Depression, Resistance and making Choices
Is Depression a Disease?
My writings are never about diagnosing, prescribing or advising. They are thoughts about my feelings and intended as an invitation to help you go deeper into your own beliefs, feelings, thoughts and life.
I have witnessed people being terrorized by a diagnosis and then feel helpless and at time hopeless about their own physicality. These sensations can lead to depressing thoughts and feelings.
Our bodies are NOT attacking us! If I can help you understand this one thing then you are helping me fulfill a passion of mine which is to help you KNOW (as I know) that our body’s will always moving towards wellness and wellbeing.
Have you ever heard that statement before? Your body is always moving towards wellness and wellbeing!
What happens in your body when you read that sentence? Your body is not attacking you! Stop, take a deep breath and lean into yourself. Can you do that? Can you really lean into yourself and feel your skin, feel your feet, feel your hands, internally watch your eyes as they read these words, hear with your ears all the sounds that are happening around you while you are reading these words. That is the part of YOU slowing down and taking charge of yourself. This is what it feels like to make a choice in the present moment to slow down and be fully engaged in your body.
“The medical model is a particular way of viewing human suffering, decay, dysfunction and, ultimately, death. It is a paradigm, a lens through which physicians and others perceive certain abnormal or aberrant phenomena like leukemia, diabetes, and now, depression and many other mental disorders. But despite the immense contribution of the medical model in diagnosing and treating disease, its literal application to archetypal human experiences such as depression, psychosis and anxiety is problematical”. ~Stephen A. Diamond, Ph.D., is a licensed clinical and forensic psychologist practicing in Los Angeles, and a former pupil and protégé of existential analyst Dr. Rollo May.
Depression is the inability to construct a future. ~Rollo May
There is no denying that depression can be debilitating. My observation of this is: Repression is one of the causes of Depression.
The purpose of medical treatment is to eliminate, suppress or control the symptoms of diseases. I know there is a time, place and need for medical intervention. However, how can we start making choices around our own mental and physical well-being and take a certain level of responsibility for ourselves. This may sound “crazy” to think that we can decide to take on “our depression” and figure out another way to manage our moods. To this I say ~Absolutely it is our responsibility and ours alone to decide how we want to feel in each moment. It comes down to Self worth, Self Love, Self Esteem and having the desire to know ourselves from the inside out.
These are suggestions to take with you on your road to discovering and embodying the idea that This is your life! How do you want to live it? This is not about some new age philosophy that you create your own reality so therefore you caused the depression. That can cause a lot of anxiety and create depressed feelings. However, there is a certain amount of responsibility that I am speaking about. It is about learning how to contact those parts of yourself to really hear your internal voice. When you desire to hear yourself you will then have the opportunity to go deeper into why you are feeling or acting in a certain way. You can ask yourself~ How is my current life situation creating an imbalance inside? It is not about blaming, shaming or guilting yourself into doing something other than knowing that this is what you are feeling. This is what I am inviting you to take a deeper look at. HOW ARE YOU FEELING?
As you learn to move away from who you were told to be and move towards the person you are constantly becoming then you can be in contact with your present moment self and learn to articulate your needs, desires and feelings.
