[DelusionsDaily]

Hi all, I was wondering how you define being well as it relates to your recovery from depression? I have been thinking about this lately as this been really tough year in terms of my depression and how it has affected my life. Am I ever really well if it always comes back and most of the time worse than the last episode? Can you be well in some areas and unwell in others during an episode? Just questions I am pondering...not sure what my answers are yet. Thought I would pose them here and see what all of you think/feel.

[Rohag]

Hello, MELISSSAD81! Personally, I no longer think of "wellness" in terms of being depression-free; I think about being "functional despite" depression.

My social and vocational functionalities are low, that is "inadequate." My personal functionality might be described as "adequate with support."

[venusss]

I think one can sort of get used to it. You learn to cope and sail through the bad periods. Employ damage control, which is crucial.

But can one really recover and be unaltered after being to the deepest depths? I am not sure about that. Is that a bad thing one changes? Not neccesarily...

[kaliope]

Tough questions. Are we ever really well? I was a rapid cycler and unless my depressions were suicidal, I didnt even register them as depression. After a lifetime of mental illness I finally broke down and got on meds, found the right ones and I am stable now. I have been free from depression for a couple years now. But am I well? I consider it more like remission. I dont really live in fear of it coming back though, but I am careful to look for the signs so I can catch it before it gets out of control.

As for being well in some areas and not in others, certainly I think this is true. It depends on our level of functioning, how well we cope, how resilient we are. When my T talked me into going inpatient, I left my appt, sucked it up, went back to work and finished my day despite all the emotional turmoil that was going on inside. Would I have been able to handle a chat with a coworker? Probably not. Could I cook dinner that night? no way. But people were counting on me to do my job. I had to make arrangements to cover things there for when i was in the hospital, so I had to function for that and I was able to do that.

I think that we can really muster up the energy to what is absolutely necessary to survive. Or at least I did. Which really baffles me because I have always wanted to die so bad, yet I fought so hard to live.