All posts by Hugh Smith

12 Step Meeting, Fellowship

“I thought my depression and sadness was normal.”

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TERRI’S  STORY

When I first came to Depressed Anonymous, I was so depressed I didn’t even want to get out of bed in the morning.

I hated the world and I didn’t want to deal with it and just going  out in  public was  a major ordeal,  even the  grocery  seemed  like an overwhelming task.  Ultimately, I lost my job due to my inability to function  at work. I prayed that God would let me die.

I felt I carried this tremendous load of emotional pain around in my chest all the time.  I wanted to put it down. I wanted to get rid of it but I didn’t  know how. I thought God had forsaken me because I violated a  sacred  code without knowing it and I believed I could never feel the sunlight of the spirit on my face again. That belief forged a bitterness and resentment toward God that grew day by day. I could not believe life would ever be good again or that I could be happy.

I felt emotionally dead. I have had depression for years, although I didn’t know that’s what it was. Being an alcoholic and an active  member of  Alcoholics Anonymous, I thought my depression and sadness was  normal.

I hit bottom last year in the Spring, after 8 years in recovery, when I started to have “flashbacks” of sexual  abuse from childhood. I didn’t understand how God could have allowed this to happen since it happened so long ago. Why did it have to come out now? All my life I had this feeling that I had a deep dark secret: but I couldn’t remember what it was. I lived in constant fear that people would find out my terrible “secret” was out now. Gradually I realized that the big black secret was out now. I had not died. The world had not stopped.

As I began working on the abuse issues in therapy, the piece s of my life began to fit together in a way they never could have before, as I had never dealt with this catastrophic event. In Hugh’s book, Depressed? Here is a way out he talks about how  people find their time of depression to be one of the great gifts of God in their life. The first time I read this I thought it was the craziest thing  I had ever heard, yet during this time  of depression I have learned and I have grown. I have come to understand myself  and my God in a way I never could before,

It’s been nearly a year now. Life is starting to come together for me again, one day at a time by the grace of God and the fellowship of this program. From the  very first time I walked through the doors of DA, I knew I was in  the right place.  Having been an active member of AA for so many years, I was already a firm believer in the 12 Steps. I did what you people told me to do, even when I didn’t  believe it would help. I attended meetings. I worked the Steps with my sponsor. I used the phone list and talked to people about my pain and my day to day problems. I read Hugh’s  book (Depressed Anonymous, 3rd edition(2011) DAP. Louisville) and followed the suggestions given in it.

God, through DA, God  literally carried me through the darkest time in my life and he did not let me die, despite  my best efforts to.  I have truly experienced the “miracle of the group.”   I promise you that it works. I have heard it said that sometimes God’s greatest miracles are unanswered prayers and I believe it, after all I am one.

TERRI B

Sources:  Copyright(c) The Antidepressant Tablet. Volume 4  Number 3 Spring 1993..

Copyright (c)  Depressed Anonymous, 3rd edition.(2011) Depressed Anonymous Publications. Louisville.

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Help is on the Way!

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   Home Study Program starts November 15, 2017.  Sign up today.  Two members of the Depressed Anonymous program  will facilitate your personalized  responses to the Depressed Anonymous Workbook and the Depressed Anonymous Manual.

There is no fee for this sponsorship of members.  To become members one  has to use the DA Workbook and DA Manual to  participate.  See how to Order online. The reason for developing an online program  is that we find is that there are not that many DA groups extent in the USA. We are hoping that in order to help those still suffering from depression that  they can now have a one on one  sponsor online who  will guide them through  the process of learning about depression as well as finding solutions for overcoming it. Of course this will take work, time and prayer to accomplish. We have no magic wand or magic pills that will take away the reasons for the pain you are experiencing now–but it will give you answers to your own situation. Because of the nature of our approach you will provide your own answers to the questions posed by our Workbook and by reading the Manual. Our guides will respond to your answers from the workbook and make their suggestions along the way.

Both of the sponsors who will relating to you and your work will be members of Depressed Anonymous.  One will be the founder of Depressed Anonymous and the other sponsor  will be the founder of  Depressed Anonymous  in his own community.

If you want to challenge yourself,as others have done with this Home Study program, jump  in and sign up. Many of you have tried everything to free yourself from the pain and isolation of depression.  Here is your challenge to take an individual and hard look at  your own life and be given the tools to overcome and deal with a very serious illness, which effects your physical, mental, emotional and   spiritual realities.

During your online program  participation you will be provided new and helpful ways to respond to those areas of your life which need your attention.

Importantly, we are not acting as therapists or taking the place of any professional medical person whom you are a client or patient of.  We are fellow sufferers reaching out to those like us who are looking for answers and help. We all are no longer alone!!!!!

Also we will hear from someone who  now wants to involve others in her community and join together to form their own Depressed Anonymous program.

Please contact us at www.depressedanon.com for more information.

Also, our email address is: [email protected]

Thank you and hope that you will join soon in this positive and personalized approach to recovery from depression.

Depressed Anonymous Workbook, Fellowship

Depression and quicksand–what do they have in common? Online Home Study provides the answers.

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One thing that they have in common is their capacity to suck you down into the darkness in which you feel there is no escaping.  Quicksand is no respecter of persons and neither is depression.  What happens when we step into quicksand our feet become aware that something is drawing us  down into a place that has no bottom. There is no support that will hold us up.

With depression we too feel that once the spiraling begins, the mood changes and we are there alone without support to hold us up. We are afraid to tell anyone that we are depressed. We continue to isolate ourselves and the prison of depression is gradually being built by fear, isolation and ongoing ruminations  about how bad things are.  By withdrawing and living in the small world that we have created all hope appears to have ben sucked out of us.  Now it’s the lack of motivation to do anything to help ourselves and so we begin to eat too much or not eat at all. We want to sleep all the time or not sleep at all. We are no longer interested in those pleasant activities that we once enjoyed but now we get no pleasure from them.

I would like to offer you a way out of depression and protection from being sucked down into the pain of nothingness.

On November 15, we will initiate our HOME STUDY RECOVERY PROGRAM ONLINE. The program is an online process where you can email answers to questions posed in the Depressed Anonymous Workbook and get a response to your progress from a Depressed Anonymous  sponsor. Because there might not be a Depressed Anonymous meeting in your community we have found that providing you with the possibility of working the Steps, gaining information about yourself and what depression feels and looks like. All this becomes possible by taking part in this online individual help from a member of the DA fellowship. You and your sponsor/guide who continues to help those who want to leave the prison of depression. To challenge yourself and free your self from depression this is the program for you. There are no fees or dues, all you need is  a plan, a well marked out path, provided by our fellowship, which we call the  12 steps of recovery and restoration,

Start now and be part of the HOME STUDY  PROGRAM BY signing up soon so that you will be ready to start your one on one in recovery on November 15.  We are accepting only 10 persons in this program. The two books which you will need are the Depressed Anonymous Workbook and the Depressed Anonymous Manual, 3rd edition.   Please VISIT THE STORE here at www.depressedanon.com to learn how you can order online to receive your material. This is NOT  a group meeting, but a program personalized  to meet you where you are in life. The whole step by step process is achieved like a long distance course offered by colleges and universities. You and your guide will be in communication via emails to each other to get the most benefit for your own life.

If you have any questions please contact me here or at our website: [email protected]. We will be looking forward to visiting with you. I have been helping others free themselves from depression these past 30 years and I am willing to go to bat for you too.

If for any reason you prefer to SKYPE then that will be fine with me and our guides.

I hope to hear from you soon. Our email address is  [email protected] for those who wish more information about the upcoming program on November 15, 2017.

Hugh

for the fellowship of DA.

Depressed Anonymous Workbook, Mindfulness

Moving to a new home means packing, unpacking, and packing up things we no longer need or want.

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There is a strange but real similarity with moving from one place to another with the packing up and unpacking that  is involved. The same holds true for our lives. We packed  habits of thinking, feeling and behaving from early childhood into our adult lives.  It is no surprise to us then and now that certain habitual modes of behavior and thinking have got us to a place where we either hit an emotional wall or we reflect that something in our lives has to change.  It’s time to pack up stuff in our lives that no longer work for us and discard all the extra baggage. It might be painful to rid ourselves of the stuff that has been such a part of our daily lives, but now we see that  it is time to take a closer look. It’s time to dig up and plant something new that will carry us along with a hope and a feeling of freedom as we continue throwing over board the extra weight (emotional and physical) as we continue on our journey in life.

For my own life I gradually found a way to unpack stuff that had me imprisoned and bound up without hope of ever being free of the shackles. Don’t get me wrong, packing  and unpacking certain areas of our life is not an easy thing to accomplish.  It takes time and work. Today I am still unpacking. With work, time and prayerful reflections on my changed thinking, feeling and behaviors I came to the conclusion that with help I could at least get through one 24 period at a time. And this is the point of my writing this piece today. I am pleased to say that it was when I first was introduced to the 12 spiritual principles of recovery with the tools which these principles provided, I now had a plan, a path, on how to live with hope and serenity.  I feel lighter as I reflected upon what I need to let go of.  I learned what exactly I needed to let go of.

It was after reading the literature of a 12 step program dedicated to help with my addiction that I gradually was  learning   more about me. I found what worked for me.   It was in the  Big Book, as it is called,  and written by Bill W., and Bob S.,the co-founders of AA..  There were questions in this book that helped me unpack those areas of my life that needed to be thrown overboard.

In the past years, when not everyone had the opportunity to join a Depressed Anonymous group in their locality, our Publisher Depressed Anonymous Publications decided to offer a HOME STUDY KIT where a person could begin to learn more about themselves by using the Home Study Kit. This includes the Big Book of our fellowship Depressed Anonymous, 3rd edition (2011) and the Depressed Anonymous Workbook (2002) –both published by our publisher (DAP). Starting in November,  I will be offering those persons who want a guide to help them with  the Question and Answer part of the Kit, the DA Workbook, which is coordinated with each  chapter of the companion volume   Depressed Anonymous.

Through the years,  persons who have used this method of recovery, have found it has changed their lives. And this, without a group. When I founded this group in 1985 I knew that each persons depression really was unique even though it had many similarities with others depression experience. So with  our Home Study program your own unique experiences can be examined and reflected upon. This is how the healing can begin for you.

I can take only ten persons initially to start this online Home Study program,  which has been  successful  for those who utilize its process. Soon our program will be published in Spanish, as it has already been published in other languages.  One of the fellowship who lives in another region of the world has just written and shared how she feels the program has changed her for the better. I agreed with her that I have seen a change in her thinking and feelings toward herself as she continues to answer questions from the workbook that has enlightened her about her own life. . It’s as she has had a spiritual awakening. A realization that she is not alone.

So, if anyone is interested in a long distance Home Study approach, by email, then you might find it particularly useful. The whole process will be done via our emails. It will be strictly confidential and I will work with any  person who wants to find a way out of depression.   Basically our work will enable us to clarify our thinking about ourselves and help us formulate strategies for gaining back our freedom to be whom we want to be.

We will start our HS program on November 15th, 2017.  If you are serious about committing yourself to this self study then please contact me here at our website or email me at [email protected].

You may find this individual effort challenging as  I was, but in time and with work and the interaction with a sponsor–you will be happy you did. You will learn how to unpack those areas of your life which have kept you imprisoned.  This time you will be living with hope.

I am looking forward to hearing from you. Reading the Depressed Anonymous  literature, which I might add,  has been written by those persons who have been depressed and are now depression free and in recovery will be a great benefit to you and your daily living.  More information will be coming on this BLOG tomorrow.

Please click onto our literature store and discover more about the Manual and the Workbook which will be used for our Home Study program.  I hope that you will be joining us soon.

With gratitude, for the fellowship,

Hugh S

 

 

 

 

Anger, Attachment, Choice, Fellowship, Higher Power, Journaling, Mutual Aid, The 12 Steps

Drinking Depression

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Drinking depression: One man’s story of recovery from alcoholism and depression and the parallels between the two.

I have had experiences with alcohol abuse since childhood. I have also struggled since childhood with depression. I quickly learned to rely on both.

I call this paper “drinking depression” because that’s exactly what I did when I no longer had the alcohol. The following thoughts will express my feelings and the parallels that I have seen between these two addictions.

RELIANCE

There was always an excuse to drink, mostly I was upset with something. I should really say angry, for it was anger at the root of my depression that I was trying to suppress  in medicating myself. Later, I learned to do the same thing with my depression except to be in a depressive state High. I didn’t even have to leave the house and after awhile I didn’t want to break the cycle of reliance that dependency had begun. When I was absorbing alcohol into my blood stream I was now injecting the depression into my soul and absorbing it like a sponge.

FAMILIARITY AND COMFORT

As a recovering alcoholic I can look back on my drinking and see when I took comfort in being drunk because after awhile the numbness became the only way I could feel better because when I was drunk I could retreat into myself and not have to deal with everyday life.

The same escape tool was used in the form of depression. I could ball up like a woolly worm and the outside world was not going to hurt me. However, the more I wallowed in the darkness of my depression the deeper I got stuck in the mud of despair and hopelessness.

DESPERATION

In order to deal with alcoholism and depression I had to hit rock bottom. I had reached a point in both, that I had to call out for help or drown in my addiction. I called on my Higher Power to help me with my depression. With guidance of the holy spirit I am harnessing   my talents now and I am seeing incredible results. My recovery has not been overnight, but it is a day by day and step by step recovery process.

THE PHYSICAL

After some time had passed, the drinking affects the physical body breaking it down. Once I saw a film in which the brain of a heroin addict and the alcoholic were very similar. The depression I experienced also has physical implications. For over twenty years the way my body would respond from too much emotional stress was to pass out. Instead of blacking out from   alcohol I was using depression to numb my brain and myself.

THE SPIRITUAL

When I was drinking I felt alienation and guilt. I felt professing  Christians did not drink  and the more I drank the more guilty I became. I felt that much more distant from God the more I drank and spiraled further down into a cycle of despair.

In my depression I felt God had no time for me and that I was unworthy of his love. Again it was a carousal filled with guilt and anger going round and round so that I couldn’t get off the merry go-round.

SELF ESTEEM

When I was drinking, I was sure that no one cared or understood what I was going through so I had many pity parties and I was the guest of honor. Why should I care if no one else cared- this was my way of thinking.

From painful experiences in my childhood I felt I was of no worth  and just taking up space. It has taken therapy and the support of family and friends to finally look in the mirror and begin to like what I saw.

HOPE

I have been sober over two years although  I often have the desire to drink.  I daily call on my Higher Power for help and march on one day at a time experiencing serenity and a release from my need to  take the first drink.

I have been in therapy for almost a year off and on, although in order to recover one has to stay with it. I have to take my emotional and spiritual healing like my drinking.– one day at a time and know when I can make it because it is only opening the door to the past can the light of the present get rid of the darkness today and have hope for the future.

It is my hope and prayer that this has helped you, the reader,  in some small way. It has helped me by writing about my experiences. May God put walls of protection around you so that the way ahead for you may be crystal clear and that today be your first step towards recovery.

God bless.

—Steve P.  A member of the Louisville Depressed Anonymous Group.

 

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“…you begin to feel a small bit of serenity growing inside of you.”

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“The real risk is when that first inkling comes that because of your active and regular work in the Twelve Step depression group, you begin to feel a small bit of serenity growing inside of you. This is what scares us all. Our guilt, shame, our sadness in life have almost completely shut down our sense of spontaneity and playfulness, so that we are afraid of the new way we are feeling. Our first thought is that it won’t last. That is when we need to face the fear, stay with it, and it will flee. As long as you stay with these unpleasant feelings, keep working on yourself at meetings and telling yourself that you can beat these negative attitudes about yourself, and start to rebuild
your future and your world.
At this time, call a friend and tell them you need help rebuilding instead of allowing your fears to imprison you. You are now using those bricks to build a bridge between you and the other members of the group who want to free themselves from the isolating feelings of sadness and hurt. ”
_______________________________________________________________

COMMENT: As my depression worsened I started to walk 5 miles every day. Walking was one way that I could for a brief time escape thinking about the painful hollowness and meaningless that had gradually taken over my body and mind. It was like I was being sucked down into the darkness of quicksand. And just as I wrote the above account, I remembered so well how I believed the pain would never go away and if it did — when would this happen? But slowly after this continual activity of walking and doing what I had to do to survive, I felt a small glimpse and feeling of lightness. And the first thought that came to mind was that this good feeling wouldn’t last. In reality it was only a brief pause in my pain but I kept on walking. Shortly after that, the lightness and feeling of hope grew stronger and the day finally arrived when the fog, the cloud of hopelessness was gone. I faced my fear. I realized, like all healing, it takes time, work and prayer. Hugh

SOURCE: Copyright(c)Depressed Anonymous, 3rd edition. (2011) Depressed Anonymous Publications. Louisville.Page 93-94.
For more literature on the subject of depression and the 12 Steps please VISIT THE STORE. ***ALL LITERATURE PUBLISHED BY DEPRESSED ANONYMOUS PUBLICATIONS IS WRITTEN BY THOSE WHO WERE DEPRESSED AND IN RECOVERY AND LIVING WITH HOPE AND SERENITY.

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I now have a gratitude attitude!

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“I am rejoicing today as I think about how my life used to be to the way that it is now. I have an attitude of gratitude.”

“Can we actually carry the spirit of gratitude into our daily work? Can we get our newly recognized responsibilities to the world at large? And can we bring new purpose and devotion to the religion of our choice? Can we find a new joy of living in trying to do something about all these things? –The Twelve Steps and the Twelve Traditions. AA.

CLARIFICATION OF THOUGHT

The Twelve Steps of Depressed Anonymous are the pivotal points of my life now that I am engrossed in the work of recovery. The Twelve Steps are put to use in all affairs of my life today. I always have them to fall back on when I want to sad myself, when I feel myself going back to that old familiar way of thinking negatively about myself. I thank God for the Twelve Steps and the serenity that I have received from the practice of them all in my daily life.

I have a purpose in my life and that is to rejoice at the help I have received since I have been working my program. I rejoice that I am no longer considered helpless, but instead, find hope in each day as it comes along.

MEDITATION
The God of our lives is real to us because the program has allowed us to think of God the way that we want to think of him. We can think of God as our best friend and if I want to put a human face on him, that will work too. The program has truly brought me new joy and devotion to the practice of of religion in some of our lives.

SOURCE: Copyright(c) Higher Thoughts for down days. Depressed Anonymous Publications. Louisville. Page 207. October 17

Click onto Visit the Store to order this work ( find it on Kindle) and discover other books which will aid in our recovery.

Hope

I choose to live in the security of my hope…

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I choose to live in the security ofg my hope rather than in the fear of life’s possible pain.

 

“Haven’t our sadness and thoughts of unworthiness been our last refuge from having to face ourselves, take charge and accept responsibility for our own lives? For many, just knowing that they might have a choice and be able to choose to feel differently can be a startling revelation. I can choose to be happy or I can choose to stay feeling miserable.”

Hugh Smith. Depressed? Here is a way out! Fount. London. 1991.

CLARIFICATION OF THOUGHT

Life is one that provides me with many areas of choice. I can choose to live with the uncertainty of hope or I can stay mired in the despair of having to always have everything predictable. The latter is the hell of depression.

Years back when I gradually noticed that some unknown negative force was causing to spiral me downward into the abyss of nothingness. I had no idea that I had been setting myself up for what I later surmised to be depression. My surmise was right.  I didn’t know   what was happening to me at the time. My compulsive thinking, constantly circling  obsessively in my head  about how worthless I was, all the while setting  myself up for one of the worst  experiences of my life.  Because of my own guilt and shame feelings, and the continued rumination on  those unpleasant emotions   accompanying  them, took its toll on my body,  mind, and I might add, my spirit. My choosing to figure out in my head what was going on with me, all these chaotic feelings sapped the life energy from me. All I wanted to do was sleep. Then I discovered it was almost impossible to rouse myself to get out of bed, and then  go to work. I didn’t choose to depress myself, that would truly be insane, but I did choose to continue beating myself up, like the desert monk, thinking that this would alleviate punishment for whatever I had done that would infringe  on God’s Holy laws.

Did I choose to be depressed? Well yes, in a certain unconscious way, but in no way am I blaming myself.  It was not until  I took responsibility for the fact that I had to do something to pull myself out of this personal life mess, that began to motivate me to do something. To talk to someone. To get moving. And so I chose to walk everyday, even if my body told me to stay in bed.  And I chose the right way out of my depression by something as simple as a daily walk. And then, forming a group of men and women who  felt free to share their own stories about their depression. It was then the amazing revelation came to me—I was not alone. I took charge and of my life, continued to feel the sadness lift from my shoulders and I was no longer depressed. It took over a year to be free. It took time and group and individual work. I finally realized that I was being given those tools to recognize  the “red flags” which ignites  the deadly spiral of hopelessness and misery.

Now I know not to beat myself up and end up shaming myself. By choosing this new way of thinking and feeling and sharing them with the group or my sponsor I don’t shut myself down and isolate. That is deadly.   I now have hope. I choose to find out how I got where I am and take responsibility for getting myself well. Make your decision today. Choose hope!

Hugh

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Who was that masked man?

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Remember that line? How many years was it that these familiar words were spoken by the man on the white horse, wearing white and who wore a black mask?   And after he did his good deed, people would ask each other: “Who was that masked man?”

After he came to the rescue of whom ever needed help at the moment, you could always depend on—The Lone Ranger and his sidekick Tonto. There you have it. I was watching one of the innumerable reruns that appear on one of the cable channels  while waiting for my appointment with the doctor last week.

A lot of us when depressed also know the feeling of wearing a mask when we are out with others, either socially or at work. The mask that I wore when I was depressed was to always have a fake smile pasted on my face. When asked, “how you doing” I always responded with a cheerful response.  “I’m fine.” I always had to be cheerful while dying inside.  I didn’t want to go around with a sad face, spreading gloom all about. But the real reason for the fake smile was to hide. I couldn’t let anyone in on my secret.  I in no way would I let others know the daily tug of war  that was going on inside me. Just to move about or just to be sociable was my main effort during the day. No one was to know my secret.

I tried to fake it till  I made it. Well, that didn’t work. It just made it worse. I felt that the real me was being hidden deeper  inside of me and I had no idea how to take the mask off, reveal who I was, and move on with my life. I just wanted ,to shout out to the  world  that ” I’m dying inside.”

It was when I discovered the “miracle of the group” and  the power of the spiritual principles of the 12 steps,  was I able to take off my mask. In the Depressed Anonymous fellowship I learned how to be the “real me” and no longer be afraid to tell who I  really was. I was able to do this  over time, with work  and with meetings and doing an online Step Study program with a member of the Depressed Anonymous fellowship where I became more confident and self assured that I was OK the way that I was. I wasn’t going crazy or losing my mind.  I now had no fear of telling others how depressed I was.  I began sharing  how for many years I had isolated myself, all the time beating my self up in my head.

When there is no Depressed Anonymous meeting in your area you too can find help online with a directed Depressed Anonymous online support Self study, program which includes both a Workbook and Manual (see Home Study Kit ). By using the Workbook and the Manual together, you can find the answers you may be looking for, with the direction of a sponsor. A member of our online Self Study program tells us how it has changed her life.  Also we utilize the wonderful SKYPE program to communicate with others around the world.

Helen, a member of the fellowship of Depressed Anonymous tells us  in her personal story in our Depressed Anonymous book(Manual)  that

“I also had to get my priorities straight. I put a  lot of importance on things that were not important, or what somebody else might say about me. I was afraid to change. I was afraid that I would change into a person that would be selfish and uncaring, but it didn’t happen that way. I found a different way to go about it. In getting my priorities straight, I discovered that if a person doesn’t accept me the way I am, then that  doesn’t matter. I am going to do the best that I can. If someone else can’t handle that I am awful sorry about that, but it has to be. I want everyone to approve of me, but  I am just not going to do that. I am not going to please everyone. I got to take  care of myself. I was so busy trying to  please everyone else that I wasn’t taking care of my own needs. At the time I was doing it, I didn’t realize that I was doing it. Now I won’t deliberately hurt anyone else , but I am going to take care of myself.

– Helen.

Source: Depressed Anonymous, 3rd edition. (2011) Depressed Anonymous Publications. Page  148. (Personal Stories section).

Choice

The Life model and its four characteristics

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All living creatures have four essential characteristics. These four are:

  1. Identity
  2. Autonomy
  3. Competency
  4. Interconnectedness with all other living beings

But when we are depressed we gradually begin to feel that we really have no identity. We believe that there is nothing about me that is good. I feel worthless, unacceptable to myself and others. I think of myself as a depressive. I am always depressed. That its my identity. But much like the alcoholic, overeater, we are more than our label as a depressive. We have confined ourselves into a corner feeling that I have nothing to give. So many of us depended on our roles in life, the job that we went to every day, a parent now left with an empty nest. All these changes created a formidable challenge and vacuum in our lives. All losses in our lives have a great impact on who we are as living creatures.

Because of depressive thinking, our behavior and thinking has caused us to isolate, to feel abandoned. Because of continually trying to figure out why we are depressed, (paralysis of analysis) this faulty thinking has sapped us of our energy, so that we are no longer able to get out of bed in the morning… go to work, meet with friends or family. We no longer have the motivation to act on our own behalf. We know that our autonomy is what enables us to do one thing or the other. We are individuals at the same time part of the human community. Our own autonomy is now so frozen and lacking any motivation that we are even feeling unable to make any sort of decision.

Our level of feeling and having a competency is gone. We feel useless and weak. We are purposeless and find no meaning in our lives. What once used to keep us alive and motivated–such experiences as losing a job, a divorce, a death of a loved one, retirement and other lost roles and relationships gradually diminish our ability to function with a hope for a brighter future.

And finally interconnectedness is life. All life on this earth interconnected. Our life support system is other living creatures. We are a veritable web of living organisms. What keeps all of us alive is this relationship with each other, and the mutuality and synergism of the whole tribe, clan, family, all alive because of those members who make up each dynamic group.

Finally, from a depressed person’s perspective, all these characteristics provided for us by the Life Model also serve as areas of concern when we begin to look more closely at our own lives.

We see how we have gradually lost our identity, no longer able to get motivated because of lack or a real or perceived loss of having any competencies or meaningful roles to play in our communities and families. Because of the growing inability to make any decisions which stymies any desire or motivation to act in our own behalf, sabotages our efforts to be self directing and autonomous.

Because of our isolation and feelings of meaningless for where we are now, our sense of being part of any purposeful relationships, is nil. The more we cut off our interconnectedness with others, not only do our social skills begin to wither, but the meaning that life provides by its connectedness becomes less and less available.

So, what can you and I do if depressed, as most, if not all of these life situations can be a positive for us if we begin to look for a community which can give us support, fellowship and acceptance. It’s my sincere belief that a 12 step Support group for any of us can give us the direction and the hope that each of us are looking for as members of the human community.

What do you think?

Hugh