Depression is certainly a confusing and painful state of mind. We all seem to want to end it as quickly as possible. But there are situations in which the healthiest response is a time of depression. It allows the brain to rest and recover from trauma.
Of course if it is prolonged, it can also become an unhealthy state of being. Changes in brain chemistry can, in some cases, make it difficult to recover. But after a period of depression the same chemistry can induce enthusiasm and energy. So maybe ultimately, even though depression is painful, it is a part of life and has positive results. Enduring it, though painful, may be the key.
I am concerned about what the ads on TV for anti-depressants may be teaching our children. It seems that they are saying, “No matter what the problem, there is a pill." And "If you just take enough pills all will be fine all of the time.”
I'm even more concerned about the increase in the use of anti-depressants and other drugs that affect the developing brains of children and teenagers.
That problem is made more urgent by recent studies of increases in suicides among users of anti-depressants, especially the youngest users.
I took Paxil for a short period of time after a divorce and though it gave immediate relief from the pain, for a while after I stopped taking it, I was much more emotionally volatile.
I think that painful emotions are like any other kind of pain. They tell us when something is wrong and if we can endure, they not only compel us to action, they build our tolerance for future discomfort.
If we avoid pain by drugging it away, our tolerance is actually decreased. The brain says, "Hey, this person is in a mess and she's not even hearing her emotions. Let's turn up the volume." Then when even the slightest sadness comes along, it screams in our brain.
Of course the screaming becomes more unbearable after our tolerance for pain has been lowered and the noise can only be quieted by taking more drugs. Then our brains turn up the volume again and more drugs are required to quiet the even louder noises and on and on. Then there are the drugs to combat the side effects and more drugs to combat the side effects of the drugs to combat the original side effects and on and on with no end in sight.
Surely there is a better way. There must be a way to endure emotional pain without drugging it into oblivion.
Avoidance of pain doesn't seem to be possible in a life lived to the fullest and the healthiest long term solution seems to be to endure. But from another perspective we only have the moment so do we lose the moment to depression in order to tolerate future pain or do we drug away the discomfort to seize the pleasure of the moment?
Maybe with prayer and faith that our God is a loving father who has given us a life abundant with both joy and sadness, we can find joy somewhere even in pain.
Just some rambling thought.
smile