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Reading – Why Depression is So Difficult

ByMikeM Reading Time: 2 minutes
depressed photo
Photo by shattered.art66

“Depression is emotional. It is not logical. People often try to explain and rationalize to others why they shouldn’t be depressed, or tell them to look on the bright side and start pointing out all of the positives they should be seeing, etc. But the truth is, depression is an emotional state of being that a person cannot be rationalized out of.
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To reflect on this question, one significant reason is because the tendency when people try to “fix” things is to throw logic and concrete solutions at it. But depression isn’t something you fix, it’s something you work through.”

So much truth in this article. These parts especially, but go read the whole thing, even if you only know someone dealing with depression. Or maybe especially if you only know someone dealing with depression!

Why Depression is So Difficult | Relationships in Balance

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This has to change. Go read more of what he has to say, I think for many of you it will seem familiar, but maybe provide some hope that we are not alone in seeing it.

Now if we can just find enough of us to care enough to fix it. We should all want to, mental health issues will happen to someone we all know and care about, eventually. Wouldn’t it be nice to be able to offer a system that does not involve homelessness and prison time for far too many?

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I will say that his discussion around what people come into therapy for in terms of defining good mental health is often an issue. When I started therapy I wanted to not dissociate, because the dissociative states were proving to be more and more dangerous. But, it wasn’t like we could sit and discuss plans to simply stop, we had to dig into what happens right before I dissociate and learn better ways of dealing with that. (In my case, stress)

Even then, the desire to simply feel less stress is not always possible. It would have solved the immediate reason why I was in therapy, less stress would make me less likely to dissociate, right? But it also wasn’t sustainable because at some point life is going to be stressful. The key was not to avoid stress but to learn how to recognize it, acknowledge it, feel it, and deal with it in a healthier way.

So yes, I agree our definition of good mental health needs to incorporate much, much more than “not feeling sad, anxious, depressed, etc.” because we will feel those things again at some point. They are unavoidable, but succumbing to them without a proper response is not. We can, and should, learn how to do that.

Sharing – New children’s book uses sea creatures to teach kids ages 4 to 8 how recognize and talk about abuse
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Sharing – New children’s book uses sea creatures to teach kids ages 4 to 8 how recognize and talk about abuse

ByMikeM Reading Time: 1 minute

No, it isn’t fair that we have to have books to teach children how to protect themselves, but it’s reality. I don’t want small children to have to learn about the possibility of being abused, but leaving them uneducated and more vulnerable is not an option.

Oh, the other thing I appreciate about this book? It is focused on the danger from people the child already knows. Our “stranger danger” approach to child abuse has been terribly lacking for decades. I’m glad to see someone taking that on.

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