Here are some mechanics I have observed repeatedly in my own life, and am fairly sure I am seeing in the lives of various of my friends who suffer from depression.
Overworking → exhausted → depressed → feeling inadequate → unable to work → feeling even more inadequate → becoming even more depressed.
Or…
Overworking → exhausted → depressed → feeling inadequate → working harder → becoming even more exhausted → becoming more depressed.
When you look to work for validation, for a sense of self worth and achievement, and depression is gnawing away at your underpinnings, the odds are you aren’t going to win. But, if you don’t work (be that paid or unpaid), you get to feel even more useless. Depression is good at telling a person they are useless, worthless, unlovable, unacceptable.
Thus when depression kicks in, I turn towards work to try and feel validated. While resting might help my body, it can actually leave me more anxious and insecure than trying to crack on. Instead of turning to others around me for help and kindness, I dig in to the most utilitarian relationships. I focus on where I am most useful, not where most good flows towards me.
I’ve looked hard at the mechanics of this, as it happens in my own life and as I observe others on the same downward spirals. The conclusions I have come to are that it is very hard to get off this spiral on your own, and that once you are on it is not a good time to be dealing with the things that cause it. The real answer lies in what happens the rest of the time – how loved, supported, valued, resourced and welcome a person feels. The degree to which utility dominates relationships in the normal scheme of things. The amount of positive feedback and soul food.
This in turn leads me to thinking about how we normally treat each other. How transactional are our relationships? How much of a feeling of scarcity underpins how we treat each other? How much do we do to validate each other in the normal scheme of things? What do we do for the people around us if we suspect they aren’t ok? If we can support and validate each other on terms that are not primarily about usefulness, I suspect we can all help each other stay out of the awful downwards spirals.
There is a massive amount of power in telling someone you value them, and that their value is not conditional on what they do for you.
February 9th, 2019 at 12:11 pm
Reblogged this on Blue Dragon Journal.
February 9th, 2019 at 3:52 pm
I have a traumatic brain injury. I have struggled with feeling useless. There are days, where I can’t do anything. i.e. bad brain days. My family tells me how much they love me and how loveable I am. When I am having a bad brain day, I remind myself of what they tell me. They also hug me a lot.
February 11th, 2019 at 7:43 am
That kind of support is worth so much.
February 11th, 2019 at 11:23 am
For me, and I stress this is just what works for me – your mileage may be different – I find that if I feel down, I immediately ask myself “Am I tired?”. If the answer is yes, and it often is, then I stop giving myself a hard time and take a rest. (A wise man once told me that time spent in sleep is seldom wasted). As I say – not suggesting this works for anyone, but for me, tiredness is a major factor. Recognising it, and acknowledging it, seems to be important for me.
February 11th, 2019 at 11:33 am
Nothing triggers poor mental health like exhaustion, I find. The awkward bit is the other question – can I stop yet? And some days, the answer is no – because if I stop, the weight of panic will grow as I fall even further behind on stuff. I do rest as much as I can, and some weeks, it just isn’t enough. Such is.
February 11th, 2019 at 12:08 pm
Beautiful xxx
February 11th, 2019 at 12:35 pm
I couldn’t agree more with your last line.
February 17th, 2019 at 4:34 pm
Really appreciate your post. Sharing some thoughts that has helped me deal when depression strikes.
https://www.jw.org/en/bible-teachings/questions/bible-help-depressed/