On A Limb with Claudia

It’s a gloomy rainy day here in Denver, Colorado and my mind turned to depression. One of the most interesting phenomena’s in modern mental health is the idea that all depression is a “chemical imbalance” in the brain. As a psychotherapist by trade, what I would say is that the majority of depression results from someone’s life not working, not their brain.

Frequently we agree to relationships and jobs based on who we think that we are. Or we out grow decisions that we made decades ago. We never listen to ourselves so we don’t necessarily know the difference. Then some day we wake up in a life that we have created and discover that we are depressed. What to do?

The first thing to do, if you realize that you are depressed, is look at how and where your life isn’t working. Can you change that right now? If no, then you might want to seek some medical intervention. If you can make those changes, or begin assessing these changes, then pull out your journal, make an appointment with a therapist or join a support group. Take an inventory of your life. What works? What doesn’t work? Make a list. You don’t have to change everything right at this moment; just know that you can change it. (The problem is that most of us are too afraid to actually make that inventory preferring to stay depressed rather than actually change.)

Sometimes our depression is situational. We spent too much time with our mother-in-law who hates us. We have young children and limited time to ourselves. We need to work a job we hate in order to pay for school (ours or our children’s). A family member is ill. Sometimes we are grieving or we feel like we are in a funk. The question is: can you manage these feelings without going to the medicine cabinet? Louise Hay always cautions that anytime we take a pill we are effectively telling our bodies and minds to shut up. (And frankly, you might need your body and mind to shut up for a while.)

Whether or not you take psychotropic medication is a very personal decision. No one should ever feel guilty for taking it. Still, if you don’t change what doesn’t work in your life, you will remain depressed regardless of the chemicals in your body and system. It’s just a fact of life.

Filed under: Thoughts on being human....