Conquering Depression

What is Depression?

There are normal ups and downs in life.

Everyone feels sad or has "the blues" from time to time.

Sadness or downswings in mood are normal reactions to life’s struggles, setbacks, and disappointments.

Depression is much more than just sadness.

If emptiness and despair have taken hold of your life and won't go away, you may have depression.

Depression makes it tough to function and enjoy life like you once did.

Just getting through the day can be overwhelming.

Some people describe depression as “living in a black hole” or having a feeling of impending doom.

Some depressed people don't feel sad at all - they may feel lifeless, empty, and apathetic.

Men in particular may even feel angry, aggressive, and restless.

The feelings of helplessness, hopelessness, and worthlessness are intense and unrelenting, with little, if any, relief.

Depression is part of a psychological process.

We would lose much in life.

We would lose a sense of joy.

We would lose a sense of excitement.

We would not have any strong emotions.

But no matter how hopeless you feel, you can get better.

Understanding the signs, symptoms, causes, and treatment of depression is the first step to overcoming the problem.

Are you depressed?

Signs and symptoms of depression

Depression varies from person to person, but there are some common signs and symptoms.

It’s important to remember that these symptoms can be part of life’s normal lows.

If you identify with several of the following signs and symptoms, and they just won’t go away, you may be suffering from clinical depression.

• Feelings of helplessness and hopelessness

You feel hopeless and helpless

A bleak outlook—nothing will ever get better and there’s nothing you can do to improve your situation.

• Loss of interest in daily activities

No interest in former hobbies, pastimes, social activities, or sex. You’ve lost your ability to feel joy and pleasure.

• Appetite or weight changes

You have lost your appetite or you can’t stop eating

Significant weight loss or weight gain—a change of more than 5% of body weight in a month.

• Sleep changes

You can’t sleep or you sleep too much.

Either insomnia, especially waking in the early hours of the morning, or oversleeping (also known as hypersomnia).

• Anger or irritability

You are much more irritable, short-tempered, or aggressive than usual.

Feeling agitated, restless, or even violent.

Your tolerance level is low, your temper short, and everything and everyone gets on your nerves.

• Loss of energy

Feeling fatigued, sluggish, and physically drained.

Your whole body may feel heavy, and even small tasks are exhausting or take longer to complete.

• Self-loathing

You can’t control your negative thoughts, no matter how much you try

Strong feelings of worthlessness or guilt.

You harshly criticise yourself for perceived faults and mistakes.

• Reckless behaviour

You’re consuming more alcohol than normal.

Engaging in other reckless behaviour

You engage in escapist behaviour

 such as substance abuse, compulsive gambling, reckless driving, or dangerous sports.

• Concentration problems

Trouble focusing, making decisions, or remembering things.

You can’t concentrate or find that previously easy tasks are now difficult

• Unexplained aches and pains

An increase in physical complaints such as headaches, back pain, aching muscles, and stomach pain.

• Life is not worth

You have thoughts that life is not worth living.

Suicidal thoughts.

(seek help immediately if this is the case)

Causes for depression

·         Loneliness

• Lack of social support
• Recent stressful life experiences
• Family history of depression
• Marital or relationship problems
• Financial strain
• Early childhood trauma or abuse
• Alcohol or drug abuse
• Unemployment or underemployment
• loss of a job or status
• Health problems or chronic pain
• death of a loved one
• leaving home

What does depression do?

Depression drains your energy, hope, and drive.

Depression makes it difficult to do what you need to feel better.

Depression is different from normal sadness in that it engulfs your day-to-day life, interfering with your ability to work, study, eat, sleep, and have fun.

No One Is Immune from Depression

Many great men in history knew this awful feeling.

They felt miserable and depressed.

Depression was a danger for them in their lives.

Discouragement and depression are normal parts of being human

Only one and short step to depression

How easily we fall into depression

The distance between a great victory and a terrible defeat is one step, and often only a short one.

One and a short step from the thrill of victory to the agony of defeat.

Never are we in greater danger of a fall than after a victory

We are so prone to drop our guard and begin to trust in ourselves or in our past victories.

One victory never ensures the next.

Deal with the problem

1.   Examine ourselves

Examine to find out the cause and the consequences

It is a declaration that we are going to face it.

1.   To accept the fact that you are in depression

Only a patient needs a doctor.

If everything is right, why we go forward to find a solution?

2.   To discover the reasons

The realisation of the right reason will be a valuable lesson in our life.

i.     We are the cause of depression.

We look in every direction for a reason for defeat, except ourselves.

We blame, we make excuses, we hide and hurl, but we so often fail to honestly examine our own lives.

We assume the problem could not possibly be us.

ii.   Sometimes, in many cases, we are not the reason for the depression.

We cannot be blamed directly for the cause.

It is to prepare you to deal with the problem.

You have to deal with both the cause and the consequences of the sin.

2.   You are a leader

If your action or inaction, decision or indecision affect more than yourself (someone or something), you are a leader.

So your decision and action is important.

Your decisions and actions or indecision and inaction may affect:

·         Your family

·         Your professional team

·         Your business which supports the life of some others.

·         Your church or social group

Your action or inaction, decision or indecision before depression and during depression affects many others.

Our life is not ours alone.

It belongs to many others too.

3. No one is perfect and infallible

Be realistic.

You must learn to be realistic and that you cannot be right all the time.

There is no such a thing as a perfect or infallible leader.

 

4. A defeat tests your leadership

“There are tests to leadership as well as tests of leadership.”

One of those tests is the test of failure.

Failure is unique to no one.

Failure, like all tests, is common to all men.

The manner in which a leader handles his failures (his own and others) will have a powerful impact on his growth and future leadership.

5. An appearance does not solve the problem

Only our action can solve the problem.

For action we need decision

For the right decision, we have to decide to face depression with courage.

Today, we do not usually tear our clothes, fall face down on the ground, and put dust on our heads.

But we too have our own ways of showing our consternation, pain, and doubt.

We may fall on our knees or put our face in our hands and sob.

 If there are feelings of self-pity and depression, most people become inactive, sometimes sullen; they mope around and wear a long face.

But these responses do not remove the pain or solve the problem.

Emotional expressions and appearances are natural but they are not a solution.

6. Right Focus

A wrong focus:

·      Turns mole hills to mountains and mountains into mole hills.

·      Creates negative assumptions

·      Our vision grows narrow and negative.

·      We go in reverse and look back. The tendency is to become nostalgic for the ‘good old days.’

·      We lose sight of the Lord and get our eyes on the circumstances.

7. Do not make important decisions

Depression always makes us unable to see the facts as they are.

So, you should avoid making important decisions when you feel depressed.

You are not seeing things as they really are.

There will be a day when you will feel much happier.

That would be a better time to make a decision.

8. Refuse to continue lying in the dust

Refuse to continue in the failure.

A study of great men and women reveals that most of those who made history were men who failed at some point, and some of them drastically, but who refused to continue lying in the dust.

Nothing is ever accomplished with our face in the dirt or with our eyes on our failures and problems.

1.    First, we must confess our failures and the things that caused them when that can be determined.

2.    Then we must seek to learn from them.

3.    Finally, we need to know that God’s will is immediate recovery and faith in the grace of God. God’s will is get up and move on.

Such a condition, though very human and characteristic of all of us from time to time, is not a state we can afford to stay in.

9. Rise UP for action

No failure is final

The successful leader is a man who has learned that no failure is final, whether the failure is his own or that of another.

He acts on that belief.

One failure need not lead to another failure.

No failure is failure where you take a success in it.

10. Do not be a procrastinator

 Act now.

Take immediate action on the cause of the failure.

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