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fear of loss or adverse occur rence in
life- something one can pinpoint.
Therc seems no way of ret rieving or
achieving whal is losl or what is
threatened with loss.
The depressive cycle leads to
collapse of self-wor th , then lo
self-deprecation , then to a feeling
tha t the situat ion is hopeless .
H o pe less a ltitud es p r od uce
changes in responses o f the mind
and body, which begin to immo–
bilize the person. Perhaps you
have felt that helplessness.
In depression, aJI systems–
menlal and physical-slow down.
Growing evidence from medica!
and menta l health research indi–
cates changes occur in the chemi–
cal balances of the brain and ne r–
vous system. These changed c hem–
ical balances alter transmission of
brain and nerve impulses, which,
in turn, produce d isturbing brain
patterns and painful or crippling
emotional and physical feel ings.
Serious depressives often say:
" 1 can' t get out of this.... lt 's
hopeless.... 1'11 never gel bel-
t e r .... Things wíll n ever
change." Others feel: " I'm pow–
erless to do anyth ing; what's the
use of t rying? ... There are no
options.. .. l'm drai ned , empty.
1
can't sleep. 1 can't keep going on
like this, but
1
see no way out."
1
n serious depression, almost
everythi ng is viewed negatively.
The fut ure is seen as bleak, unre–
warding, and the re a ppears no
way to change it. Depressives
mentally stop fighting . They a re
possessed with their own sad feel–
ings. They often assume others
are equa ll y obsessed with the
same feelings (they are not).
One type of depressive, the
manic-depressive, swings between
periods of extreme opt imism and
unfounded pessimism.
Depressives stubborn ly res ist
reassura nce s o f th ei r wo r t h .
Statements to "snap ou t of it" or
" pull yourself together" usually
have li t tle effect. These persons,
of course, do not need r idicule or
furt her loss of sel f-esteem; their
morbid mind is full already.
Hidden De pression
For every ser io us depressive
there are severa! masked depres-
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sives-persons functioning, how–
beit at far less than their abi lity,
in jobs, homes or schools. T hey
don't realize that their emotional
problems, d iffi cult ies with a job
or other people, or many of their
physical ills, are caused by a
subtle depression, whic h they do
not recognize. For many of these
persons, lack o f posit ive emo–
tions and alt itudes have become
a way of li fe for so long, they
don' t real ize why happiness and
good feelings perpetually elude
them.
Masked depressives fi nd li ttle
true j oy in life. They a re con–
s ta ntl y r est less a nd irrita ble .
They fi ll doc tors' offices with real
or imagined complaints of lack of
energy, chronic headaches, sto–
mach problems, cons tipation, and
similar il ls. They are a large part
of the army of up to 85 percent of
pat ients visiting doctors' offices
whose health problems are largely
mentally (psychosomatically) in–
duced .
Many of these pat ients seek a
miracle pill or drug to free them
of their ills. The peace of mind
and better health they seek will
only occur when they develop a
positive and cont ructive s tate of
thinking and handling their prob–
lems!
Still ot hers, because t he i r
depression is mixed with anxiety,
engage in frenzied pleasure-seek–
ing, sexual activi ly or even vio–
l e nce. Growin g numbe r s of
depressives drown thcir depres–
sion in alcohol or d rugs to kili lhe
mental pain ·of weakness, empti–
ness and fulili ty.
What a tragic loll! And the
reason is humani ly has jumped
the t rack! Let's unders tand .
Vulnerable to De pression?
In normal grief ata loss, a cer tain
amount of sadness or crying is
often helpful and necessary to
work through to normal feelings.
Grie f at the loss of a loved one or
something highly valued is not
wrong. It becomes unhealthy and
damaging when it causes total
loss of personal self-worth, or the
desi re .to live. Grief is damaging
when it is unresolved and one ís
crippled f rom ordi nary human
functions for weeks or months on
end.
T he line between natura l
remorse and pathologic deprcs–
sion may be a subjective judg–
ment. To make an illustrat ion, a
man who loses a job and is unable
to mobilize himself to find work
for weeks after being fi red or los–
ing his j ob is seriously depressed
and needs help and e ncourage–
men t.
While thc cause of a depression
is often related to a loss one can
pi npoi nl (some t imes called a
reactive depression),
the cause at
times can be much more vague–
a mood we don ' t unde rs tand.
Depressed feelings can come over
a person for no seemingly rational
reasons. But there are reasons
nevertheless-mental, physical or
spir itual reasons.
Endogenous de pressions are
related to less d ist inct causes that
develop wilhin a person- perhaps
fr om su bconscious o r den ied
fears, needs or desires, wh ich
unsettling or unfavorable events
now l hrea l e n. Thi s k i nd o f
de pression may develop eilher
slowly or suddenly.
Vul nerabilily to freque nl de–
pressions ofl en depends on the
kind o f encouragement, values,
self-esteem, !ove or suppor t (or
Jack of them) that we receivcd in
early years of life. Vulnerabi lity
may be related to how we learned
to respond to losses or problems
in Iife. In addition, certain per–
sonalities seem more sensitive to
blue moods than others.
A depressive mood can Aoat
over the mind for no apparent
reason. It could be the result of a
final st raw-reaching a breaking–
point in a ser ies of unfortunate
setbacks in Iife. Or ít could hap–
pen for reasons that many totally
overlook or are unaware of.
How many are aware that the
víolation of God 's spirítual laws–
the laws of !ove to God and other
human bcings, as revealed in the
Te n Commandments- sets one
up to exper ience problems or att i–
tudes of mind for wh ich lhere
seems lo be no hope or help?
And doing things we know are
wrong res ults in negati ve or
depressive feelings.
The
PLAIN TRUTH