“My life is joyful. The blackness – the despair – withdrawing more and more into myself – the hopelessness – there was NO joy and I could no longer pretend. My husband said, “You need to get some help.” I knew that he was right but I was always the one who helped others. Our newspaper carried a listing of all the support groups in the community and I found the notice for a 12 Step Depressed Anonymous group. I had never heard of it before but I knew it fit. The group was just forming and was there when I needed it. I had knowledge of 12 Step programs and actually believed that I lived that life. Today I know that I had a head-knowledge but today I live the 12 – Step life…” Lois, in her Personal Story in Depressed Anonymous, 3rd edition. (2011) Pages 110-111. (More from Lois tomorrow)
Category Archives: Supportive Actions
STOP SIGNS AND SUNSPOTS
My name is Linda and the first time I read Depressed Anonymous, I did not like it and got angry. The first part of the book about turning over our minds and life to a Higher Power sounded good. I was ready to do that. ” Hey, here it is God! You take it! No more depression.” But then came the part about a moral inventory, shortcomings, and the big one is that I depress myself.
“What’s he talking about?” I said to myself as I read the book. I had tried to un-depress myself many times. I put the book down, and went to work . But as I was walking around at work that night feeling very depressed, bits and pieces of the book kept popping into my head and I started to think of the word “stop” just like the book suggested to do. “I depressed myself, I can un-depress myself” I said to myself.
Look for “SUNSPOTS”, memories from the past that were happy times and ones which bring back happy feelings from years gone by. I tried, but none came to mind. But I did find that just by thinking about the book and what it said made me feel a little bit better. Then a piece of a song popped into my mind: “Seek you first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness , and all the others will be added to you.” “Hey! A SUNSPOT!” I said to myself.
Then I felt a warm glow and then I did feel better –I did it! I made myself feel better. I can un-depress myself! I had mixed feelings. I wanted to feel better, but admitting I depressed myself was not an easy thing to do. I went back and reread the book, but now with an open mind. I have started to follow the Twelve Steps and with the help of the Higher Power, I can have a brighter future. I am making and putting in my memory a lot of SUNSPOTS for those times when I am feeling depressed and which I can choose to draw upon when I feel that I need them.
I put up a “stop” sign and bring out a SUNSPOT to carry me though.”
SOURCE: Depressed Anonymous, 3rd edition. (2011) Depressed Anonymous Publications. Louisville. Page 114. Personal Stories section.
IF YOU SERVE PEOPLE BREAKFAST IN BED, THEY’LL NEVER LEARN TO COOK THEMSELVES.
How to start a Depressed Anonymous Mutual-Help group.
“Think “Mutual-Help” from the start. Find a few others who share your interest in starting (not simply joining) a self-help group. To do this, first distribute some flyers or letters that specifically cite your interest in hearing from those who would be interested in “joining with others to help start” such a group. Consider including your first name and phone number. Xerox copies and post them at places you feel most appropriate, example., people whom you think would know others like yourself. You can also have a notice published in your local newspaper or church bulletin. When, hopefully, you receive a response, discuss with the caller what the interests are, share your vision of what you like to see the group do, and finally ask if they would be willing to share the work with you for a specific period of time (e.g., a few months or so) to try to get the group off the ground…Once a couple of people have said yes, you have a “core group” or “steering committee” — and you won’t have to do it alone.
It is much easier to start a group if the work is shared…if you don’t involve others in leadership and work from the very beginning you won’t get them later. As one self-help group leader put it, “if you serve people breakfast in bed, they’ll never learn to cook for themselves.” Lastly, consider obtaining the help of any professionals who may be sensitive to your needs and willing to assist you in your efforts. They may be helpful in various ways, from providing needed referrals and information to locating resources and providing suggestions. Remember, everyone in the group is a leader.”
SOURCE: Copyright(c) Believing is seeing: 15 ways to leave the prison of depression. (2015) Depressed Anonymous Publications. Louisville. Pages 81-82.
Depressed Anonymous, 3rd edition. Depressed Anonymous Publications. (2011) Depressed Anonymous Publications. Louisville.
NO MATTER HOW FAR DOWN THE SCALE WE HAVE GONE, WE SEE HOW OUR EXPERIENCE CAN BENEFIT OTHERS
This is another one of the Promises that helps promote our purpose in life as well as gives our life meaning.
“Some of us have attempted suicide. A few of us more than a few times. We had despaired of ever finding peace or hope. We believe that we had no future and that our yesterdays were as hopeless as our today’s. It was hard to attend our first Depressed Anonymous meeting. We felt horribly alone. We just know that no one in the group has been through what we have been through. But as we listened and watched the older members of the group speak we saw ourselves in their stories.
Personally, I believe that whatever you give out to others is the amount that comes back to you. Our experience can usually help someone else. As the experience of depression is so isolating, so predictable in its misery that it is bound to have made such impression upon us that it changed our life and the way we think about our life. And then when our life is changed for the better –thanks to the fellowship of DA, this precious gift of hope needs to be with those still suffering. Ironically, it appears that the farther we have gone down in mood and up again in our recovery, the more powerful can this experience be.
New members of our fellowship see the “after” of our lives lived in recovery and so they themselves get involved in the fellowship. The fact that we have recovered so completely is in itself a message of tremendous hope for those who are newcomers to the group. Isn’t it amazing that those who can do the most for those still suffering are those who have worked themselves out of the pit of isolation and began sharing their story of hope and personal empowerment.”
Copyright(c) I’ll do it when I feel better. (2013) Depressed Anonymous Publications. Louisville. Pages 39-40. PROMISE # 5.
MEXICO ( NAUCALPAN) NOW HAS ESTABLISHED A DEPRESSED ANONYMOUS GROUP
MEXICO NOW HAS ITS FIRST DEPRESSED ANONYMOUS GROUP
ADDRESS OF MEETING:
Carlos Peralta No.28
Circuito Historiadores,
Ciudad Satelite Poniente
NAUCALPAN, ESTADO de MEXICO 53100
Mexico phone number: 52 (55) 53930838.
We will keep you posted as we get more information about the group–meeting time, etc.
“PROCRASTINATION IS REALLY SLOTH IN FIVE SYLLABLES.”
AFFIRMATION
‘I will do it now and not wait til I feel better.”
“Procrastination is really sloth in five syllables.”
“The ones who get better are the ones who work their program, go to meetings, have a sponsor and have a faith that this program of recovery will work for them as it has for thousands of others who have suffered with depression. I used to tell myself that I would start serious work on myself when I had more time, felt a little more cheerful or whatever. I know that these are all good examples of sloth or procrastination. I think depressed people have to fight against this more than others because at the very core of depression is a desire to not make a decision but to stay parked in neutral. To move out of depression takes an act of will because I will never feel better til I get into action.
I want to get well. I do want to feel better. I know that to begin to feel better, I will have to get into motion..
MEDITATION
We are going to commit ourselves to you, God. We are going to trust in you, and we have the faith that you will act boldly in our lives today! ”
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RESOURCES: 1. (c) Higher Thoughts for down days: 365 daily thoughts and meditations for 12 step fellowship groups. (1993, 1999) Depressed Anonymous Publications. Louisville. Pages129-130.
2. (c) I’ll do it when I feel better.” (2013) 2nd edition. Depressed Anonymous Publications. Louisville.
3. (c) Depressed Anonymous, 3rd edition. (2011) Depressed Anonymous Publications. Louisville.
YOU DON’T HAVE TO HAVE YOUR LIFE PARKED IN NEUTRAL!
I just returned from a combined (Edenton and Elizabeth City, North Carolina) Depressed Anonymous fellowship workshop which I was asked to give. It was an all day workshop, with morning open to the public and then the afternoon sessions committed to the two groups speaking to each other about their own personal experiences with the Twelve Steps and how their lives have changed since being part of these two groups.
These groups both were formed right before Christmas 2014. Both groups now have a strong presence in their communities because those in recovery now want to “carry this message to those who are still suffering from depression.” This is the bottom line for all of us who have found hope and healing in practicing and putting the spiritual principles of the Twelve Steps into our daily lives. Hope is what we are sharing. You don’t have your life parked in neutral.
“THE MOST COMMON FORM OF DESPAIR IS NOT BEING WHO YOU ARE! ” — Soren Kierkegaard
” Depressed Anonymous is a spiritual program where you will find people like yourself, honestly, openly and willingly dealing with their character defects (staying isolated) and gradually admitting that they have to change their lives and lifestyle, if they are going to be a whole and honest human being. The decision is yours. You make the choice! The Twelve Steps and your own personal story can now be shared with others and can help them in their own life’s journey. Give the hope that you have now with those who have lost hope. Build it (mutual aid) and they will come! ”
Source: Depressed Anonymous, 3rd edition. (2011) Depressed Anonymous Publications. Louisville. Pages 108-109.
I witnessed the “miracle of the group” again this past Saturday in Edenton, North Carolina when the participants of both fellowship groups came together and shared their stories of how they moved into drive and out of neutral. I thank all you beautiful people in North Carolina as you continue to work your program of recovery! You are becoming who you really are and whom God means for you to be!
I Am No Longer Ashamed To Talk About My Being Depressed…
AFFIRMATION
I am no longer ashamed to talk about my being depressed; when I talk with other depressed persons I feel better.
I used to be ashamed of my condition and didn’t talk about it. But nowadays I freely confess I am a depressive , and this has attracted other depressed people to me. Working with them has helped a great deal.
(2) Bill W., Co-founder of AA.
CLARIFICATION OF THOUGHT
I know that the more I read the literature about the Twelve Steps and daily work my program, the more I am able to help myself grow out of this depression as Bill W., did shortly after he wrote the above piece. So often alcoholism covers up depression so that the original cause of the depression needs to be looked at.
MEDITATION
God, please help us through this day and help us work through these memories of shame that keep us depressed. Let us truly believe that we can be free of our shame and live as a free person today.
COPYRIGHT(C) Higher Thoughts for Down days: 365 Daily Thoughts and Meditations for Twelve Step fellowship groups. (1999) Depressed Anonymous Publications. Louisville. Higher thought for June 24. Pages 126-127.
NOTE: Because I had experienced depression myself, this added a healing assistance to my encounters with clients who were depressed. We could speak and understand each other.
NEW DEPRESSED ANONYMOUS GROUP FORMED NEAR PHILADELPHIA, PA (GLENOLDEN, PA)
NEW GROUP LOCATION
GLENOLDEN CHURCH BASEMENT
200 S. Mac Dade Blvd
Glenolden PA 19036
GROUP NAME: INTO THE LIGHT
TUESDAY @ 7pm
CONTACTS: CATHY B 302.375.6602
MIKE A 610 203. 9484
GIVE THEM A CALL! YOU’LL BE GLAD YOU DID!
Makeover Time: The New Me
Helen’s before and after–
“Now that I look back and see the way I was and see how I am now, I can’t believe that I ever knew that other person. This person is different altogether. I like the person now very much. I am so thankful to the group. They are just wonderful. They are my family. They are my Depressed Anonymous family. I also have my church family. It is a wonderful feeling to know that there is a Higher Power that can help you through these things. At first, I thought: “I doubt that very much” when everyone is talking about the Higher Power and peace in my life. Then it happened to me. Every few days, the world dumps down on you and beats you down. That’s just life. I always think to myself that there is that extra strength that I didn’t have before. I feel that everything is going to be OK with me. I have that peace now myself.”
Read all of Helen’s story in the Personal Stories in Depressed Anonymous, 3rd edition. Depressed Anonymous Publications. Louisville. Page 148.