A Short History of Depression

We've discussed Depression from a number of different angles, but we've yet to discover its history. Not so much where did it come from. One may be sure that mental illness generally has been a thorn in the side of humanity ever since man first set foot on earth, and even animals are diagnosed with the condition.

But who first became aware of it? Homer's 'Iliad' gives us a glimpse, when Ajax rescues Achilles, only to see Achilles' armour given away to Odysseus. He flies into a terrible rage and slaughters a flock of sheep in the belief that they're the enemy. After coming to his senses, he's so overcome with shame, that he kills himself.

Here, though, we see a mental disorder directly attributable to two outside acts. The armour he considers that he's won is given away to another, which infuriates him to the point where he becomes unbalanced. Then he has a go at the poor old sheep, at which time he's probably hallucinating. When sanity re-visits him, the shame he feels forces him into suicide.

A different time, different situation to that which we're used, but the outcome's the same. A psychotic outburst, the likes of which we've seen down the centuries to the present day.

Hippocrates, in 400 B.C.E. used the names 'Mania' and 'Melancholia' to describe certain conditions of the mind that he noticed himself. Aulus Cornelius Celsus, in 30 C.E., wrote his treatise "De Re Medicana," in which he described melancholia and even mentioned depression. He was of the opinion that it was caused by black bile.

The next landmark hypothesis seems to have been put forward by Maimonides in the twelfth century. Among many other accomplishments, he was a Jewish physician who was the first to see the possibility that Melancholia was a discrete disease entity, in other words rather than seeing pain as the direct result of trauma or physical injury, he considered that it fundamentally changed the entire nervous system.

As we've seen with Celsus and his black bile theory, depression and similar mental disorders were considered physical in origin, so Maimonides certainly took a step in the right direction.

It seems that the diagnostic wheels of mental illness ground slow indeed, for it wasn't until 1686 that a doctor named Bonet described an illness he named Maniaco Melancholicus, and two hundred years after that, the doctor Jules Falret called the condition of alternating moods of mania and depression, 'folie circulaire.'

However, in 1899, the German psychiatrist, Emil Kraepelin, explained the illness as 'manic - depressive psychosis.' He freely admitted that he'd stood on the shoulders of the doctors who'd gone before him. The methods and criteria he used for his diagnosis of the condition are very similar to those used today.

He was born on the 15th. February 1856 and died on the 7th. October 1926. He considered psychiatric illness to be both a biological and genetic problem. He's the first to have divided psychosis into two forms; Manic Depression, which we know now as being both major depression and bi-polar disorder, and Dementia Praecox. It should be pointed out, though, that Arnold Pick first used this Latin description in 1891.

However, in 1896, Kraeplin first brought the illness to the attention of the public when he gave a detailed description of it. The condition is now known to us as Schizophrenia. When you look back over the centuries that have gone before, and consider the suffering endured by so many people who had no idea what was wrong with them, any more than did the doctors, it makes you very glad to live in the twenty first century, warts and all

Social Security Disability Exam - What Should You Expect?

If you are filing for social security disability (SSD) or supplemental security income (SSI) benefits, you may have to submit to a consultative exam (CE), which is a physical or mental exam scheduled by the social security administration.

Not all individuals filing for SSD or SSI are required to go to a CE, but for those who have not been to a doctor within the last 60 days, or who have other medical conditions listed in their medical records for which they have not received prior treatment, a CE will in all likelihood be required before a disability examiner can render a decision on your claim.

A consultative medical exam is not scheduled for the purpose of prescribing medical treatment, nor is it a means to arrive at a diagnosis that will prove or disprove a medical disability. In fact, most CEs are fairly brief, and may last as little as 10 minutes, because their sole purpose is to meet the requirement that a disability examiner consider "recent medical evidence" before closing a case. In other words, it's more of a formality, and will not overrule the other medical evidence which a claimant has supplied to the social security administration in his or her medical history.

However, sometimes doctors' notes make reference to secondary medical conditions for which the claimant is not seeking benefits, such as depression, or insomnia, etc., fairly common complaints for those who are under the stress of dealing with chronic pain or fatigue, or for anyone who must consider leaving the workforce for that matter. If your physician has noted that you seem depressed or are suffering other mental symptoms for which you have not had treatment, your CE may consist of a mental exam, and yes, you must attend. Not only is not attending a scheduled CE grounds for denial of your disability claim, but it could also mean that you short yourself from receiving full compensation for any other impairments you might have. Either attend the scheduled CE or reschedule it if you are unable to make it that day.

Not all CEs are medical exams; some may require that a patient have recent medical tests to provide the disability examiner with a snapshot of their physical state as it is now. New X-rays, MRIs, or spirometry testing of pulmonary function may be required before a case is closed to show how your condition has improved, worsened, or if it remains stable.

One thing that you should prepare yourself for if you are scheduled for a consultative exam, and this is really word of mouth from those who have attended them before-many of the physicians who conduct CEs do not come off as the most caring individuals. While this is not true of all of them, to be sure, many social security disability claimants leave these exams feeling defensive, and that the doctor performing the exam doesn't really care about them, or even believe that they are disabled. If this is your experience, do not put to much stock into what the physician performing the CE thinks or doesn't think, because in the end it is really your treating physician's opinion that will be given the most weight by the disability examiner.

Overcoming Depression After Betrayal and Infidelity - Cheating Wives and Cheating Husbands

If you were betrayed by the person you love, especially if it happened with one of your friends, which means that you were betrayed by both, you cannot but feel totally desolated.

Men are more sensitive to this matter, because this is for them a question of masculine honor. Besides that, they suffer from incapacity to have sexual relationships in the future, after being so humiliated.

After an experience so tragic they cannot recuperate their self-confidence and ever trust another woman.

Things are not as tragic for women whose husbands betray them, even though the betrayal also by a friend is too bitter for anyone.

The truth is that after such experience, no matter if you are a man or a woman, you feel totally lost and you don't want to trust anyone again. This is the end of your life...

You feel you were treated like trash.

How can you ever recuperate your self-confidence and try to have another relationship in the future?

I will give you an example so that I may give you my lesson, using it.

In one of my first visits at a certain site where people go asking for help from anyone who may care about giving them an answer, I had to face one of the most horrible cases I ever learned about. Of course, there are worse in this world, but this one was very bitter.

The betrayal and the infidelity you'll learn about right now will surpass your case or are as horrible was your case, because your case cannot be worse than this one.

A girl who was around 18 years old came to this site asking for help because her mother had stolen her boyfriend, leaving her, her younger sister and her father desolated.

Put yourself in the position of this girl: betrayed not only by her boyfriend but also by her own mother!

Now, put yourself in the position of her father...

This case was really shocking!

Everyone on the site wanted to kill this mother!

I was the only one who told the girl that she had to forgive her mother because she was crazy, and she didn't know what she was doing.

Everyone on the site attacked me.

The girl told me that her mother knew very well what she was doing and started relating to me various facts and indications, which proved that her mother had seduced her boyfriend on purpose, taking advantage of many opportunities.

Of course, I'm not going to tell you this story. I only used this example in order to explain why this mother was crazy and why she should not be considered responsible for what she was doing.

She had to be forgiven and treated, because she was completely crazy, even though she seemed to logically understand the meaning of her actions.

I mentioned on the site the example of another tragic case that happened in my own neighborhood: a mother killed her own 15 years old daughter by suffocating her with a scarf when she was sleeping! This case was a big scandal, written about in many newspapers. My son knew the murdered girl, because they studied at the same school, and since he was responsible for his class, he even appeared on TV, and talked about the dead girl. He explained to the public that she was a very nice person. The school's director said that she was a bad student, who used to disappear for weeks from school, then she would come back and disappear again for another week or so.

Her mother was entered into a special clinic and treated. Of course she was crazy! No matter how disappointed she could be with her daughter, she didn't have the right to kill her.

The mother of the girl who stole her boyfriend was as crazy as the mother of my second example, who killed her daughter.

Why?

The answer is very sad, but it enlightens a very big mystery, gives an end to human ignorance and stops the repetition of all the mistakes made by all the previous generations of mankind.

Relating many scientific discoveries with the information given in our dreams by the wise unconscious mind that produces them, I discovered that the biggest part of the human brain is demonic, wild, violent, totally absurd, cruel, insensitive, immoral and sneaky.

The small portion of the human brain that has human characteristics is too fragile and can easily be destroyed by the wild demon existent in the wild side.

If someone accepts what is bad, immoral and cruel once, they fall into the trap of the wild demon, and cannot but end up in craziness and despair.

A schizophrenic murderer is able to kill his or her victim, hide their cadaver, run to a place full of people in order to have an alibi - in order words, in order to be able to say that he was there, among all these people at the time of the murder - and pretend that he is happy as if nothing had happened.

If you observe the murderer, you'll believe that he is a normal person and that nothing strange happened with him. You'll conclude that he is a very reasonable person, as you discuss with him various different common topics, and this may happen immediately after he killed and hided his victim!

How is this possible?

It happens because when the anti-conscience (the wild side of the human brain) manages to destroy the human side of the human brain, there is no human being left anywhere: the wild demon dominates the human brain completely.

The demon is clever and pretends that it is a normal human being, even though it is a schizophrenic murderer. This means that the human nature is demonic and that the human being is derived from Satan. However, he received a small human conscience from God, who created the wise unconscious mind that produces our dreams in order to cure the human brain from the craziness imposed by the wild side.

The human being is in fact a wild animal, like a shark or a lion, a wild killer, that doesn't understand the meaning of violence, but who can think logically, even though its logic is selfish and totally absurd.

How can logic be absurd?

Logic is only a collection of ideas. If these ideas are absurd, this means that the logic is absurd, even though it seems to be sensible.

If we analyze its details, we will discover the absurdity, but this is not visible from the beginning.

Do you think that a woman can be "happy forever", living with her daughter's young boyfriend?

Do you think that this woman had human characteristics?

Do you think that this young man who accepted to betray his girlfriend with her own mother was a human being?

Do you think that the woman who killed her own daughter was human?

Do you think that the schizophrenic murderer who goes to a place full of people after his murder and after hiding the cadaver, and talks with everyone happily as if nothing had happened before, is a human being?

They were victims of the powerful wild anti-conscience, our primitive conscience, which is still alive in our brain.

We have to eliminate the demon, by transforming it into a human being, like the tiny part of our brain that has human characteristics. This can be done easily now that I have continued the work of Carl Jung, discovering the cure for schizophrenia, psychosis and other mental illnesses that cannot be cured by common psychiatrists.

So, if you were victim of betrayal and infidelity, have pity on your enemies, because they are dead. There is only a wild monster in their place. They have completely lost their human conscience.

Their actions should not be considered human actions, but actions of a wild primate, because their wild self has dominated them.

They seem to understand what they are doing, but this is not true, because they don't have any sensitivity: they are totally disconnected from the external world.

They are as crazy as the schizophrenic murderer in my third example.

Therefore, forgive them, the same way you would forgive a lion or a shark if they would try to kill you.

Learn how to translate your dreams according to the scientific method and overcome your depression by following the wise guidance you'll receive in the dream messages. They work like psychotherapy, giving you answers for all your questions and solutions for all your problems.

If you were a victim of demons, at least you can be glad because you still are a human being.

You have the possibility to evolve, attaining wisdom and happiness, while they will never abandon the hell they created when they agreed with what was bad, opening the doors for the wild monster.

Ulcerative Colitis and Depression

Ulcerative Colitis is a chronic disease. As such, any chronic health condition being a long term illness, invariably causes stress and anxiety. Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) causes not only pain, but also symptoms such as diarrhea and gas that are not easy to deal with in social and professional situations. This leads to continued mental stress and has every tendency to lead the patient towards the risk of depression.

Recent research findings suggest patients who show symptoms of depression and anxiety report a lower quality of life and could perhaps be at an increased risk of a relapse. Another study showed that patients with Crohn's disease who received some psychological treatment spent fewer days in the hospital and took fewer sick days. What is important is to break the seemingly vicious cycle of depression increasing the IBD and vice versa. Counseling plays an important part in making the patient aware of his illness and that he can play an active part in treating is depression.

The best known treatment for Ulcerative Colitis is with natural Aloe Vera which has been showing promising results. Its anti inflammatory action on the inner linings of the intestines plays a major role in arresting further irritation of the bowels as also in regenerating dead cells in the inner linings of the intestines. Aloe Vera heals, and if taken regularly, it restores your digestion and absorption. This increases nutrition intake in the body. Simultaneously, the patient can be put on a course of mild anti depressants and weaned off after a few months.

Treating irritable bowel syndrome with drugs may give short-term relief but always lead to severe side-effects. Knowing that there is no identified cure for this illness and that all drugs give only temporary relief should lead the doctor and the patient to a smart management of the disease as well as weaning oneself away from drugs. As said before, preference should be given to treating the patient with Aloe Vera juice, since this not only manages the overall condition of the body, but also improves the general well-being of the body.

Once the patient experiences a prolonged period of absence from the symptoms of Irritable Bowel Syndrome, his general mental condition improves considerably. Instead of giving in to depression and anxiety, he begins to experience hope and relief from a chronic illness. As his mental attitude turns positive, his mood generally remains more cheerful than before, leading to a gradual improvement of his health.

Depression Test

Many people who are suffering from depression may not even be aware of it. The chances are that if you have been feeling sad or unhappy for more than just a couple of weeks and have lost interest in most of the activities you used to enjoy to the extent that your daily routines are now being affected, then you could be suffering from some form of depression.

There are many symptoms associated with depression and not everyone will experience the same ones nor with the same degree of intensity. Consequently, diagnosing and treating depression can be problematic as it is important to rule out other possible causes of the symptoms such as an underlying medical condition, substance abuse, or normal responses to say, bereavement, that of course will result in feelings of sadness and despondency but which are not considered true depression.

One way of finding out if you could be suffering from depression is to take a depression test. Depression tests are often used by health professionals in the first instance to assess whether depression is indicated, and if so, how severe the depression might be.

There are many tests available but one of the most popular is the Goldberg test.

The Goldberg Test

This test was designed by Dr Ivan Goldberg and consists of 18 questions, each of which are answered by the individual using a sliding scale of responses based on how they have felt during the previous week. Once all the questions are answered, the scores (in brackets) are added up to give a final score and an indication of whether depression is likely. This test can also be useful to check periodically to see if the symptoms of depression are improving or getting worse as any change of 5 points or more in either direction is considered to be significant.

Sliding scale of responses

Not at all (0)

A little (1)

Somewhat (2)

Moderately (3)

Quite a lot (4)

Very much (5)

Questions

1 I do things slowly

2 My future appears hopeless

3 It is hard for me to concentrate on reading

4 The pleasure and fun has gone out of my life

5 I find it hard to make decisions

6 I have lost interest in things that used to be important to me

7 I feel unhappy, depressed and sad

8 I feel agitated and unable to relax

9 I feel tired

10 It takes a lot of effort for me to do simple things

11 I feel guilty and I deserve to be punished

12 I feel like a failure

13 I feel numb and lifeless, more dead than alive

14 My sleep is disturbed; I'm sleeping too much or too little

15 I spend time thinking HOW I can commit suicide

16 I feel trapped or confined

17 I feel depressed even when good things happen to me

18 I have lost weight or put it on without being on a diet

Scoring
If your score was less than 9 then depression is not indicated.
Between 10 and 17 - possibly some minor depression
Between 18 and 21 - maybe on the verge of depression
Between 22 and 35 - minor to moderate depression indicated
Between 36 and 53 - moderate to severe depression possible
Over 54 - possibly suffering from severe depression

The Beck Depression Inventory Test

Another popular test is the Beck Depression Inventory test often used by mental health professionals. This test is based on 21 self-reported questions that correspond closely to the symptoms of depression as outlined in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders 4th Edition. Each response is based on how the individual has felt over the previous two weeks. All of the responses to the questions are identified by a score of 0, 1, 2 or 3, which are then added together at the end to give a final score.

The answers to the questions are intended to give an indication of how a person views how they are functioning psychologically and physically, and how they appear to be coping on a daily basis. For example, responses will give an idea of:

o How sad you are feeling

o How you view the future

o If you feel like a failure

o Your level of satisfaction from activities

o If you feel guilty

o If you feel deserving of punishment

o How disappointed you are in yourself

o If you often blame yourself

o Whether you have thoughts of suicide

o How often you cry

o If you feel irritated and annoyed a lot of the time

o How much interest you have in other people and social situations

o Your ability to make decisions

o How you view yourself and your appearance

o Your ability to carry out your work

o Your sleeping patterns

o Your energy levels

o Your appetite

o Any weight fluctuations

o If you are fearful or worry about physical symptoms and health

o If you have lost interest in sex

Conclusion

It's important to remember that no test, no matter how good it is, can give you a reliable diagnosis. If you think you or someone close to you are experiencing symptoms of depression then you should seek professional advice either from a GP or other health professional for an accurate diagnosis and appropriate help. Your GP will be able to discuss symptoms with you in much more detail and will be able to identify other factors that might be influencing how you are feeling. Once an accurate diagnosis is made then treatment options can be discussed that will help get you back to how you used to be.

How To Deal With Disappointment

Disappointment is a killing feeling we know too well. It is a feeling of sinking in the heart, body, mind and soul. You literally feel your energy level goes down gradually, until it almost touches your feet. It feels like sadness merged with bits of anger. It can be described as the antonym of anticipation, like anticipation gone bad.

Eliza Tabor once said: "Disappointment to a noble soul is what cold water is to burning metal; it strengthens, tempers, intensifies, but never destroys it." I like this quote because it gives us hope, that even though disappointment cools/ kills off our passion in one instant, the result it produces is to our benefit, more strength. It is such an unpleasant feeling yet it seems inevitable sometimes. Yet, who said it was a bad thing? It happens frequently and commonly, and almost no one is immune to it. However, the more we overcome disappointment, the more capable we are of dealing with it, and the more resourceful we become in seeking alternatives. So what causes disappointment to hit our brains and hearts, and robs us illusion and excitement? Most importantly, how can we avoid it from happening over and over again?

People are creatures of habit. They're creatures of hope and anticipation too, especially when it regards a personal matter that they really want to attain. Therefore, out of the eagerness to get to a certain goal, we start building hopes to get to them, and some of us - through imagination - may even start feeling they're there already, which is not a wrong thing to do per se. Yet, one cannot deny that dwelling in such mental and emotional state is a type of illusion. One creates an illusion and believes it. The defining line then between illusion and turning it into reality is whether or not one commits to a set of actions that lead them to achieving their illusion.

Most self-help books promote such practice, and even go on to describe it as the formula or "the Secret" for achieving our goals. Yet, how many of us would try what those books say and believe entitled already of the privileges sometimes even in the middle of the road to achieving their goals. When passion gets triggered in our hearts, our levels of excitement rise to unprecedented levels, and we feel we want to act upon this immense positive energy. Sure, optimism and positive thinking are key in stimulating the brain to try to generate a productive perspective on matters, and therefore, not surrender to failure or bitterness resulting from feeling disappointed upon experiencing a constant failure.

When imagination starts generating more passion, which - in turn- triggers intrinsic motivation in individuals, they charge people to reach their goals with maximum force and without a single moment of hesitation. That can be described as action-upon-passion. This can be visible in cases where one falls in love; he/ she is capable of going all lengths to get to what they want.

On the other hand, while there's nothing wrong with acting-upon-passion, but pausing to think every once in a while is a key element in the formula of success. The notion of going forward without a pause is commonly believed to be productive, especially if it was producing favorable results. On the other hand, going on without a stop is like asking a car to run non-stop without gas. Not stopping to assess the current situation is a mistake we often make, especially following a dense period of thinking or production.

The Need To Pause During Action

Circumstances change, new surprises emerge, and if we keep looking forward without moving our eyes around to have a complete perspective on our current surrounding, we may then become oblivious to any influences, factors or disturbances that may hinder us from achieving our goals. New learning is formed of the current obstacle, and a healthy brain starts generating other possible ways of going around that obstacle. However, this depends on whether one sees things from negative or a positive perspective, which also dictates their level of productivity as result. The more negative a person's thoughts are, the more prone to disappointment this person is. Certainly, disappointment is a very unproductive place to be per se, but the knowledge forming from it is what determines its usefulness.

For instance, a man sets out to arrive to work early, as this is important to his entire department, and helps him score high in his boss' eyes. While driving along, his car breaks down or has an accident. Clearly, there are several ways of looking at this hindrance; one of which is very common, i.e. one is unlucky.

One may say to oneself:

- I'm unlucky, and this is gonna be a very bad day for me from the looks of it. I wonder why I am not as lucky as others are!

- I'm hopeless. Although I have left particularly early this morning, I will still be late. If it's not my own delay, something else happens to make sure that I'm late. What are they going to say about me at work.

- Life is always against me. All people go to work every day, but life just chooses me out of everybody else to get an accident or have a blown tire!

- I must've been envied by others because I am such a high achiever at work. I must be careful of all those evil-eyes at work! Mark said I had a great car the other day! He must've envied me for having such a fast and reliable car that gets me to work every day on time.

This way of negative self-talk or 'self-suggestion' (as Napoleon Hill calls it in his book "Think & Grow Rich") creates disappointment along with a list of other negative feelings and thoughts. All previous monologues carry the potential of setting ourselves for disappointment, anger, fear, doubt, resentment, etc. They certainly are unproductive as they promote self-limitation, self-doubt, misery, feeling victimized, etc.

Other possible ways of looking at the same situation:

- It's OK. These things happen. I'm not the only person with a blown tire. Let me call Melissa to tell her I'm gonna be a bit late today.

- It was very important to me to arrive to work early today, but it's OK. Better arrive late but safe than fast but sorry.

- I have to keep making the effort to arrive early at work. It's important to me and to the people at work, especially my boss.

Self-suggestion is a crucial dynamism, by which we constantly construct our self-image in our minds. If it is influenced by negative thoughts, it may pollute our self-image with unproductive traits, which lead to disappointment eventually, which then feeds self-loathing into the vicious cycle.

If we see ourselves or others as a failure, we are bound to be disappointed by ourselves or others.

Hesitation and Delay

One may quickly judge hesitation and delay as disappointing acts. One may also think they are obstacles in the way of moving forward. As a matter of fact, when we find ourselves suddenly hesitating to make a certain action, of which we had been contemplating for a while, it may just be the most appropriate step for us to do. In addition, we may spare ourselves the disappointment of a possible failure resulting from committing that action, or from not stopping to think about it while acting upon it. Hesitation in this sense offers an opportunity for further assessment of the current situation, which may well save us from a possible disappointment, had we committed the action we had set to do.

How can delay be useful? I heard someone say yesterday that delay is a good thing too, because it allows one to re-evaluate one's expectations and take on things. It also reminds us why we went on to do a certain thing, or why we thought of someone in a particular way. The longer we heighten our awareness around the details of the current situation, the clearer our vision becomes. This way, even though delay may be a disappointing act by itself, it may still be to our benefit, as our re-assessment of the situation shall provide better clarity.

How To Deal With Disappointment:

Following are some tips that can help us deal with disappointment in a productive way, as opposed to the unproductive habits people usually fall for, like complaining, whining, silence, lack of action, etc.

- When you are in a situation and you feel disappointed of yourself or others, stop and take time to understand why you feel and think that way. Consider whether you - in the first place - had formed realistic expectations around yourself or someone else. Consider why you had those expectations, what went wrong that led you to feel disappointed, and how can you better improve your expectations next time.

- If you plan on doing something or committing to a certain action, like dieting or studying, and then you got distracted or disconnected from doing that, do not surrender to the quick trap of blaming yourself and saying how disappointed you are of yourself. It doesn't lead you any where but to the place where you are. So in order to achieve your goals, you need to pause for a while, think, re-assess the whats, hows and whys and then commit to following your objectives with the new expectations in mind.

- If you set out to do something and your interrupted by a failure or an annoyance (something outside your control), don't succumb to thinking that it's destiny playing against you, and constantly sabotaging your progress. Don't blame anyone for surprises or new experiences. You simply didn't know what you learned later, so take it easy, deal with it and move on.

- Always check in with yourself, visualizing a table of three columns in your head, categorizing your Thoughts, Actions, and Feelings separately from one another, to better be able to raise your awareness around what it is exactly that is making you feel disappointed, how it happened and why. Then, you can start thinking of better ways of handling the new situation.

- Follow your intuition, even if that meant your feeling disappointed in yourself or somebody being disappointed in you, because you hesitated or delayed saying or doing something. Your larger self is wiser than your existential self, so follow its lead.

- Always remember who you are at the end of the day, and what is your life purpose at the end of your life. Trust that and act upon this wisdom. It is who you are and why you do things the way you do. Also, it's a much more peaceful place than self-loathing.

Disappointment is a very unpleasant place to be, and if we settle with it, we are only blocking ourselves from more productive actions that can be learned from that disappointing situation. Therefore, raise your awareness around the details of it and set new action steps to handle it. No one is perfect, and certainly neither are you. So take it easy, embrace life with all its challenges, and surmount them with determination and faith that one way or another, you will eventually get what you want to achieve.

5 Reasons To Not Let Depression Control You Anymore!

Depression is a state of mind and once you start to appreciate what you have and no longer brood on what you don't things will start to improve. You are responsible for what happens in your life and until you accept and start making changes you will always be living in a state of nothingness. When we are sick its our bodies way of telling us that something is wrong, depression is no different.

Depression although can seem a very dark place to be, it can also help you to improve your life in many ways. It is a great teacher, highlighting that things are not right in your world and this realisation alone will bring its own reward. You will learn so much about yourself during this period; use it for a time to reflect and change what no longer works for you. Focus and truly appreciate what is important in life right now, improve in areas that are making you unhappy, do it for yourself, your family, friends, and loved ones.

Family - It can be very annoying to your loved one's when you are feeling low and depressed. They love you and only what the best for you, but on the other hand every now and again they can get frustrated and wonder why you can't just pull yourself together. It can be extremely difficult on children of someone suffering with depression and it could affect how they view life in general, sometimes even years down the line. Having experienced depression myself, I can say without a shadow of a doubt, that this is the number one motivation you should have to beat your depression. Trust me, it can be done. You just have to decide, do you want this life forever or do you want to change?

Work - Work life can suffer greatly when you are depressed. You will find it more difficult to concentrate. Not only that, creating and maintaining professional working relationships is much more difficult too. Furthermore, it makes being a "self-motivator" far more unlikely. Rather than making positive moves forward, at a subconscious level continuing life in a negative state becomes more acceptable.

Love - Depression has a massive impact on intimacy too, with a tendency to feel 'unloved', as do those around you. In spite of the loving partner professing their commitment to you, the depression will prevent you ever seeing the brighter side of life and over time it can wear down everyone involved. Life is too short, right? Love conquers A WHOLE LOT, but not everything. When dealing with a sufferer try being understanding, it's easy to be judgemental and critical but a little compassion can go a long way. Put yourself into the other person's shoes, see life from their point of view and then ask yourself "If I were in this persons shoes, how would it make me feel, how would I behave"? It is also good for the person who is depressed to ask themselves these questions too. Finding the answers will make you more tolerant of each others situation. Love is really put to the test when depression strikes, but remember every person we meet and every situation we encounter is for a reason and that reason is to teach us something about ourselves. You can learn a lot about yourself during this period, after all when you are not in alignment your body knows and by plunging you into the depths of depression is its way of telling you that something needs to change.

Health - Studies have shown that people who are out of alignment with themselves are more likely to get depressed and will suffer sickness more often. Also, constantly behaving in a negative manner can shorten your life expectancy, compared to those who are content with their life. It is in your best interest, health wise, to overcome your depression or you could find yourself experiencing more hospital visits and a daily diet of drugs and loneliness, is this what you want?

Prosperity - When depressed you can sometimes lacks clarity in what it is you want to achieve, your life purpose or which direction you want to go in. Because of this many missed golden opportunities have passed you by, if only you were paying attention to what was going on around you things might be different. It's OK to complain about what is and what isn't right in your life, but in all honesty the life you have is the one that you created. You and only you are responsible for the choices that you make, get your head around that one and you have taken the first step in creating the life you truly want. Let's face it, if you keep doing the same thing, behave in the same manner, mix with the same people, how can you ever expect anything but what you already have? Your life is only going to get better when you decide to change. Contrary to what the books say, there are no fairy godmothers, no magic wands nor are there any genies living in lamps ready to deliver your every wish. You can't change the past; you can only create a future. A good place to start is being grateful for what you already have, if you are thinking there is nothing, then take your favourite item and imagine life without it, or that special person who kisses you for no reason, the roof over your head, clean water that comes from your tap. Good things come into your life when you stop taking things for granted and start showing appreciation instead, this is a great way to finally put an end the cycle of depression and self imposed-isolation (even if only figuratively).

Remember, we are all creators of our own reality ~ will you shake this depression, or will you keep it for another day? The choice is yours!