Anxiety and depression affect millions of people the world over. Someone you know, perhaps someone you live with, may suffer from one or both conditions and, it is difficult to know how to help. If that someone happens to be you, inertia can take hold and cause a form of emotional and physical paralysis. If I sound like I am speaking from experience, I am. Not only have I experienced tremendous bouts of depression, I live with someone that has regular panic attacks and periodic depression that give new meaning to the word saturnine. When things turn black, they are pitch black.
We have heard or read about towering historical figures who also suffered from depression. Winston Churchill, Abraham Lincoln, Ernest Hemingway immediately spring to mind. The fact that they were able to become accomplished despite their famous depression can be an encouraging sign for the rest of us.
Personally, I spent many years in therapy. It took years just to find the right therapist; having found him, I then spent years working through my individual problems and learned a great deal. Eventually, my insurance ran out and I was no longer permitted a clinical psychologist; the insurance company reasoned that after so much time, my problems should have been cured. The company insisted that I visit a psychiatrist and receive medication for my problem.
The psychiatrist, after listening to my saga, drew a pie chart with a line separating two halves. He told me that the people who live in one half of the pie rarely, if ever, experience depression. He separated the other half of the pie into quarters and told me that the folks in the upper quarter experience depression only once in awhile and only when something tragic occurs and that the depression is relatively short-lived. Those that occupy the bottom or remaining quarter are chronically depressed. He then told me that I was on the line that separated the two quarters in the half of the pie that included sufferers of depression and, if I did not take medication, I would slowly, inexorably sink into the lower quadrant and experience chronic depression for the rest of my life.
I am here to share with you the fact that I am no longer in therapy, no longer taking medication – I tried several meds and weaned myself from all – and no longer suffering from depression. I do not share this to boast about my magical abilities; I mention it only to say that it is possible to create the necessary chemical reaction in our brains through proper thought and ever-so-slight attitude adjustment. Books have been written about this very subject and prominent neuroscientists have documented that the right kind of thinking, applied 10 minutes daily, can actually alter one’s brain physiology. Think about that for a moment and then start thinking about it on a more regular basis.
Yes, certainly there are members of our society that need help because, for reasons known only to God, their brains are ill-equipped and they need that extra chemical help in order to cope with reality. Most of us do not fit that mold, however.
I used to wake in the morning, stare at the ceiling and ask myself the same question on a daily basis: “should I get out of bed, or should I commit suicide.” This may sound like I am being facetious; I’m not. Because I was not suicidal, I managed to arise everyday somehow.
What is the point of all this? Our thoughts are powerful, more powerful than we credit them. To think proper thoughts requires discipline and practice. With simple application anyone can change their life perspective; if that can be accomplished, we can begin to know what it is we want in life, goals can be put in place, suddenly and most miraculously, we will notice that we attract the things that will increase our capacity for enjoyment and we will then find ourselves on a voyage with a destination. With luck, this will happen for you; with the right mind-set you will begin to create your own luck.
