Posted by Nibor on October 17, 2000, at 7:27:51
In reply to Re: Pass on the CNP » ksvt, posted by noa on October 17, 2000, at 6:33:54
Hi, I have been reading this very interesting discussion.
I thought it might be helpful, so here is a bit from an introductory chapter of Undoing Depression. If anyone would like to see more of the intro or any other section, please let me know. I have been thinking of putting the entire introduction on our website (http://www.undoingdepression.com)...or some other chapter from the book. Do you think that would be good?> Ksvt, what I meant is that when you imagine your depression, does it seem to be something separate, outside yourself? Like Coral's image of a beast--something attacking from outside the self.
> If one can picture their depression as something separate, and outside the self, I think it is easier to preserve a positive sense of self, whereas those of us who have felt depression is part of our self may have a harder time feeling like we like ourselves.
>
> I guess my hypothesis is that people who have suffered from depression from a young age are more likely to have difficulty separating their experience of depression from their experience of their self, at least while depressed (for me, anyway, my thinking is mood-dependent). And, people who encounter depression for the first time as adults, may not have as much difficulty with this--they have a solid sense of who they are, and see the depression as something other than them.
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> Does this make sense?Most people who have had a true experience with depression have no trouble at all believing that something biochemical in nature has happened to them. The change in mood, in how the self and the world are perceived, seems so profound and overwhelming that it makes intuitive sense to feel that the self has been invaded by something alien. We do not feel like our selves. Something very powerful, something from outside us, has invaded and changed us.
But most people with depression also recognize that this feeling which seems so foreign is also very familiar. They remember many times from their childhood and adolescence when they felt the same way. They felt alone, helpless, and friendless. They may remember their parents as kind and loving, but they wonder why they felt so unloved. They may have believed that they had to be perfect, and they may have tried very hard, but failed, and felt again the futility of their efforts. As adults, they may have thought they’d grown out of it, but here it is again. Winston Churchill referred to his depression as the "black dog"--the familiar beast that quietly pads in in the evening and settles down at your feet.
Depression is a disease both of the mind and body, the present and the past. In psychiatry now we have pitched battles going on between opposing camps, those who want to treat the brain and those who want to treat the mind. Both sides have powerful motives for pushing their own theories, some of which are idealistic and some of which are ignoble. Unfortunately, the patient is caught in the middle. The family doctor, supported by the pharmaceutical industry, is likely to say "take this pill"—but when it doesn't work, the patient just has another in a long line of failures to add to his baggage. The mental health professional is likely to say "let's talk about it"—and the patient is likely to feel patronized, misunderstood, because how can simply talking cure such terrible pain?
It's not an either-or question. Both ways of thinking are true. Both points of view have much to contribute to helping the depressed patient and his family. Both also have a lot to teach people who simply want to raise emotionally resilient children in a difficult world. There is a biochemical process to depression, but the individual has been made susceptible to depression through life experiences. The current episode may be precipitated by an external event, but the event has set in motion a change in the way the brain functions.
poster:Nibor
thread:990
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/social/20001011/msgs/1184.html