The Depression
"There is only one temple in the world and it is the human body." Novalis
What is depression ?
Depression is one of the many mysterious conditions we experience today in our society. Technology, even though reaching high levels of growth during latest years, was still not able to come up with coherent answers and with more concrete solutions. It seems that the moment we reach the realm of the psyche, where subtle conditions come into play, the scientific knowledge we dispose of at this time of the evolution of the humankind, comes to a certain limitation.
I used the term "condition" deliberately as the terminology "disease" that is commonly associated with this state of lack of joy and hope is what causes people living it to get discouraged even more. I have noticed that usually the reaction we carry during times of distress has more impact on the process of healing than the problem itself. Let's take an example to illustrate this affirmation better: we live a particular situation of life - let's say a separation - and as a consequence, we experience sadness, lack of hope and loneliness. On top of this, there comes the feeling of shame or guilt that we cannot cope with this situation in a better way. Generally speaking, those emotions are being recognized largely as being a sort of a WEAKNESS, or a DISEASE; all of a sudden we feel excluded, isolated and think of ourselves as LOSERS. Very often the people living through a depressive state find hard to cope with the idea that they are living the depression, feeling somehow ashamed they are having this experience. Many people do not search for help especially because they would not like people around them to believe they are weak. We cannot be weak, we are not allowed. We are supposed to be perfect, always happy, always taking the right decisions, living in that perfect house and having a perfect family just like in the idealistic image the society gave to our lives.
Not long ago I have crossed this big commercial sign along the highway of a young man saing: " I am not playing games with my retirement plan. Invest with X company." That moment almost got an epiphany, on how much our society encourages FEAR..And so, we grow and live with those fears working hard to be able to protect the future forgetting completely that our only certitude is the present moment with everything it includes. Oftentimes FEAR is what motivates our lives and our decisions. Fear of disease, fear of not being apt, fear of not disappointing, fear of being rejected, fear of death and the unknown, they are unfortunately behind most of our actions and decisions.
We live in a pretty dogmatic era when we no longer believe in originality and in the capacity of the human mind to evolve and find solutions within itself. We tend to believe mostly only in what is generally admitted as truth, and in whatever is being told and thought to us by the society; unfortunately we lead our children the same way keeping them from thinking outside the box and expressing their originality. Most of us make huge efforts just to fit in the standards set by our society and tend to deduct the faith and the beliefs from what is generally valid, from common opinions.
Symptoms such as feeling worthless, helpless or hopeless, having difficulty oncentrating or making decisions, loss of interest in taking part in activities, overwhelming feelings of sadness or grief, feeling guilt, lack of energy are all manifestation of what is generally named depression. Some people would even feel a sense of void, of emptiness, associated with a sort of pressure or pain in the chest and the chest area. Even though science did not get to understand the cause of those symptoms, it is generally affirmed that: "There is no one cause of depression, neither is it fully understood. The following factors may make some people more prone than others to react to a loss or failure with a clinical depression, There may also be a genetic link since people with a family history of depression are more likely to experience it. "
It is also said that factors that could generate depression could be among others: certain life events (loss, change, etc.) or simply a biochemical imbalance in the brain and heredity or psychological factors, like a negative or pessimistic view of life.
The explanations usually stop here without aiming to understand further on why a person gets to have this pessimistic way of life and also why after all, this entire chemical imbalance. What could have caused it? The treatment usually implies drug therapy (medication), psychological counseling or group therapy. These options are helpful, but still, they do not touch all the time the cause or the initial cause which created the imbalance.
