“I know that any addiction and compulsive type of behavior gradually removes you from the regular activities of persons around you, including family, friends, and coworkers, until you are established in the narrow confines of pain and isolation. We are always going to be just little more isolated the more we try to think our addiction through in the circle of our thoughts.”

REFLECTION

I understand how we have become addicted to all those negative thoughts that we have grown accustomed to talking to ourselves about. Today, I have decided that I am willing to let go of these old and counter productive familiar ways of thinking and feeling about myself.  I have begun to think thoughts that have an air of lightness and hope about them. I want to be true to my best self and just believe that today is a better day than was yesterday. I am, today, breaking out of my negative thinking and into the light of new and positive thoughts about myself. The more I feel that my life has purpose and is going somewhere the more hope I begin to feel rise up in my heart. My new activities each day also promote a sense of well being and pleasure in my life..

MEDITATION

God, help us to realize that the best exercise and activity that we can do is to attempt to quiet our restless and wandering mind on your name and pray that you might lead us to think thoughts that are your inspiration and making.”

Copyright(c) HIGHER THOUGHTS FOR DOWN DAYS: 365 daily thoughts and meditations for 12 step fellowship groups.(2014) DAP. Louisville, Ky. September 13. Page 184.

Shake off this sadness, and recover your spirit; sluggish you will never see the wheel of fate that brushes your heel as it turns going by, the man who wants to live is the man in whom life is abundant.

Now you are only giving food to that final pain which is slowly winding you in the nets of death, but to live is to work and the only thing which lasts is the work; start then, turn to the work.

Throw yourself like seed as you walk, and into your own field, don’t turn your face for that would be to turn it to death, and do not let the past weigh down your motion.

Leave What’s alive in the furrow, what’s dead in yourself, for life does not move in the same way as a group of clouds; from your work you will be able one day to gather yourself.

-Miguel de Unamuno

By Ray

What is the power of Depressed Anonymous?
Well, first let me that when I started attending D. A. meetings I went for a couple of months and then stopped. I stopped going because my depression was so bad I didn’t want to leave my apartment. I didn’t want to be around or talk to anyone. I just didn’t want to do anything except crawl in a hole somewhere and isolate myself from everything. Then after about six week of isolation I called the residential treatment facility where I had been a client to see if I had received any mail there and one of the members of the D. A. group where I attend answered the phone. I spent a few minutes talking to her and there was something in her voice that told me that for some reason it was important for me to be at the meeting. I attended the next D. A. meeting. After the meeting was over, I suddenly realized the importance and power of Depressed Anonymous.

So what is the power of Depressed Anonymous? For me, it’s just like attending the first meeting. I was a little scared and apprehensive at first, but then I found the Depressed Anonymous meeting was a place to go where there were other depressed people just like me. They could relate to and understand what I was going through. They didn’t judge me or think of me as crazy. I was accepted.

Another power of Depressed Anonymous the group and what each person brings to the group. I have seen our fellowship get stronger and grow. I have developed many friendships that I can depend on for support and understanding, I have watched some of the newcomers that have kept coming back, grow and improve, Even something as simple as a smile when there as not before. The miracle of the group empowers and energizes me.

The most important power of Depressed Anonymous is hope. Hope that we will not be
locked in the prison of depression forever and that there is a way out for each of us. A hope that our Higher Power will work the miracle through us and that we will fwd our own happiness. I have hope that our hearts and minds will know love and peace like we have never known or felt before. The power of Depressed Anonymous works for me. I hope and pray that it works for you. Keep coming back!”

Source: DEPRESSED ANONYMOUS, Harmony House Publishers, 1998, Pages 154-155.

“Who will make the first move?” “We are surprised because we don’t see that beneath the surface of the present there is always the human material for change: the suppressed indignation, the common sense, the need for community, the love of children, the patience to wait for the right moment to act in concert with others. These are the elements that spring to the surface when a movement appears in history.

People are practical. They want change but feel powerless, alone, do not want to be the blade ofgrass that sticks up above the others and is cut down. They wait for a sign from someone else who will make the first move, or the second. And at certain times in his tory, there are intrepid people who take the risk that if they make that first move others will follow quickly enough to prevent their being cut down. And if we understand this, we might make that first move.”

Source: You Can’t Be Neutral on a Moving Train. A Personal History of our times. Howard Zinn, Beacon Press, Boston, Page 10

1. Remember that although your feelings and symptoms are very frightening, they are not dangerous or harmful.
2. Understand that what you are experiencing is just an exaggeration of your normal bodily reaction to stress.
3. Do not fight your feelings or try to wish them away. The more you are willing to face them, the less intense they will become.
4. Do not add to your panic by thinking about what “might” happen. If you find yourself asking “What if?” Tell yourself. “So what!”
5. Stay in the present. Notice what is really happening to you as opposed to what you think might hap pen.
6. Label your fear level from zero to ten and watch it go up and down. Notice that it does not stay at a very high level for more than a few seconds.
7. When you find yourself thinking about the fear, change your “what if ‘ thinking. Focus on and carry out a simple and manageable task such as counting backwards from 100 by 3’s or snapping a rubber band on your wrist.
8. Notice that when you stop adding frightening thoughts to your fear, it begins to fade.
9. When the fear comes, expect and accept it. Wait and give it time to pass without running away from it. 10. Be proud of yourself for your progress thus far, and think. about how good you will feel when you succeed this time .

Reprinted courtesy of the National Mental Health Association.   Understanding Panic Disorder.

It takes more than diet and exercise to prevent a heart attack. Here’s what you need to know.

By Jeff Meade. Prevention Magazine / February 1999, pages 107-113.

EDITOR’S NOTE: The following are some of the seven ways the author outlines as maintaining a healthy heart.

MAKE FRIENDS. He states that “(I)f you don’t have family and friends living near you, you can join a support group. Depressed Anonymous is an international 12step organization that can help you deal with the blues.

GET A PET
MEDITATE
PUT A LITTLE LOVE IN YOUR LIFE
SAY YOUR PRAYERS
GET IN TOUCH WITH YOUR NATURAL RHYTHMS
THE FASTEST WA Y TO YOUR HEART IS THROUGH YOUR MIND

MENTAL IMAGERY PROCESS FOR OVERCOMING RESENTMENT

Sit in a comfortable chair, feet flat on the floor , eyes closed.

Create a clear picture in your mind of the person toward who you feel resentment. 3. Picture good things happening to that person. See him or her receive love attention or money, whatever you believe that person would see as a good thing.

Be aware of your own reactions. If you have difficulty seeing good things happening to the person, it is a natural reaction. It will become easier with practice.

Think about the role you may have played in the stressful scene that caused the angry reaction to you in the first place and how you might reinterpret the event and the other person’s behavior. Imagine how the situation might look from the other person ‘s point of view.

Be aware of how much more relaxed, less resentful you feel. Tell yourself you will carry this new understanding with you.

You are now ready to open your eyes and resume your usual activities.

The imagery process usually takes less than five minutes to complete. Use it whenever you become aware of resuming an unpleasant, painful, or angering episode from the past. There may be months when it is unnecessary for you to use it at all, and there may be days when you use it a half dozen times.

Source: Simonton, Carl O., MD. GEITING WELL AGAIN. New York, Bantam Books, 1984, pp. , 178-179.

• Wanting to isolate and be alone
• Change 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
• Feelings of sadness, hopelessness, worth lessness, guilt or self-reproach
• Weeping/Not 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
• Suicidal thoughts

One of many questions that arise in a person’s mind as they make that first courageous step into the fellowship of Depressed Anonymous is “How soon and how quick can I be free from the pain and isolation that has imprisoned me for so long?”

This question can only be answered by time and frequent and active participation in the fellowship of the group. It is by reading the text of the Depressed Anonymous manual and attempting to put these principles into effect into one’s daily life. Also, one can begin to feel some improvement in their lives as they slowly gain a belief, a faith if you will, that they too can get better- – with time, patience and sharing they will begin to accept themselves for who they are and try and change what they don’t like in themselves. By the fact that one comes to a meeting is in itself half of the battle in overcoming the depression. It is this interminable isolation that keeps the disease of depression at its height and intensity. It is only when a person can come to a meeting, begin to trust the group and so share some of the pain that has been bottled up for as many years as one can remember.

The program has been built by those who have experienced depression and know about the need to get connected and to be part of others like themselves. This is where the hope begins-when we see and hear others like ourselves sharing their past pain and how sharing how today it is all dif­ ferent because of their willingness, their openness and their honesty about themselves that has forced open the prison door that has till this time kept them imprisoned in their own fears and phobias.

The program is a very simple one -but this doesn’t mean that it is easy. All change is painful and if we are to grow we have to change. We have to get resolved some of those old issues that keep pop­ ping up in our lives and that want our attention but we cram them back in place and don’t want to look at them. The 12 Steps of Depressed Anonymous will help promote your own personal discovery of what it means to force oneself from the despair and self-hatred that normally comes with depression.
If you are new to our fellowship and this is the first that you are reading about a group whose sole purpose is to help ourselves and others escape the prison of depression ­ you might be surprised to learn that we neither discuss medicine nor religion at any of our meetings. But really this makes sense as religion is about certain prescriptions and dogma that various religious bodies demand of their adherents -whereas spirituality is about one’s concept of a God of their understanding – not of someone else’s
understanding of who god is supposed to be for them­ selves and for everyone else.

The first step in getting past our depression is to first get into the door of a Depressed Anonymous meeting -take a seat – keep our ears open and know that we will not be pressured to say a word. Usually they only ask for the first name and leave it at that. Since we want to keep our anonymity we only use our first names at the meetings. There is a phone list for those who would like to keep in touch with fellow members between meetings. At each group meeting a passage is read from our big book or any other book that specifically deals with the spirit of the 12 Steps. Afterr all, we believe that the depression experience is much more than simply a brain disorder or a problem with misbehaving neurotransmitters

“As many as 60 million adults used the World Wide Web last year to find information about health care, according to a poll by Louis Harris & Assoc. “Health care is an enormous reason why people go online,” said Humphrey Taylor, Chairman of the polling company, which estimates that 90 million (or 44% of the adult population) use the Internet at home, work or at school.

And amazingly, 91 % said the last time they went online, they found what they
wanted .. .” The most common topics being researched were depression (19 % of searches), allergies or sinus (16%), cancer (15%), bipolar disorder (14%) and arthritis or rheumatism (10%).

According to the Harris survey of more than 1,000 people, which was done online in January, the health sites most often visited online were created either by medical societies or by patients ‘ advocacy or support groups.” Washington Post, 2/16/99, P17.