Depression: Bringing Yourself Down

Sometimes it's hard to see the forest from the trees. Sometimes its hard to see how much you can bring your self down. Recently, my life has been turned upside down. I lost someone close to me and the world became a dark place.

Repression is a common reaction to traumatic events. People repress all sorts of things, violence, trauma and loss. To repress is to be able to move on - quickly. The side effects are often just as bad; repression invites long term suffering and inner turmoil. Typically, the common solution to repression is to be open to dealing with the emotions as they come. By deal with your emotions as they evolve, you have no need to repress. Its seems like a simple solution - until you have to go through it.

Problems arise when you allow yourself to immerse yourself in the emotions. This is what happened to me. In order to work my way toward healing I opened myself up for the emotional ride. I decided that the long term benefit of not repressing far out weighed the social concerns of functioning 'normally.' I let my self go. Exploring painful emotional memories really can bring you down. The problem was that I had no means to pull my self back up. Gradually, I just began to stay lower and lower. My frame of reference of what normal emotional levels were.

I have to tell you that sinking lower and lower was bad. It really did nothing for my overall outlook. However, more critically, I began to accept this low in my emotional state as the norm. I reset frame of emotional reference to this lower - and miserable- point.

This is not as uncommon as I thought. It happens all the time with drug users. New users find that each subsequent high is never as good as the last. Further, each period of coming down is longer and more severe. When they return to homeostasis, it is lower then when they began. To compensate users have to take more of the drug and the process becomes a viscous downward spiral.

In my case, my body and mind adjusted its sense of normal to fit with my most consistent emotional state. Our bodies are really talented when it comes to things like this. However, this did little for my overall happiness. It was not until I got out of this cycle that I could even see what was happening. I could not see the forest from the trees.

I don't want to suggest in this article that repression was a better solution for me. No. I just want to make it clear that exploring any emotional difficulties should be done so with great care. I recommend finding someone who can act as a touchstone for you. That is someone who can show you the forest anytime you need to see it.

Novo Vitae is a site dedicated working through depression. Novo Vitae can be found at http://www.zizzoo.com/guides/depression.

MORE RESOURCES:

GM shares hit lowest price since Great Depression - BusinessWeek

The Big Three Depression risk - CNNMoney.com

table border=0 width= valign=top cellpadding=2 cellspacing=7trtd width=80 align=center valign=topfont style=font-size:85%;font-family:arial,sans-serifa href=http://news.google.com/news/url?sa=Tct=us/1i-0fd=Rurl=http://voanews.com/english/2008-11-19-voa5.cfmcid=1272495339ei=xzMmSaO5J6H8ygTBnrFKusg=AFQjCNEy8vPM_AaN3pXU7-93754PEAEmjQimg src=http://news.google.com/news?imgefp=Xg5a5zimv4UJimgurl=voanews.com/english/images/ap-Richard-Wagoner-Robert-Nardelli-Alan-Mulally-automakers-175-eng18nov08.jpg width=80 height=63 alt= border=1brfont size=-2Voice of America/font/a/font/tdtd valign=top class=jfont style=font-size:85%;font-family:arial,sans-serifbrdiv style=padding-top:0.8em;img alt= height=1 width=1/divdiv class=lha href=http://news.google.com/news/url?sa=Tct=us/1-0fd=Rurl=http://money.cnn.com/2008/11/20/news/gm_depression/%3Fpostversion%3D2008112017cid=1272495339ei=xzMmSaO5J6H8ygTBnrFKusg=AFQjCNHhxVUEZwxZfiPUz06cdetvROTPbgThe Big Three bDepression/b risk/abrfont size=-1font color=#6f6f6fCNNMoney.comnbsp;-/font nobr5 hours ago/nobr/fontbrfont size=-1Some fear a loss of GM, Ford and Chrysler would take US into another bdepression/b. Even if that doesn#39;t happen, a major auto failure would clearly hurt. b.../b/fontbrfont size=-1a href=http://news.google.com/news/url?sa=Tct=us/1-1fd=Rurl=http://subscribers.wardsauto.com/ar/execs_reset_bailout_081119/cid=1272495339ei=xzMmSaO5J6H8ygTBnrFKusg=AFQjCNHRt_IpESteUY8cfxKjyVWsJK3FwgAuto Execs Reset Bailout Pitch; Republicans to Rewrite CAFE for Loans/a font size=-1 color=#6f6f6fnobrWard's Auto (subscription)/nobr/font/fontbrfont size=-1a href=http://news.google.com/news/url?sa=Tct=us/1-2fd=Rurl=http://www.boston.com/news/nation/washington/articles/2008/11/19/ailing_automakers_plead_for_25b_in_loanscid=1272495339ei=xzMmSaO5J6H8ygTBnrFKusg=AFQjCNHZTJoNZLwnMcqN4s7b4du15NpsigAiling automakers plead for $25b in loans/a font size=-1 color=#6f6f6fnobrBoston Globe (registration)/nobr/font/fontbrfont size=-1a href=http://news.google.com/news/url?sa=Tct=us/1-3fd=Rurl=http://www.freep.com/article/20081118/BUSINESS01/81118038/%3Fimw%3DYcid=1272495339ei=xzMmSaO5J6H8ygTBnrFKusg=AFQjCNEvQ2mC7nA4q381xGQXaUhb2c1LRgLive blog: Dodd says committee has many issues to sort through/a font size=-1 color=#6f6f6fnobrDetroit Free Press/nobr/font/fontbrfont size=-1 class=pa href=http://news.google.com/news/url?sa=Tct=us/1-4fd=Rurl=http://www.buffalonews.com/home/story/498154.htmlcid=1272495339ei=xzMmSaO5J6H8ygTBnrFKusg=AFQjCNFvWU3UbcDIJR_HOovEFUWQ9Mr0agnobrBuffalo News/nobr/anbsp;- a href=http://news.google.com/news/url?sa=Tct=us/1-5fd=Rurl=http://www.wavy.com/dpp/news/local_news/local_wavy_retirees_auto_bailout_20081118cid=1272495339ei=xzMmSaO5J6H8ygTBnrFKusg=AFQjCNHf5BlpP9Y0-DemyVBJdTcNqpD5gwnobrWAVY-TV/nobr/a/fontbr/font class=p size=-1a class=p href=http://news.google.com/news?sourceid=navclientie=ISO-8859-1rls=GGLG,GGLG:2005-22,GGLG:enncl=1272495339hl=ennobrall 1,754 news articles/nobr/a/font/div/font/td/tr/table

Guest Post: The Great Depression, as I remember - CNNMoney.com

Depression-era interviews of 700 Arizonans preserved - Arizona Republic

Global deflation risk grows - Christian Science Monitor

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Another Great Depression? - Wadena Pioneer Journal

Fairfax Students Report Depression - McLean Connection

table border=0 width= valign=top cellpadding=2 cellspacing=7trtd valign=top class=jfont style=font-size:85%;font-family:arial,sans-serifbrdiv style=padding-top:0.8em;img alt= height=1 width=1/divdiv class=lha href=http://news.google.com/news/url?sa=Tct=us/6-0fd=Rurl=http://www.connectionnewspapers.com/article.asp%3Farticle%3D322459%26paper%3D68%26cat%3D104cid=1272621280ei=xzMmSaO5J6H8ygTBnrFKusg=AFQjCNG379JU5Jp8ajOdbSG7_q3BwJ7KYwFairfax Students Report bDepression/b/abrfont size=-1font color=#6f6f6fMcLean Connection,nbsp;VAnbsp;-/font nobr12 hours ago/nobr/fontbrfont size=-1By Julia O#39;Donoghue The percentage of Fairfax County Public School students reporting bdepression/b has fallen in the last seven years but still remains higher b.../b/fontbrfont size=-1a href=http://news.google.com/news/url?sa=Tct=us/6-1fd=Rurl=http://www.fcnp.com/index.php%3Foption%3Dcom_content%26view%3Darticle%26id%3D3777:a-penny-for-your-thoughts-news-from-greater-falls-church%26catid%3D16:local-commentary%26Itemid%3D78cid=1272621280ei=xzMmSaO5J6H8ygTBnrFKusg=AFQjCNEi1NBpW7qSaG9mwc-TfNm4tQqhjgA Penny for Your Thoughts: News from Greater Falls Church/a font size=-1 color=#6f6f6fnobrFalls Church News Press/nobr/font/fontbrfont class=p size=-1a class=p href=http://news.google.com/news?sourceid=navclientie=ISO-8859-1rls=GGLG,GGLG:2005-22,GGLG:enncl=1272621280hl=ennobrall 2 news articles/nobr/a/font/div/font/td/tr/table

Depression linked to poorer diabetes control - Reuters

Depression risk hits shares - The Australian

table border=0 width= valign=top cellpadding=2 cellspacing=7trtd valign=top class=jfont style=font-size:85%;font-family:arial,sans-serifbrdiv style=padding-top:0.8em;img alt= height=1 width=1/divdiv class=lha href=http://news.google.com/news/url?sa=Tct=us/8-0fd=Rurl=http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/business/story/0,28124,24680746-30538,00.htmlcid=1272579994ei=xzMmSaO5J6H8ygTBnrFKusg=AFQjCNGENiTRlDuCHkcChCI5myv2KZ0TZQbDepression/b risk hits shares/abrfont size=-1font color=#6f6f6fThe Australian,nbsp;Australianbsp;-/font nobr23 hours ago/nobr/fontbrfont size=-1THE risk of global quot;Great bDepression/bquot; is emphasised by the largest fall in US consumer prices for 61 years. “The cost of living in America fell at its b.../b/fontbrfont size=-1a href=http://news.google.com/news/url?sa=Tct=us/8-1fd=Rurl=http://www.opednews.com/articles/The-Coming-of-the-Second-G-by-Craig-Harrington-081120-477.htmlcid=1272579994ei=xzMmSaO5J6H8ygTBnrFKusg=AFQjCNG_F7LPzz9CA438nQJy1VPlE181dQThe Coming of the Second Great bDepression/b?/a font size=-1 color=#6f6f6fnobrOpEdNews/nobr/font/fontbrfont size=-1a href=http://news.google.com/news/url?sa=Tct=us/8-2fd=Rurl=http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/opinion/2008399383_opin17krugman.htmlcid=1272579994ei=xzMmSaO5J6H8ygTBnrFKusg=AFQjCNGrctwPvDFqo2hiIOLRyz-IxRg8zgThe US economy needs a daring stimulus plan/a font size=-1 color=#6f6f6fnobrSeattle Times/nobr/font/fontbrfont class=p size=-1a class=p href=http://news.google.com/news?sourceid=navclientie=ISO-8859-1rls=GGLG,GGLG:2005-22,GGLG:enncl=1272579994hl=ennobrall 12 news articles/nobr/a/font/div/font/td/tr/table

Depression vs. Now: From a Man Who Knows - MyFox Kansas City

Depression - Google News

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