DEPRESSION

DEPRESSION

Chop your own wood and it will heat you twice. 

(Henry Ford)

Depression is certainly a complicated subject to understand but if physical reasons can be ruled out, then the following ideas apply.  Life is nothing more or less than an endless series of achievements.  We all have a built-in desire to become successful at the achievements that are important to us. 
 
But at the same time, all of these achievements have the capacity to activate the emotion of fear.  It is our reactions to this fear that determine the stress level that we will experience.  

If you are succeeding at achievements that are important to you, you will be excited and happy.  If you are failing, you will experience some form of mental agitation which, if reacted to correctly, should be viewed as a motivating force to increase your knowledge about the achievement in question.

If continued attempts to succeed only lead to more failure, --- if you do not learn from your mistakes, --- if you lose your motivation to keep trying; then, you have the potential to develop depression.  The level of depression that you will experience will depend on the value that you place upon the achievement that you are failing at.  

It will also depend on the level of despair that you experience when you conclude that any new approach to the problem will only lead to more failure, so why go through it all over again?  Why bother trying when it will all end in failure anyway?

And still further, if you place so much importance on the achievement(s) that you are failing at, that other aspects of life seem to be of little or no value, this type of attitude can also lead to a prolonged state of depression. 

On the one hand it is a worthwhile quality to refuse to give up on important achievements in your life, but on the other hand, without any new methods to achieve a higher level of success, this --- “stick to it” --- determination can also lead to depression.      

The above scenario is a vivid description of the vicious cycle of depression with its inevitable downward spiral.  To counteract this, the individual so afflicted, must also look at depression as a motivating factor. 

The individual needs to acquire more knowledge about the achievements that he is involved in or that he wishes to become involved in, so as to obtain a higher level of success, which in itself will reduce and/or eliminate the depression.

This attitude must definitely include the motivation to share ones problems with as many other competent people as possibly.  It is wrong to conclude that the problem cannot be solved. 
 
There is always someone else with more knowledge than we have in any specific field and invariably they are more than willing to help others who are confident enough to seek help.

The bio-psychiatric profession recognizes short-term depression as the normal fluctuations of everyday life.  But it has concluded that long term depression is a psychiatric disorder that is caused by a chemical imbalance inside the human mind.  I say that it is caused by unresolved failure in achievements that are important to the sufferer.  

People with short-term depression have enough other areas in their lives that give them cause for happiness and a sense of value and worth.  In some cases they ultimately find methods to reduce the sense of failure or actual failure in the areas that are causing the feelings of depression.  
  
Obviously this is the best method to reduce depression.  In some cases, people avoid prolonged depression by devaluing the achievement that they are not succeeding at.  

In other cases, long-term sufferers do not have a sufficient “cache” of successful achievements to bring them out of their depression.  Many people have lofty goals that are either beyond their ability to succeed at, or they do not have the patience or persistence that is necessary to achieve the success that they dream of.  This model for depression indicates that the condition is at all times negotiable.  

One form of cognitive behavioral therapy evaluates the fears that are happening inside the sufferer’s mind.  More often than not, at the core of their distress is to be found the twin culprits of conglomerated and distorted fears. 

A therapist who finds a patient who is exhibiting a high level of procrastination must realize that he has a patient who has a distorted fear of failure that is robbing the person of his or her initiative.  

These types of personalities inevitably rob themselves of the knowledge that can be gained from analyzing ones errors.  It is from such analysis that one has the best chance to increase ones potential for success at the chosen achievement in the future.

Let’s look at a baseball player who is having a terrible hitless steak.  It does not mean that he cannot hit the ball, he has already proven that he can.  
 
It can mean that his current failure has siphoned off a large portion of his confidence and he is allowing the fear of failure to detract from his ability to hit the ball to an area where no one can catch it or throw him out.  

Taking into account the fact that there is an element of luck involved in hitting a baseball, it is usually a change in attitude (positive) that brings about the end of the hitless streak.  
 
Rather than wait for a lucky bounce to end a hitless streak, which in turn can lead you into a more positive attitude, the best method is to instill a positive attitude inside your mind on your own volition.   
 
You do so with the realization that such an approach will bring results faster and give you greater control over the fluctuations of lady luck.

It is our variable reactions to fear that determines our mental make up.  It is the tenacity to press on in spite of failures in the past that shapes our personalities.  
 
It is the belief that you are learning from your mistakes and that you are on the road to success that helps to make that success possible and/or inevitable.  It is precisely that kind of personality that is less affected by depression than any other type of personality.  

But it is also true that anyone who searches deeply into the meaning of life and who has the desire to help the human race overcome some of its more complicated dilemmas, will find themselves feeling depressed, from time to time, over the enormous challenges that lie before us.  

It is at these moments that such people must realize that the feelings of depression are in reality a call to the spirit of motivation that ultimately will lead to new understanding.  This type of mental resolve is one of the many attributes of an expansive personality.