Depression
<ul type="square">[*] Childhood trauma is now recognized as the primary cause of clinical depression, includes everything from outright abuse to criticism, lack of attention, unclear boundaries, divorce, conflict within the household, neighborhood or even violence on TV. The trauma, whatever it was...for me a mentally ill father...inhibits the natural development of the brain. It leaves several crucial areas from functioning properly. Depression is now being viewed as a physical disability...no different from any other disability, only depression was caused by an "accident," or trauma. This is why we cannot just talk our way out of it. [*] March 2006 There is an article in the Washington Post that says that only medication is helpful to ONLY half of all sufferers. The half it doesn't help continue to feel sadness, low energy and hopelessness [*]People who suffer from real depression must be taught how to enjoy life. It is hard for me to believe that life can be enjoyed. I see everyday as a pain in the *****. I move through my days, but I don't see myself enjoying them...Never have! It is also hard for me to believe that I have any value in this nasty world we live in. Why I get up everyday and move through the days it a mystery to me. I have been told it is my survival instinct, which is very strong that keeps me going.[*] My depression dates back to my childhood and has traveled with me through adulthood...through other serious life crises...I am now almost 59.[*] One of the keys to "relief" is to find a GOOD therapist...be it a psychologist or a psychiatrist or a mastered social worker...and this is NOT an easy search. I have been seeing a therapist on and off since I was 15 years old. I don't have a family that I can talk too, so I had to find a stranger to talk too.[*] Many sufferers also experience Anxiety, which can be difficult to endure and overcome. My anxiety is so bad that my short breaths have impacted my lungs. In a recent MRI, for other medical reasons, showed that my lungs collapse into themselves because of my very shallow anxiety breathing.[/list]