The Cycle of Depression

Living with Depression can be, well, depressing. Go figure. Whether it's a chemical imabalance, or a reaction to evironment, or even the healthier 'reaction' (after losing a job for example), depression is considered to be the 'common cold' of mental health disorders.  Depression is, after all, an emotion... so it makes sense that a majority of people who suffer depression is women. As women, we really can't catch a break, can we?!

There are many types of depression, kinds that can be treated with medication and counseling. Kinds that pass. Kinds that flip flop between really really depressed and really really happy (manic.)  There is depression like I have, which is the only kind I am qualified to talk about, and since I don't get to experience those manic episodes I envy.... I want to write about the depression that fades from time to time, but never really goes away. The depression that has total control over how you look at life, how you live your life, and how you react to life. 

First of all, there is something with depression called a cycle. Here is an example of how the cycle may run.

1. You're depressed.

2. You're no fun to be around, because you're depressed. (If you actually have friends that don't blow you off when you're all miserable... then you got nothing to be depressed about!)

3.Now you're Depressed, and Lonely... making you more Miserable.

4.You lose interests. What's the point of getting out of bed? Now you're Depressed, Lonely, Miserable, and Bored.

5.Proffessional opinions would say that life seems hopeless near this point. Seems? It is hopeless! What's the point? It is Hopeless, because you're Depressed, Lonely, Miserable, Bored, and especially if you've felt this way before... you will again and again, so it is also Hopeless.