Section One - Questions & Answers About Depression
If you're an average person, you will experience a significant depression at least once in your lifetime. Typically, you'll respond in one of two ways: you will indulge it, wallowing in helplessness and self-pity; or, gritting your spiritual and emotional teeth, you will fight it with all your willpower.
The first approach will almost certainly assure a more lengthy bout with depression than is necessary. The second will likely guarantee a buildup of guilt and frustration that shows itself in one of two ways: in increasingly intense depressions or in the development of a variety of physical ailments — such as high blood pressure, ulcers, or trouble with "nerves" — that may seem to have no recognizable origin.
In many instances, you won't even realize your problem is depression. That's the nature of depression. It eludes recognition.
You may also have relatives or friends who are prone to depression. Part of you is afraid of their melancholy. You don't know what to make of it. You would like to be able to help them, but you don't know what to say or do. In fact, if you are really honest, you have to admit you're somewhat afraid of what is going on. After all, they're not acting at all like their normal selves. Should you sympathize with them or try to snap them out of their low mood with some firm talk? More than likely, you're afraid that anything you say or do will be wrong and will only cause more damage. Yet if you do nothing, aren't you likely to prolong their depression?
If you're wrestling with depression yourself, section one will help you develop a more accurate understand of its nature and purpose. You will learn that depression is part of a warning system, a normal response to events in your life that points to values and attitudes needing attention. You'll learn to recognize the symptoms of depression in their early stages, what causes depression, and how depression is treated.
