>I found this article on Yahoo! Health. Here is a little bit that I find interesting:
“Depression is a chemical state, and you can get into it by a physical route or a psychological route or by the circumstances of your life,” says Atlanta’s Dr. Pittman.
“Running around angry all the time will depress you. Drinking alcohol daily and not getting any exercise will depress you. Doing things that make you feel guilty will depress you. A therapist who can explain that simply and honestly is likely to have the resources to help you through what you are going through.”
Psychiatrist Strassman says he usually tells questioners, “It’s how some people respond to stress. Some develop ulcers, some get headaches, some develop high blood pressure, others get depressed. I tell them that medications affect the biology while therapy can help identify stresses and provide more options for dealing with them.”
I have been suffering from depression for a very long time. It comes and goes for the most part. I like to think that my depression started sometime in junior high school, when dating suddenly became an aspect of social behavior. I have this memory of lying on my bed in a darkened room on a warm summer day, probably around the age of 15. I couldn’t let go of the thought that no guy wanted to date me nor was even remotely interested in me. I balled my eyes out at the prospect of being alone my whole life.
The thing is that I never really thought of myself as being depressed until I was well into my college years. That was when I had moved out of my parents’ house and didn’t have that strong emotional support to come home to every night. I wanted my independence. I wanted my freedom. I didn’t know freedom would be so lonely.
This article interested me because I never thought of depression as a reaction to stress. Of course, people get depressed because something bad happens in their life, but that’s natural. Most people seem to be able to work through it and somehow become happy again. I never thought of depression as a reaction to everyday stress, but for some people it just might be that way.
I have been stressed about my money situation. I have developed this “wonderful” fear of paying my bills. It’s completely irrational, of course. I just feel overwhelmed. I try to get things organized and I do pay most of my bills. When I get behind on one of them, I start to stress out and that triggers the depression. Part of me thinks that if I had ready access to strong emotional support, like I did when I was a kid, I would be able to handle the stress better. I don’t necessarily want to move in with my parents, but I would like to live a lot closer to them.