Nick's Place: Path to Enlightened Insanity via Defacted Musings: There is no right to be depressed

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November 17, 2009

There is no right to be depressed

I wrote this on a specialized depression support group forum, but this must be shared:

The most insidious thing about depression is that we start to see life through shit colored glasses.

It can be hard at times, but when things are looking really shitty, I ask myself two questions:

How could this be worse? (It couldn't be worse isn't an allowed answer.)
What is good about this situation? (Everything has an upside, even if you have to work a backwards way through it. E.g. "I will be stronger, and more understanding of myself.")

I don't allow myself the right to allow myself to dwell on depressive thoughts: I have not earned that right. To reinforce this, I remind myself of the story told by Viktor Frankl of people in the internment camps who chose, even under those circumstances that they would be compassionate toward their fellow man. Until I have dealt with that, I don't have the right to dwell on my depressive thoughts.

Posted by nickb at 02:53 AM

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