“I know that a number of people who are first introduced to the Twelve Step program of recovery wonder what their sadness has to do with the spiritual program of Twelve Steps that originated for alcoholics. I might be depressed but I am surely not a drunk. Sometimes you will hear a new member of the group say that they never committed any wrongs against anyone, so why do they need to make amends. (See Step Ten). For many persons, the loss of a love, the death of a spouse, the end of a lifetime career can produce a spiraling sense of despair in in people whose whole lives have centered on someone else’s feelings rather than their own. Their lives are lived for someone else rather being lived for their own self. When that other person is lost, they feel lost and abandoned. This is precisely the point– the need to make amends for erroneously thinking that someone else can satisfy all their wants and desires. In making amends, we begin to take responsibility for our thoughts and feelings, and when these have hurt others we need to do something about them.”
SOURCE: Page 86. Depressed Anonymous, 3rd edition. (2011)Depressed Anonymous Publications. Louisville.
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On page 71 of The Depressed Anonymous Workbook (2001) Depressed Anonymous Publications, we discover further positive insights about living our lives with spontaneity and hope.
Dorothy Rowe in her Award Winning book, Depression: The way out of your prison, tells us the following:
Dangers, perhaps even greater dangers, threaten you if you leave your prison of depression for the ordinary world. There you might have to change, and change always involves uncertainty. The good thing about being depressed is that you can make everyday the same. You can be sure of what is going to happen. You can ward off all those people and events that expect a response from you. Your prison life has a regular routine, and like any long term prisoner, you grow accustomed to the jail’s security and predictability. The prison of depression may not be comfortable, but it is at least safe.” Page 127.
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NOTE TO THE READER
One of the most valuable ways to deal with the pain and isolation of one’s depression experience is to utilize our latest tools in freeing ourselves from the prison of depression.
Our Publisher (DAP) has provided those who wish to learn more about themselves a HOME STUDY KIT where a person can begin sorting out what makes them tick. The two works, include both the Depressed Anonymous, 3rd edition Manual and The Depressed Anonymous Workbook.
These two works have been written and organized by those of us who know what depression feels like and the potential risk to life that it presents. We’ve been there.
In one of our first Depressed Anonymous meetings, the group who were members of the Fellowship became part of writing the commentary on the 12 Steps which resulted in our manual Depressed Anonymous. All these were persons working their way out of depression and who shared their story in the personal story section of the DA Manual. There are 31 testimonies total. In other words, our material is one of the very few that are written by persons depressed and who have freed themselves from the shackles of the depression prison.
If you want to begin your own personal recovery from depression the HOME STUDY KIT combo is what you are looking for. And possibly you and a friend, a therapist, pastor, family member may like to work with you as you move on and through the depression experience.
You can put your online order in today at our literature STORE. You will also be able to communicate online at our website www.depressedanon.com and FIND HELP with our BLOG provided by WordPress.com.