The concept of self improvement, self help, and personal development creates a challenge for professionals in the fields of psychology and psychiatry because some feel the limits of human potential teachings stop short of including individuals who suffer from clinical or serious depression. People who live with depression can incorporate these simple, yet powerful concepts, and you will understand why we have a different perspective.
Depression is defined by Dictionary.com, as a condition of general emotional dejection and withdrawal; sadness greater and more prolonged than that warranted by any objective reason.
Clinical Depression has a different meaning: is a mental disorder characterized by an all-encompassing low mood accompanied by low self-esteem, and by loss of interest or pleasure in normally enjoyable activities.
It doesn’t matter which kind of depression we’re discussing. They all require that we ask important questions. They are:
1. To begin with, why did this depression start?
The emotions we experience in any given moment are a result of 4 things – what we focus on, the meaning we give the experience, our physiology, and the language we use (to ourselves or others) to describe the experience.
As an example, let’s say you owned a traditional brick and mortar business which, due to competition and a difficult economy, is going out of business. This is an experience but depending upon your focus, meaning, physiology, and language you will create a very different emotional response.
On the one hand, you could focus on the accumulating debt in addition to how you feel like a failure. You might say, “This store went under because I’m clueless about business.” As you do this, your body transforms to a state of depression, physically. Your eyes are generally set downward, your shoulders are slumped and your self-talk will change. Can you see yourself using phrases like, “I’m a failure,” “life is unfair”, “what an idiot,” or “my vendors took advantage of me. ” What are you feeling? Check your emotions? Are you low? Feeling depressed?
What would happen if you couldn’t stop thinking about what happened; about a particular event? Stewing in the fear, anger, upset of an experience just sends our bodies the same depressing signals. It’s no wonder we re-create the same response, and wake up one morning, feeling depressed.
“So, if it’s just a way of thinking, why don’t people change from being depressed to a more positive state of mind?” you ask?
2. Why can’t I get rid of this depression?
For every emotion, there is a corresponding chemical that binds to the receptors designed for that particular chemical. Everybody is adaptable and so, a constant stream of one chemical creates additional receptors to accommodate it. The more receptors, the more your body craves the chemical the receptors were designed for. It’s exactly like drug addiction. Your very clever brain will find ways to re-create your thoughts/feelings in order to have your body produce the chemical that your receptors desire.
For most folks, this is how depression begins. Any event can be used as an opportunity to create the chemical. Their brain is eventually trained to respond to all events the same way… the more receptors there are to “feed” the more often the emotions are swayed to produce the appropriate chemical.
3. Can we avoid depression?
Before we explain a process for change, we want you to appreciate that you are still at choice. You aren’t locked into only one response. If you can learn to respond one way, imagine that you can also learn to respond a different way. It isn’t about an event or an experience; it’s always how we choose to respond to those events that counts.
There’s no need to allow your past to predict your future. Past mistakes, experiences, and events are just that… in the past. The emotions you experienced are in the past as well. Do you believe it’s possible to change the way you feel about those past events? The brain is so agile, that it can relearn patterns, reshape them so that your feelings about those events have a chance to shift. Choose to focus on new things, give new meanings, change your physiology, and even change the words you use. However, and this is important; we are not saying “you don’t need medication, you can “think” your way out of a depression.” Medication is a tool, and can make it easier for a person who suffers from depression to see that they have a choice. Always, always follow the doctor’s orders.
We know that not all things in this world are “good.” Of course not, there are downright “bad” things that occur every day and in all areas of the world. To be a “positive thinker” is NOT what we are suggesting. On the contrary, acknowledge how you perceive an event whether it’s good or bad. The crucial step is that you are open to the possibility that this event, even a “bad” event, can serve you for your benefit. If you do that, you will begin to see how that is true every day in your life.
Get more information on mental health at our website or review our blog for other topics related to depression.