"Many people get depressed in their later years as they look back on lives with some regrets and sadness at their lack of skill to deal with some elements of their lives. I have a friend who is depressed in Australia at the moment. I don’t know how to help him.
The teacher is saying that depression is not sadness. It is the dwelling on sadness that is depression. This simple fact is one of the best descriptions of depression I have heard. I wonder why, when we all feel sad sometimes, and choose to dwell the sadness sometimes causing brief periods of depression, some dwell on it continuously, causing major depression. It may be a choice. I know that myself. We can choose what we think about. I think back to my brief period of depression some months ago and I know I made a choice to have a pity party. It became tedious and boring, and made me feel stupid and weak. "
This excerpt from my book is about clarifying sadness from depression. It gave me a better understanding of minor depression although clinical depression is different.
No comments:
Post a Comment