act of doing things (exposure therapy) makes depression less likely. This also works with anxiety feelings.
In the end we all we want deep down to feel more connected to others and our world. Doing so makes us generally a lot happier. Curiosity is a healing virtue. In doing so we now step into in a more creative place with the world.
Depression is very selfish with the individual and relationships. If you have lost interest in friends, work, enjoyment generally, can’t sleep and feel sad and low for more than 2 weeks, seeking treatment is important. You do not have to have a black cloud follow you around everywhere. M 07450746534 Email: gerrynorthcounsellor@gmail.com
Gerry is a member of the Australian Counselling Association
