We all enjoy experiencing positive emotions and actively seek them out. We go out for a good time, plan activities to have fun, gather with family for closeness, and many people when asked their goal in life will say, “I just want to be happy.” But other emotions are felt as bad experiences and we often go to great lengths to avoid them – feelings of anger, disappointment or fear. Sometimes we are taught that certain emotions are somehow “bad” and we shouldn’t experience them. We believe that “big boys don’t cry” or “nice girls don’t get angry”. Nonsense! Big boys and nice girls are normal people too, and to experience the whole range of emotions is perfectly normal. When we seek to suppress certain emotions we only run into trouble. [Read more…]
Handling Depression
It is normal to feel upset when things go wrong, and for a person to feel very down for a few days after suffering a series of setbacks. But most people bounce back once they have had time to think about it and get things into perspective. Depression is far more serious than just feeling down in the dumps for a while.
The most common symptoms of depression are feeling tired, not caring, having no energy, not sleeping normally, feeling sad a lot, being unable to concentrate, losing interest in life, and not having a normal appetite. Some people get so down they think about ending their lives.
There are a number of causes of depression. It can occur in people who suffer from a mental illness, it can be caused by a chemical imbalance, or it can be hereditary. However, for the majority of people who develop it depression is often part of a reaction to unpleasant events.
Such circumstances can include losing a job, the breakup of a relationship, being seriously ill or injured, being treated badly, experiencing a trauma, the death of someone close, a big financial loss, and many other triggers. Many people can go through difficult times like these without developing depression. This is called resilience. [Read more…]