Depression and Personal Growth
Monday, November 10, 2008An easy start to shifting depression is to consider that depression is not dysfunctional, not a mental illness, but deeply meaningful. Consider the idea that depression may be a naturally arising expression on your journey of evolutionary growth. Yes, depression is dark, and a time of misery and suffering. Yet, it also a time when we ask deeply personal questions:
Who am I?
What does it mean to be human?
What makes life worthwhile?
Is depression really something that we should avoid, or an illness that we should "cure"?
Should our profound questions be pushed down into silence with medication and drug therapy?
The distress you feel is real, the suffering immensely painful, and there is a very real risk of ending your own life. However, what if you are in distress but yet not ill? When you look inside, do you really believe, on a soul level, that your pain is simply due to a chemical imbalance - or might there also be a meaningful spiritual aspect to your journey through depression.