Myths of Life – Identifying and Removing the Myth of Limitation

Depression and Despair are explored creatively in this article in the New York Times (28/10/09) by Gordon Marino – highlighting the existential perspectives by Kierkegaard. The following quote from the article says:

‘These days, confide to someone that you are in despair and he or she will likely suggest that you seek out professional help for your
depression. While despair used to be classified as one of the seven deadly sins, it has now been medicalized and folded into the concept of
clinical depression. If Kierkegaard were on Facebook or could post a You Tube video, he would certainly complain that we, who have
listened to Prozac, have become deaf to the ancient distinction between psychological and spiritual disorders, between depression and
despair’.

PDF of original article here

Does depression actually exist or is it the label we collectively give to certain behaviours, reported feelings and beliefs? That might seem obvious; how else can we define something so it is recognisable and subject to scrutiny and investigation?  It’s the same with all labels.  However, there is something more powerful when we label mental health conditions. Labels hold a lot of power in terms of how people react to them whether as sufferer, professional or anyone coming into contact with them.  Mental health labels are politically loaded; a medical, pharmaceutical, psychological and ideological machinery exists within which causes and solutions are dictated.

The problem with labelling is that little attempt is made to see the problem in any other way than within the framework of ‘depression’ with all its associations.  So instead of assuming normed behaviours and experiences of depression, let’s look more closely at what depression might really be communicating.  The word ‘de-pressed’ means to ‘hold down’.  If asked, many depressed people say they feel as if a cloud is over them, they have little energy to do anything and, depending on the severity of their experience, they report very little interest in anything.  This of course spirals as the person lives within their world of depression – in effect, they become what they think about.

If we take away the labels and examine the experience as we would any other, another picture emerges.  When a client tells me they are depressed, I ask ‘What is your depression about?’ Through removing the label and examining the experience without judgement, assumptions or direction, the answers are as unique as the person. In encouraging a client to reveal the nature of ‘their’ depression, they are often surprised at what it reveals about themselves.  Often depression is an indicator of a person not following their own wishes or dreams; ones which they might have squashed, ignored or too fearful to examine.  Contrary to having no interest in life, the depressed person has denied or is unable to access those interests, those bigger dreams and the anxiety associated with living them.

When you’re feeling depressed, the last thing you might imagine is that you are choosing it. Surely that doesn’t make sense?

The notion of making choices in contemporary society is usually associated with conscious awareness – we are aware of certain options and then act after deciding which way to go.  Choosing something like Depression – or any other labelled experience – is viewed differently from an existential perspective.  Instead of choosing the actual experience, what if believing there is such a fixed reality as Depression was the choice?

f you adopt a perspective that Depression exists in a certain way that dictates the nature of the experience, the likely symptoms, the stages it takes or how to remove it, then it will limit the ways in which you examine your experience of it and what it means to you.   When clients tell me they are depressed, I ask then ‘So what exactly is YOUR depression about?’  – this avoids jumping to conclusions and normalising the condition in ways that miss the uniquess of the person and their experience.

This is not to minimise the suffering of someone says they have Depression or have been given that interpretation. There do appear to be symptoms that are similar to the observer – however, when I work with clients, their  experiences of the thing we all call Depression is profoundly different.  I encourage people to be open to exploring what the unique language of their depression is – so that they truly choose consciously how they want to live.  Your depression could be saving your life – I encourage you to look beyond narrowed defined interpretations to make sense of it.