The 7th way out of depression.

“Today is all that I have. Don’t let dwelling on yesterday’s hurts and fears about tomorrow, rob  you of peace today. Contrary to what you might have thought  –you are responsible for how you think and feel.”

SOURCE: Believing is seeing: 15 ways to leave the prison of depression. DAP. Louisville. pgs 38-39.

“Now that  we have learnt how to take care of ourselves and our recovery, we now believe that we are responsible for finding a way out of depression. We can blame our sadness on our genes, hormones or a chemical imbalance.  All this takes full responsibility for finding and using that map which points the way out of the darkness of depression. Since we have been involved in the 12 step program of recovery we continue to learn the “how” of working our way out of our sadness in the context of the fellowship of the group.

The best way to live TODAY is to be fully conscious of the present moment and create that  strong desire to be part of it.  Let’s not live in yesterday – the rent can kill ya.

How often  do I spend time  in tomorrow and so miss the joy of today? I think one of the more serious occupations (aren’t they all serious?) of the depressed is to just sit and think, and think and think some more about how bad life is and what awful people they are. This self-bashing makes one’s ability to change ever more difficult, as continued depressive ruminations promote a great sense of unworthiness and confusion. We feel that we have no control over what happens in our daily life. Actually, we are not so sure that we should care. Everything seems hopeless. Living in yesterday is to pay some high priced rent –and when you’re done paying the rent, you still have nothing to show for it.”

NOTE:  The 2nd half of # 7 will be continued tomorrow.

An excerpt for BELIEVING IS SEEING

“Keep physically fit is a must for us who are and who have been depressed. My walking not only restores harmony to the body but it restores my self-esteem and self-confidence. One of the major areas to remember  when someone says that they are depressed is to recommend that they get some physical exercise. So many times when we find that we are depressed, feel listless and lacking energy we tend to recoil from any activity that attempts to force us out of our isolation and inactivity. At one time our lives, any task or type of activity, even the smallest might have been cause for happiness and a continued life of productivity. When we are depressed , we just want  to lie down and sleep.  We feel that we have no mastery in our life, thoughts and future. What we forget is that this is the innate nature of depression. We believe that there is no use in getting active because we just can’t get the energy to even attempt anything that requires a positive response.

Mastery is what we gain when  we force ourselves to get out of bed, get going and start an exercise program on a regular basis.

“Walking is  a very efficient exercise,” Dr. Leach asserts, “especially in terms of toning muscles and giving people a good feeling.”

Dr. Ralph Wharton, another psychiatrist tells us that “going for a walk prevents excessive preoccupation and rumination, and it distracts you from your own inner concerns.— after all you have to look where you are going.” Prevention Magazine, June 1985, Pg. 95.

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I can state for a fact,  walking  gradually helped clear my mind   of the fog that had it imprisoned  and in a lock down. It took awhile. It didn’t happen overnight. It was the sheer   desperation and   strong   desire to free myself from whatever had me mentally paralyzed.  It was months later when  I slowly felt the fog begin to lift. Gradually the hollow feeling in the gut, the painful anxiety and trepidation that filled my body without  letup all slowly dissipated. Because I feared that whatever  brought me down would come back and bite me. I kept on walking.   I have to say I really never had many down days in my life.  I’ve suffered my losses and hurts like everyone else but  I never had experienced the depth of the pain that made me scared, hopeless and helpless.

It was short time later when I had my old self again. My mood became  hopeful.  I could even feel a little cheery knowing that there was a light at the end of the tunnel. From that day forward, I knew that the secret of staying focused and upbeat was for me to walk everyday. And what lesson I learned from this was to reflect on what was going on in my life that preceded these  dark symptoms of depression. I believe that symptoms of depression don’t just fall out of the sky–out of the blue.  The way my thinking  continuously  cycled   negative thoughts,    producing  negative feelings,   and these  gradually had me imprisoned and behind the bars of my fears and isolation from others.  A gradual distancing my family and friends was  the result of a deepening  separation from everything that previously made  my daily life pleasant and hopeful.

I also have written about this fact in our recent publication, I’ll do it when I feel better.

“Today, millions of Americans are suffering from what my colleague Charles  Derber calls “double trouble”  Those in double trouble have neither meaningful work, nor sustaining intimate ties.  The withering of community life in both domains  fosters a rootlessness and social disintegration that unquestionably contributes to the growth of emotional disorders.”

SOURCE:  Copyright(c) David A. Karp. 1996.  Speaking of Sadness. Depression, disconnection, and the Meanings of Illness. Oxford University Press. p.  178.

Comment.  In Speaking of Sadness (which I highly recommend) Karp points out so persuasively how culture creates the disconnection that influences us  in our work lives and love lives. It is in his last chapters,  Sickness, Self and Society and Sociology, Spirituality, and Suffering he continues to assert the reality of postmodern life which is less and less connected and  more individualistic and manifests itself in   which individuals are disconnected  from one another.

Karp believes that it is in the small group where true community is formed.

WHAT DO YOU THINK?

“Procrastination is really sloth in five syllables.”

                             CLARIFICATION OF THOUGHT

” The ones who get better are the ones who work their program, go to their meetings, have a sponsor and have a faith that this program will work for them as it has for thousands of others who have suffered with depression. I used to tell myself that I would start serious work on myself when I had more time, felt a little more cheerful or whatever. I know that these are all good examples of sloth or procrastination. I think depressed people have to fight against this more than others because at the very core of depression is a desire to not make a decision but to try and stay parked in neutral. To move out of depression takes an act of will because I will never feel better until I get into action.

I want to get well. I do want to feel better. I know that to feel better, I will have to get into motion.”

MEDITATION

We are going to commit ourselves to you, God. We are going to trust in you, and we have the faith that you will act boldly in our livers today. (Add your own personal comments here).

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SOURCE: Copyright. (c) Higher Thoughts for down days: 365 daily thoughts and meditations for members of 12 step Fellowship groups.Depressed Anonymous Publications. Louisville.  Pages 129-130.  June 29th thought for the day.

A THIRD WAY FOR LEAVING THE PRISON OF DEPRESSION.

“We trust others by sharing our recent episodes of loss/sadness while at the same time sharing our hopes and strengths. We trust our newfound positive beliefs for getting ourselves out of the prison of depression.”

“Thank goodness, people can now go to a group and find help–namely, the Depressed Anonymous mutual aid group. (A Home Self Study kit is also available. See literature at this site).  If I were a physician, I would administer some paper and pencil instrument which would give a reliable and valid impression of whether a person is depressing themselves or not.  Also somewhere in every primary care physician’s office there needs to be statements/brochures about the signs and symptoms of depression.  We agree with Lipowski who tells us that  “some patients need to be identified early, to try to prevent chronicity. It is important not to treat only their depression symptoms but also to offer them psychosocial intervention, emotional support and education.”

” Persons need  to be educated about depression and that one is not losing their mind when the symptoms of depression begin to take over their lives. Their own depression experience and the symptoms that comprise it may enable them to seek help faster. They may be relieved to know what it is that is happening to them. I believe a doctor or nurse practitioner would be more than happy to help de-stigmatize such a common and universal problem as depression or as some have called it in  an earlier time, melancholia. In time  and with our own advocacy as a mutual aid fellowship we will help make it OK to say “I think I am depressed!”   We hope by that fact to help  de-stigmatize  the common and natural response to loss. Remember to admit you’re depressed is the first step in recovery and the first step in getting yourself undepressed.”

The quotes listed above are excerpts from the THIRD  WAY chapter.

SOURCE: BELIEVING IS SEEING: 15 ways to leave the prison of depression. (2017). Depressed Anonymous Publications. Louisville. Pages 17-19.

THE HOME  SELF STUDY KIT is comprised of the manual DEPRESSED ANONYMOUS (2011)  3rd edition and THE DEPRESSED ANONYMOUS WORKBOOK(2011). VISIT THE STORE FOR MORE INFO.

SOURCE: Believing is seeing: 15 ways to leave the prison of depression. DAP. Pages 11, 12, 13.

#2.  “I accepted that God, as the God of my understanding is loving and forgiving. The 12 step group and our God is the pillar of our strength and healing.”

As a young child growing up I always imagined God to be a mean old man with a long beard and always a frown on his face. I was filled with guilt and fear, thinking that I could never measure up to what he wanted  me to be. And ironically, it wasn’t til  I was in my late 30’s that I had a spiritual experience. I began to find that the God of my understanding was not the God of my childhood.

I fired my old God. Through the direction  of my Higher Power and the brand new relationship I was forming with members of a 12 Step recovery group, I gradually found myself finding serenity and hope filling the empty hole that was my life. I discovered that the God of my understanding  was merciful and leading me out of the addiction that had me by its grip. The miracle was that because I had hit bottom and had no place but to go and get help–I found that this was a critical time for me as  I surrendered  to this God of my understanding – I had nothing to lose except my misery.

I discovered, as it says in the 2nd Way out of the prison of depression that we want to live our lives with hope.  Step Two of Depressed Anonymous states that “we came to believe that a power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity.” This is where my life took a dramatic turn.  With other members of the group I discovered over time and meetings, plus reading the Depressed Anonymous  literature, that thee was a way out for me. I too could get better and feel differently.

I knew that I was “about to start a new journey of hope. I am not alone as I have other fellow travelers who will lead me around the ditches and the potholes of that old depressive lifestyle that once ruled my thoughts and actions. Now I am on a mission of personal growth and recovery. I am already beginning to feel a glimmer of hope.”

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To read more about Beginning is seeing, VISIT THE STORE,  where you can  order online.