Depression: The first sign of an awakening.

May I put forth the suggestion that depression is the first sign of an awakening.

I am suffering from depression. I have been ordered to take anti depressants which I have been told have the side effects of increasing your depression and could lead you to having thoughts of suicide. These effects however, I have been told, only occur within the first few days of taking anti depressants.

This is the psychological world’s solution for you if you are experiencing depression.

Why am i depressed?

Let’s start with work. I was working for the health service in the uk as a team leader. I was with my company for two years. After a year i was promoted internally from a booking operator to a team leader. After having worked in the role of team leader for a year and battling with constant challenges from the team I was co managing, last Wednesday I decided to walk out.
I was tired of the people I worked with underperforming and aggressively excusing themselves or a regular basis. I was tired of the office snipes, the malicious whispers and emails that floated around the office single out members of staff for ridicule. I was tired of staff walking in as they please, coming in late almost daily and throwing sickies when the weather was hot. I was tired at a management structure that had no way to address these issues without fear of a total rebellion or backlash. I had had enough and decided that life was not for me. I left because I felt it was hopeless trying to help people become better and more efficient at what they were being paid to do and also to become more proud and confident in their work. I left because I had no hope left and was depressed.

My personal life held its own depression. The mother of my son took my son from me when he was 6 months old. She up and left. No forwarding address and no contact number. Speaking to her solicitor who was black and white and did not deal with anything other than defending her client regardless of any injustice, i lost hope and realised that the only way to see my son again was to go the legal route. A mother who did not want a loving father to be with his son simply because she couldn’t get her way and stay in a turbulent and destructive relationship. I constantly wonder how a mother can be as selfish as to put her own feelings in front of the best interests of her baby, my baby.

So i live in depression of being alienated from my son, knowing where or how he is, with no means of contact.

On a spiritual level I look at the world and realise that people are asleep within a system that blinds them from the truth with temptations of the flesh, fame and fortune. I see how mankind has gone down a road which has turned it into a selfish, self obsessed, insecure, paranoid, fearful and judgemental machine.

I look at my world and wonder where is the love. Where are the good people? The loving and caring and genuine and sincere people that god created.

As a result i become depressed.

Is my depression really what psychology label it to be. A malfunction in the brain, a chemical imbalance, the result of trauma?

I say no. I say depression is the first sign that the system we live in is riddled with inconsistencies and faults. I say the world of psychology try to cover up this truth by putting you inside a box that automatically begins to condition into thinking the problem exists within you and not within the world.

To conclude the problem is in the world and not within you is to defend their views of the world. A world in which normal people are ok and people with mental illnesses are not. I would look at it the other way around.

I would say that those who look at the world and try to live a normal life within it are the ones who are blinded. Those that go out and party and have fun and buy into the ideals of a system that only wishes to enslave and finally control you. You are the people who have created a reality where everything is ok.

The minute your world view collapses and you awaken from the constructs of that prison and you question it is where the awakening begins.

This is a very dangerous stage for anyone experiencing their first awakening.
The system will try to label you and as a result you could be forced into believing you have a psychological condition. If you are not strong enough to fight the system who will impose this on you, eventually you will succumb and become reliant of medication and regular psychological evaluations.

I suggest that depression is the first sign of an awakening and is not bad in anyway. It should however not be treated with psychology and clinical means that are hard and calculated and lack any form of sensitivity or compassion. It should be looked on by a kind and experienced heart and should be nurtured to bring someone out of the dark they are facing into the light of the truth.

So if you are or ever have been depressed, ask yourself how your thoughts were. Were they deep and reflective, were you in a place that felt heavy and dark. This place is where we have to visit before we rise up. The abyss.

Do not fear depression or believe what the medical world would have you believe. Realise that the psyche is sensing something very wrong with the view you have or the world.

Just putting my thoughts out there.

This is not an attack or slander thread. Unless you have constructive input then please turn away now or do not be offended if your post is ignored.

Thanks for taking the time to read my thoughts and opinions. Feel free to share your own.

reply to post by Spirit777


Excellent observation! My question is where does one go from there?

I've read that before each degree we rise we have those sorts of negative moments. But then after you get to that next level, you're much stronger/joyous than before. So in a way it gives us an opportunity to grow and expand, if you choose it. Sadly, most people don't take the negative moments in life in any constructive way and they don't progress anywhere. The negative moments are really a blessing but people don't understand that.

[edit on 7-7-2010 by ghaleon12]

reply to post by dlifesjrny


From experiencing some form of deppression after awhile I realized I had to make changes abd look at the world different and things got better so I would say you go up or get out of depression unless you are perpetually stuck there?

Originally posted by Spirit777
I suggest that depression is the first sign of an awakening and is not bad in anyway. It should however not be treated with psychology and clinical means that are hard and calculated and lack any form of sensitivity or compassion. It should be looked on by a kind and experienced heart and should be nurtured to bring someone out of the dark they are facing into the light of the truth.

So if you are or ever have been depressed, ask yourself how your thoughts were. Were they deep and reflective, were you in a place that felt heavy and dark. This place is where we have to visit before we rise up. The abyss.

Do not fear depression or believe what the medical world would have you believe. Realise that the psyche is sensing something very wrong with the view you have or the world.

Interesting thread Spirit777, thanks.

I'm still pondering some of what you've said, but first I want to contribute just a little from my own experience of depression, for perspective's sake.

For one thing, I don't think all depression can be seen as the same thing, or treated the same way. One clear difference between your experience as you relate it and my own experiences with major depressive disorder has to do with the context. You have obviously experienced external setbacks that led to the depression. For me, the worst depressions have come when everything is going well externally. There will be no circumstance I can point to to say, this is why I want to die today. There is no "waking up" to a realization that the world is messed up, there is only the soul-sickness of depression.

I am in complete agreement with you that depression should always be treated not only with medication but also with loving wisdom -- I have been fortunate enough in my life to find therapists who provide exactly that, along with training and knowledge about what medical science has been able to learn of depression.

The "antidepressants can cause suicidal thoughts" warning is an interesting one to me. My experience with that was that they didn't make me want to die more than I did before, but that as I started to take interest in myself and my surroundings again I was less able to dissociate myself from the pain I was in and more able to actively contemplate doing something about it (like killing myself, or like talking to someone about what I was going through, or like trying to get outside every day to walk for a bit). So in that sense, yes antidepressants (in the first couple weeks of taking them) increased the frequency and sharpness of my self-destructive instincts. But that was a direct result of the good they were doing me.

Perhaps depression is a wake-up call in a way for people who experience it the way I do also, but if so it is one that simultaneously lets me know that I can't continue on the path I've been on but also holds me back from taking a new path. Without treatment (both pharmaceutic and through talk therapy -- neither alone has ever worked for me), a major depressive episode leaves me just paralyzed.

feeling suicidal within 2days? most antidepressant's take a week or two to get into your system

Originally posted by dlifesjrny
reply to post by Spirit777

 

Excellent observation! My question is where does one go from there?

Thanks.

Where you go from there depends soley on you. You can choose to reintergrate into society, feeling momenterily better, until the depression relapses, if it isnt "cured" by medication or you could choose to take up some self enquiry and look within for your answers. It is normally advised to do this with the aid of a guide who is experienced is self reflection but if you take your time i'm sure you will be fine.

Peace and blessings to you.

Originally posted by ghaleon12
I've read that before each degree we rise we have those sorts of negative moments. But then after you get to that next level, you're much stronger/joyous than before. So in a way it gives us an opportunity to grow and expand, if you choose it. Sadly, most people don't take the negative moments in life in any constructive way and they don't progress anywhere. The negative moments are really a blessing but people don't understand that.

[edit on 7-7-2010 by ghaleon12]

It depends on what you mean by degrees. If you mean secret society, metaphysical, mystical degrees then i wouldnt really know but if you mean as in natural gradual degrees of growth then yes i would agree. In the same way a seed must journy through the earth to reach the light we must all endure struggle in order to grow. Jesus was quoted as saying in scripture "suffer with joy my children". Perhaps he knew that suffering was our greatest teacher in the lesson of compassion.

Thank you for your thoughts.

Peace and blessings.

Originally posted by America?
reply to post by dlifesjrny

 

From experiencing some form of deppression after awhile I realized I had to make changes abd look at the world different and things got better so I would say you go up or get out of depression unless you are perpetually stuck there?

So you reintergrated into the system?

This to me would be going backwards. Almost like reaching a turning point and not taking the step through it by regressing and turning back. Then again i dont know your circumstances and can only make assumption based on what you have written.

Peace and blessings.

Originally posted by americandingbat

Originally posted by Spirit777
I suggest that depression is the first sign of an awakening and is not bad in anyway. It should however not be treated with psychology and clinical means that are hard and calculated and lack any form of sensitivity or compassion. It should be looked on by a kind and experienced heart and should be nurtured to bring someone out of the dark they are facing into the light of the truth.

So if you are or ever have been depressed, ask yourself how your thoughts were. Were they deep and reflective, were you in a place that felt heavy and dark. This place is where we have to visit before we rise up. The abyss.

Do not fear depression or believe what the medical world would have you believe. Realise that the psyche is sensing something very wrong with the view you have or the world.

Interesting thread Spirit777, thanks.

I'm still pondering some of what you've said, but first I want to contribute just a little from my own experience of depression, for perspective's sake.

For one thing, I don't think all depression can be seen as the same thing, or treated the same way. One clear difference between your experience as you relate it and my own experiences with major depressive disorder has to do with the context. You have obviously experienced external setbacks that led to the depression. For me, the worst depressions have come when everything is going well externally. There will be no circumstance I can point to to say, this is why I want to die today. There is no "waking up" to a realization that the world is messed up, there is only the soul-sickness of depression.

I am in complete agreement with you that depression should always be treated not only with medication but also with loving wisdom -- I have been fortunate enough in my life to find therapists who provide exactly that, along with training and knowledge about what medical science has been able to learn of depression.

The "antidepressants can cause suicidal thoughts" warning is an interesting one to me. My experience with that was that they didn't make me want to die more than I did before, but that as I started to take interest in myself and my surroundings again I was less able to dissociate myself from the pain I was in and more able to actively contemplate doing something about it (like killing myself, or like talking to someone about what I was going through, or like trying to get outside every day to walk for a bit). So in that sense, yes antidepressants (in the first couple weeks of taking them) increased the frequency and sharpness of my self-destructive instincts. But that was a direct result of the good they were doing me.

Perhaps depression is a wake-up call in a way for people who experience it the way I do also, but if so it is one that simultaneously lets me know that I can't continue on the path I've been on but also holds me back from taking a new path. Without treatment (both pharmaceutic and through talk therapy -- neither alone has ever worked for me), a major depressive episode leaves me just paralyzed.

Many thanks for your thoughts.

I feel there is a general depression and a clinical depression and yes they are very different although there are also simularities. Clinical depression is much more intense and can lead to a complete breakdown. None the less it is still on the same spectrum as general depression but at the far end of the scale. It in my opinion hits different people differently. It is still depression but it has degrees. It depends on how receptive ones mind is to the suggestion of a broken reality. If the structure of the reality in the mind is compramised the person who is suffering the depression undergoes mental stress. This can impact on a person at varying degrees. Personally i think this can be treated without medication. You must give the person experiencing the depression, the tools to readjust the way they think. Some may say it isnt as easy as this but i would say this is the only way. If you can speak to a persons heart you can affect many chemical reactions, more importantly those which heal us. If you can connect with someone going through a depression and show real compassion, with wisdom you can help guide them through their experience. This i guess is an area in which belief plays a significant role. It is like having faith. We have faith in love. We can not touch, it or taste it or see or smell it but we have faith that exists. Most medication made by the western world is created for the sole purpose of profits. Many drugs that had failed medical testing were passed into distribution. That is not to say they are all bad and do not what is said on the tin but anything relating to the brain or mind must be look at as purley experimental. The psychological world has little or no true understanding of how the mind works or how it does what it does. To know the extent a person changes whilst taking mind medication is still unmeasured. It is understood that it closes certain receptors in the brain. What if these receptors are our warning signals? The true universal answers that work can only come from within. Once in the external world they are subjected to decay and transformation loosing and yet maintaining its essence. All in all i would say that the system that tries to cure us of our mental illnesses are directly responsible for creating them. If you wish to trust in the system that is your call.

Peace and blessings.

Originally posted by tigerwoodsondxm
feeling suicidal within 2days? most antidepressant's take a week or two to get into your system

This is what i have read online. It may be incorrect as sometimes we only get the opinion of people and not study based facts. However i wouldnt really know the exact length of time the medication would take to have an effect. sorry.

Peace and blessings.

Your reaction to the circumstances of your life are absolutely normal, and there's no one in their right mind who would agrue the point. What the medication (SSRIs) are about is that stress and terrible circumstances, especially if experienced over an extended period of time, can rewire the brain itself and result in despondency being the normal state of the brain, where that was not the case before the downturn in personal affairs.

In the past, a bad run could conceivably alter a person's entire life for good, with the rerouting of electro-chemical triggers and impulses having the impact of chemical brain surgery on the person and their developing personality. What SSRIs do is shut down that development before it becomes intractable, and should only be used as a temporary preventative measure in circumstances like yours. It will simply prevent your bio-chemistry from permanently altering your normal set point - as it pertains to your physical brain.

In the case of people whose brains are not properly formed, or have been damaged due to any of a number of methods (drugs, booze, childhood trauma or abuse) SSRIs can mitigate the impact, and allow these people to function more like the average person who is not laden with such heaviness and physiological weight.

Just some insight into what the meds that doctors prescribe for this sort of situation are about, and why it's no shame to take advantage of the new advances in mental health care when the world attacks and all you want to do is survive until things start turning around again - which they always do.

By the way - 25 years ago my 1st wife took off with my 5 yr old daughter, got involved with a coke dealer and ended up shooting a rival dealer in self-defense a few years before killing herself wth a gun. I ended up with my daughter, and raised her through teenage years by myself (the happiest years ever). Now I have two great grandkids and my daughter is happily married to a really impressive guy who loves her and loves his whole life with her and his kids.

I'm just saying that 25 years ago, I would not have imagined it would have turned out as it did. Each day is like Christmas morning if you simply allow it to be. The most amazing things happen and I defy you to be able to predict any of it.

Excellent post! very astute observations! It always darkest before the dawn as the saying goes...

You will do much better taking this type of approach then some of your earlier posts. If you want to teach people you must earn thier trust by proving you have knowledge they need and desire then they will seek you out as someone who knows more then they on a particular subject.

Originally posted by NorEaster
Your reaction to the circumstances of your life are absolutely normal, and there's no one in their right mind who would agrue the point. What the medication (SSRIs) are about is that stress and terrible circumstances, especially if experienced over an extended period of time, can rewire the brain itself and result in despondency being the normal state of the brain, where that was not the case before the downturn in personal affairs.

In the past, a bad run could conceivably alter a person's entire life for good, with the rerouting of electro-chemical triggers and impulses having the impact of chemical brain surgery on the person and their developing personality. What SSRIs do is shut down that development before it becomes intractable, and should only be used as a temporary preventative measure in circumstances like yours. It will simply prevent your bio-chemistry from permanently altering your normal set point - as it pertains to your physical brain.

In the case of people whose brains are not properly formed, or have been damaged due to any of a number of methods (drugs, booze, childhood trauma or abuse) SSRIs can mitigate the impact, and allow these people to function more like the average person who is not laden with such heaviness and physiological weight.

Just some insight into what the meds that doctors prescribe for this sort of situation are about, and why it's no shame to take advantage of the new advances in mental health care when the world attacks and all you want to do is survive until things start turning around again - which they always do.

By the way - 25 years ago my 1st wife took off with my 5 yr old daughter, got involved with a coke dealer and ended up shooting a rival dealer in self-defense a few years before killing herself wth a gun. I ended up with my daughter, and raised her through teenage years by myself (the happiest years ever). Now I have two great grandkids and my daughter is happily married to a really impressive guy who loves her and loves his whole life with her and his kids.

I'm just saying that 25 years ago, I would not have imagined it would have turned out as it did. Each day is like Christmas morning if you simply allow it to be. The most amazing things happen and I defy you to be able to predict any of it.

Many thanks for your encouraging story and support in favor of medication or SSRI's.

I am still apprehensive about taking this medication i have been prescribed but i will continue to work through with the support structures that are in place and gain more insight into your suggestions.

Peace and blessings.

Originally posted by hawkiye
Excellent post! very astute observations! It always darkest before the dawn as the saying goes...

You will do much better taking this type of approach then some of your earlier posts. If you want to teach people you must earn thier trust by proving you have knowledge they need and desire then they will seek you out as someone who knows more then they on a particular subject.

Many thanks.

I am practicing speaking from the heart and learning to see the world as an illusion.
I hope my transformation leads to a positive end as that is my only intention.

Peace and blessings.

Spirit777, I have suffered from depression for years and have been prescribed various antidepressants over the years, but never took any with enough consistency to prove effective. Over the last couple years; I have been consistently taking my meds. And the difference is noticeable. I'm not in some constant drug induced euphoric stupor...I'm just not in the throes of despair all the time anymore either. In fact I experience the full spectrum of human emotions, including sadness. I think there is probably some personal or spiritual benefit to experiencing intense despair and not submitting to the urge to end your life, but that is not to say that is desirable to be sad and miserable all time. Antidepressants are not a panacea; but please don't rule them out based on the opinions of anonymous internet strangers. It is your life after all.

reply to post by dlifesjrny

Excellent observation! My question is where does one go from there?

Don't know about others, but after years of treatment my depression turned to mostly apathy.

Interesting perspective, not sure I agree with all you said but I can relate to the picture you have painted. Perhaps the illness is intensified in people who realise that the way they have been conditioned to live and behave is not natural or healthy. I would be very reluctant to associate "Depression" with "Awakening" because there are so many varieties/aspects to Depression. There are people that are Depressed due to unpleasant circumstances in their lives - for example, financial hardship - whereas other people suffer bouts of Depression despite any success or prosperity they might achieve in their lives.

Anti-depressants work in mysterious ways. When you take them, you feel more at ease, less irritated and more patient...but you also feel more lazy, apathetic and unmotivated. When you don't take them, you feel pessimistic, angry and impatient towards those around you...but you also feel more energetic and active. I think the best method is to try find a balance so that you can enjoy the benefits but escape the negatives that come with taking them. This is tough and I am yet to achieve this balance myself.

Originally posted by Dark Ghost
Anti-depressants work in mysterious ways. When you take them, you feel more at ease, less irritated and more patient...but you also feel more lazy, apathetic and unmotivated. When you don't take them, you feel pessimistic, angry and impatient towards those around you...but you also feel more energetic and active. I think the best method is to try find a balance so that you can enjoy the benefits but escape the negatives that come with taking them. This is tough and I am yet to achieve this balance myself.

I agree with most of your post, but want to point out one thing:

Antidepressants work in even more mysterious ways than you point out.

When I take them, I feel more angry and impatient, less apathetic, lazy, and unmotivated.

One of the things that has always fascinated me is that so many people say antidepressants make them feel less, whereas for me they have always made me feel more -- more happy, but also more sad and more angry.

Depression takes my emotions away; antidepressants restore them -- the pleasant and the not-so-pleasant. Usually beginning with the not-so-pleasant ones.

"It is no measure of health to be well adjusted to a profoundly sick society."
Jiddu Krishnamurti

Depression is a vital, necessary, and entirely reasonable reaction to this world and the state of affairs. I personally don't trust people who aren't wary or concerned in a manner that leans toward the morose rather than the upbeat.

There is no reason we should react to a world full of liars and thieves in a happy-go-lucky attitude. Being positive about everything all the time and seeking the so-called "one season mentality" is dangerous and a key element to manipulation.

Once you become aware, you react accordingly: depression. Now, when you start studying and disseminating information, figuring out what's what for yourself, it is then you can choose between despair and grim determination.

I wouldn't consider a positive outlook on the future a viable option because that would lend itself to inaction, lack of preventative foresight, and being mislead.

DO NOT SEEK HAPPINESS. It will find you when you live in an upright and meaningful way.

If you are depressed and have thoughts of suicide(we all do, make no mistake), then stop thinking about yourself and start thinking about what you would be able to do if given the chance to steer something towards a better outcome. If you are dead, then you can't prevent that kid from wandering into the street or help that friend get home safely after a long night of drinking or take part in the revolution.

I suggest checking out what Michael Tsarion has to say about psychology and depression. You may have qualms with him and his methods and alledged(not proven or based in reality) affiliations with secret societies, but he makes a lot of sense

www.youtube.com...