Dec21 – Feeling depressed? Because of
the short day? Or the world did not end?
It is important to define depression –
1) an act of depressing or a state of being depressed; 2) a state of
feeling sad; 3) a mood disorder marked especially by sadness,
inactivity, difficulty with thinking and concentration, a significant
increase or decrease in appetite and time spent sleeping, feelings of
dejection and hopelessness, and sometimes suicidal thoughts or an
attempt to commit suicide, a reduction in functional activity,
amount, quality, or force depression of autonomic function.
What causes depression? The causes may
be physical – such as short day length (SAD) or body chemistry.
Another cause of depression is the repression or suppression of our
emotions. The stages of depression would be as follows. When we are
children growing up in our respective homes, it is very common for
several things to happen. 1) we do not have the opportunity to
express ourselves and be heard or acknowledged 2) our needs (a HUGE
list) are not met so we feel worthless 3) we get hurt, another long
list! These events may occur many times.
As we become adults, the feelings of
worthlessness and hurt follow us. People deal with these feelings in
varied ways – they stuff them (numbness, deadness and flatness),
they use substances (alcohol, drugs, food, you get the picture). See
my emotional guide for a more complete list. Understanding the way we
suffered to cause the depression is critical – we need to go back
in our minds to those hurtful times, and feel through those held
feelings. As children we could not handle the emotions but as adults
we can take responsibility and do the courageous work of facing and
working through our feelings.
Suicide and keeping busy to avoid
dealing with our feelings are both avoidance techniques for doing
what seems so counter intuitive – going into our painful feelings
in order to get over them. These pools of long held emotion can be
dissipated by the act of feeling them. This is our natural emotional
healing power – the emotional equivalent of physical healing! We
may need a list of feelings to help us connect with what we are
really feeling.
Depression can be mild, feeling blue,
or it can be major depression. Medication may be required for a time.
Please consult a doctor immediately if you are severely depressed.
Post partum depression may be linked to
our own unpleasant experiences at child birth. We are born fully
developed emotionally so even these early experiences can affect us.
Being separated from our mothers at birth may be very traumatic for
new borns. The stages of life of our children may be triggers for our
own held emotion. The skill of feeling through can help us with this
issue.
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