#NINE BELIEF
Excerpts from Believing is seeing: 15 ways to leave the prison of depression. (2017) DAP. Louisville. pgs 47-50.
“Withdrawing from friends and other social contacts is the first clue that you are slipping back into the isolation and pain of depression. Move toward a friend, get a sponsor, and go to a 12 Step meeting. Ask your Higher Power for that nudge that can guide you into the appropriate path.”
“I know in my heart that when I just sit at home by myself, isolating and ruminating within my head about all the terrible things that have happened to me, or are about to happen, that is when I depress myself even more. Get connected!”
It’s our addictive thinking, our compulsive way of processing infor- mation, which describes how we habitually store the negative but continue to dump the positive information which continually 24/7 flows into our brain. These negative thoughts and feelings persist in keeping us falling back into the old habit of staying isolated and avoiding others. We might fool ourselves and say that people have nothing to offer me and that is why I distance myself from everyone. Part of my nature when depressed is to avoid and distance myself from whatever I feel is threatening, like a child afraid of the dark.
We know that depression grows stronger when isolating ourselves from others.
Dorothy Rowe, tells us in her award winning book, DEPRESSION: THE WAY OUT OF YOUR PRISON, that
“Seeing yourself as a basically good person reduces the need for other people’s approval. If you see yourself as good, you can set up a select group of people whose approval you desire and can be indifferent to the opinion of the multitude. But if you see yourself as basically bad then you need everybody’s approval….”
David Karp, in SPEAKING OF SADNESS shares the following thought
” that depression is an illness of isolation, a dis-ease of disconnection. As with much of social life, and consequently with much compelling sociological analysis, it is irony that captures the complexity of things. The irony to be explained in Chapter 2 is that depressed persons greatly desire connection while they are simultaneously deprived of the ability to realize it. Much of depression’s pain arises out of the recognition that what might make one feel better –human connection–seems impossible in the midst of a paralyzing episode of depression. It is rather like dying from thirst while looking at a glass of water just beyond one’s reach.”
For those who have no Depressed Anonymous mutual aid group to connect with in their own local community, our Publisher, Depressed Anonymous Publications has made available the HOME SELF STUDY KIT. The HOME SELF STUDY KIT program of recovery includes both the Depressed Anonymous, 3rd edition and The Depressed Anonymous Workbook. These two excellent guides provide us with a path out of depression. By answering the stimulating questions as provided by the WORKBOOK, one also is able to discover the nature of depression while learning how to apply the 12 spiritual principles of Depressed Anonymous to their own lives.
No longer do we have to be alone or feel disconnected in our depression. We provide the necessary resources to help an individual be connected with a community worldwide who know what it means to be depressed. You don’t have to be alone any longer!
To see what literature is available from our Publisher, visit the STORE here at our website www.depressedanon.com. You can now order online.
