We all, at one time or another, talk about the word depression and what it means to us. It has such an ugly sound to it as if we are mentally ill and there is no returning from it but that is not the case. We must learn that depression can be a clue for us that something else negative is going on inside of us and that we are not dealing with it or even trying to identify it. Depression can weigh heavily on our mind until we are willing to face what it is.
There is more than one type of depression; there is mental- emotional, spiritual and physical and each has its own pain attached to it. Let’s first look at:
- Mental-emotional depression is a heavy feeling, and it has certain characteristics different than the other two. We can feel that we eat too much or cannot eat at all. We can sleep too much and stay in bed wallowing in our negative thoughts, or we can be up all night not being able to sleep. We can be so heavily intense that we can sit on a couch all day just starring into space or be so anxious that we cannot sit still and begin to worry about everything. Both spacing out and being super anxious are our defense mechanisms protecting us from having to deal with real issues that are going on in our life.
- So much of the time this depression is blocking us from dealing with our anger. We have taken on the image of never being angry yet that is the fakeness that we present to the world and the anger underneath it can overwhelm us in the form of depression.
- Spiritual depression is when we have lost faith in God or a Higher Power. Our prayers seem to go unanswered, and we believe that either God cannot hear us or has abandoned us, or He does not exist. There is no Higher Power and we feel deeply depressed from this thought. We end up feeling empty and that is how our depression plays itself out; it is a void inside of us.
- Physical depression comes out of being ill where our body has gone through some trauma and physical pain becomes a big part of our life. We end up feel such despair as if it will never go away and a depression locked in sadness takes over.
These are some of the main forms that depression takes. It rules our thoughts and actions, and it never lets us rest. We are held hostage to this negative energy and until we accept what it is doing to us, there is no way out. We must learn how to face our negativity no matter what type it is and work it through.