WARNING SIGNS AND SIGNPOSTS: Part 2 of 2: WARNING SIGNS

I’m going to quote Lynn Tolson for the first part here, because she said it so well, I couldn’t possibly say it better:

“Everyone can relate to having “the blues” on a bad day, when the weather is gloomy, the traffic is tied up, and business and/or children make impossible demands. Anyone can associate a night without sleep to a day without energy. However, when feeling down persists month after month, it’s time to consider the possibility of clinical depression. According to the National Institute of Mental Health (http://www.nimh.nih.gov) depression can occur at any age and affects almost 10 percent of American adults. Research indicates that the risk of depression exists with an interaction of difficult life events and a genetic predisposition.

The symptoms of depression include:
Restlessness, irritability
Appetite and/or weight changes
Feelings of hopelessness, pessimism
Persistent sad, anxious, or empty mood
Feelings of guilt, worthlessness, helplessness
Decreased energy, fatigue, being slowed down
Thoughts of death or suicide, or suicide attempts
Insomnia, early-morning awakening, or oversleeping
Difficulty concentrating, remembering, making decisions
Loss of interest or pleasure in hobbies & activities that were once enjoyed

If five or more symptoms are present daily for two weeks or more, then it may be time to have an evaluation for depression.”


In addition to any or all of these symptoms, many of us will have our own warning signs. Two of my key "signposts" are two symptoms that I discussed way back at the beginning of this forum: Mangled Thinking and Self-Ostracism.

Mangled Thinking: After years of battling chronic low-grade depression, I’ve learned to recognize when my mangled thinking has crossed the threshold between what’s normal for me and what’s dangerous for me. When all of my thinking begins to be tangled up in negative pessimism, raging self-hatred, profound inconsolable sadness and a persistent sense of futility about everything, I know I’m treading on dangerous ground. That’s when I know my need to get into see my doctor and talk about going back on anti-depressants and/or resuming therapy.

Self-Ostracism: These days I am a natural hibernator. I enjoy puttering around my home, embrace my solitude, and cherish living life at my own VERY SLOW pace. I don’t feel unhealthily alone or isolated, and despite lingering problems with anxiety, can get myself out and about as necessary. Self-ostracism takes this hibernation TOO far. When the solitude is edgy and unfriendly, or my reluctance to go out, even for a walk in the sunshine, is tinged with fear and overwhelming persistent anxiety, then I know it’s no longer something I can ignore. Again, it’s time for me to seek treatment.

The thing I most want to emphasize in this entire discussion on depression is how critical self-knowledge becomes in our ability to manage our depression. Not all episodes of depression will be self-manageable! Our minds and bodies will go beyond our reach, requiring medication and/or therapy to help us find our way back out. But getting to know our limitations, our trigger points and our warning signs – our unique thresholds – helps us to get help BEFORE we spiral too far down. If I begin taking anti-depressants BEFORE I hit rock bottom, my depression tends to be short-lived and much less severe. And if I can get myself into therapy BEFORE the mangled thinking gets me too deeply entangled, I can often avoid even having to take the medication. I know that about myself now. I know how liberating being pro-active is for me. It makes a huge difference in how deep I DON’T fall now when depression haunts me again.

Add to that SELF KNOWLEDGE our old friends TRUTH and COMPASSION, we have within ourselves a valuable tool kit with which we can adequately and capably prevent our bouts with depression from totally debilitating and mangling our deepest Self.