One of the many issues a person depressed faces is  a “fear that you might get depressed again.”   We all know that once is enough! This fear is  real and stirs up  a myriad  of scary emotions.  

It’s these low moods,  which we all experience,  having  within them the power to propel us down into something more dangerous and potentially life-threatening.  There is no other way to describe it but as being hurled down into a death spiral with no  hope of coming back in one piece. 

But wait! It doesn’t have to work this way.  I have begun to recognize, now that I am in recovery, and proactive about my own recovery, to judge what is a trigger for good or a trigger for a potential crash. These triggers  shadow us wherever we go. 

Maybe it’s  our memories of the past, our loss of a beloved relationship, to name just one, that trigger such powerful and painful emotions in ourselves.    

In my early recovery from depression, I began  developing a recovery plan–a plan that would continue to be my  loyal  companion, day after day.   This  plan, provides me with a way to protect  myself and   prepare myself for what crazy idea or situations crosses  my path or  presents itself to my imagination. Just as in all other 12 Step programs of recovery, we all have a workable prevention plan that can  safeguard  us from a relapse.

I formulated a  depression relapse prevention plan while I was going through the Steps–one at a time–and putting together a basic defense against whatever came against me. For any of us who suffer from this addiction, or this attachment to that which gradually takes over our lives, is  a big part of my self-care program.  This recovery and prevention plan has indeed served me well over these past 30 years. Yes, I still can be almost flattened emotionally at times by the hopelessness of a single moment and injects a helpless and  painful memory from my past life. Ruminating about this one isolated moment, just an electrical spark in my brain, starts a conflagration, consuming all the peace and hope and  initiating a spiraling down into deeper isolation, all the while gradually   prohibiting decision-making, physical movement and any sense of spontaneity  and joy. I am now on lockdown. My personal executive powers are reduced to  minimum. This is so powerful that I cannot get out of bed.  

As mentioned earlier,  this toolbox, with it’s tools for recovery are available to all of us–all we have to do is acknowledge that they are there. They are the means given to us to construct our own depression relapse prevention plan  which can help us be prepared whenever we are faced with a potentially serious threat to our serenity and hopefulness.

Once you know the triggers, and once you begin to feel the low mood creeping into your mind and heart, you know that it can’t overcome you and force you  into the dark anguish of isolation and solitariness.

At our Website you will find a menu item  where the  Tools of Recovery are listed. Metaphorically it’s like having a smoke detector in your mind–you will be able to challenge and overcome  any negative thinking (trigger) that wants to hurt you.