“Being depressed means feeling disconnected, isolated and separated. Truly, depression or melancholia is the illness of our modern society. Our desire to isolate ourselves from everyone and everything when we are depressing ourselves, isolates us from ourselves as well.
To recognize how it feels to be depressed, more people will be able to tolerate and unfetter themselves from their own depression. Lives will be saved as well.
People describe their experience of depression as being in some kind of prison. One man said that he was in a pit where the walls were of soft clay. One woman said that she was in a brick maze where there was no exit and the walls were closing in on her. “I’m in an infinite desert” said one man, “the bars are thick and a lone scrawny tree.” “I’m in a cage” said one woman, “the bars are thick and black and there is no door.” In side this prison the person has intense feelings of self-hatred..
Frequently, depressed persons imagine that they are going crazy, are crazy, or being afflicted with some mental illness.
One of the beautiful things about a Depressed Anonymous group is that everyone has the same symptoms, feels the same pain and is relieved that they are not the only ones in the world with this experience. They don’t have to go it alone. They also don’t hear people saying: “Snap out of it,”
The following provides a guide for those of you who are attempting to see whether you are depressed or not. If you feel that you have a good number of these situations going on in your life at the same time and for a number of weeks, your melancholia might be indicating that you need to get in touch with persons like yourself by the fellowship of Depressed Anonymous.
Do I have some or all of the symptoms of depression?
+Wanting to isolate and be alone.
+Changes in appetite.
+Shifts in sleeping patterns (too much/not enough sleep).
+Waking up early in the morning.
+Fatigability or lack of energy.
+Agitation or increased activity.
+Loss of interest in daily activities and/or decreased sex drive.
+Feeling of sadness, hopelessness, worthlessness, guilt or self-reproach and possible thoughts about killing myself.
+Weeping/Not being able to cry.
+Lapses of memory.
+Hard time making decisions.
Fear of losing one’s mind.
+Reluctance to take risks.
+Difficulty in smiling or laughing.
IMPORTANT NOTE: All the symptoms listed above don’t necessarily include all symptoms, but enough of them, together, point to a serious response needed from an individual to seek help. also believe that my own serenity is constantly being assaulted during the day by all sorts of problems and situations that cry out for my immediate care and attention.
The Fourth of the Promises of Depressed Anonymous, tell us how we will be able to “comprehend the word Serenity and we will know peace of mind.”
Agitation, anxiety and jitteriness were all part of my life as I muddled my way through -day after day, one foot in front of the other. Serenity was not a part of my life.
As with my attachment to negative behavior, serenity and peace were the furthest thing from my mind. The new beliefs and thoughts which I had expressed at Depressed Anonymous meetings started to help me change the ay I thought about myself, my world and my future.
I believe that it takes time, work and prayer, and sometimes with medication to achieve the peace and serenity that we are talking about here.
Peace of mind is the result of:
A clear conscience
Living in the present
Gratitude everyday
Belief that the God of my understanding will get me through the problems of my life
Forgiveness of myself and amends to all persons I have harmed
Hope
Doing God’s will. Neither grasping but letting go
As Bill W., co-founder of Alcoholics Anonymous tells us in the AA Big BOOK,
“Both you and the new man must walk day by day, in the path of spiritual progress. If you persist –remarkable things will happen. When we look back, we realize that the things which came to us when we put ourselves in God’s hands were better than anything we could have planned. Follow the dictates of a Higher Power and you will presently live in a new and wonderful world no matter what your present circumstances.”
RESOURCES FOR HELP.
Copyright(c) Depressed Anonymous, 3rd edition (2011) Depressed Anonymous Publications. Louisville, KY. Pages 166-167.
Copyright(c) The Promises of Depressed Anonymous (2002) Depressed Anonymous Publications. Louisville, Ky. Pages 9-10.
Copyright(c) Alcoholics Anonymous. Page 100.