Veterans: Combating Depression
Living with Spiritual Trench Foot:
The antidote for depression is non-resistance
When you are in the throes of depression or feel an episode coming on, a good attack strategy to combat its onslaught is to divert your attention. Do not, do NOT resist the depression. As the adage says, the more you resist something the stronger it becomes. Rather than resisting, by “diverting” attention you are completely rerouting your much-needed cognitive energy and investing it elsewhere. Cognitive energy, positive or negative, requires a breaker in the circuit board to cut continuity. The best way to switch the energy is not to reverse throttle but neutralize it. How? Stop thinking. Don’t ask yourself how to change the mood or say, “What should I do?” Just take action. Do something, anything constructive, even if that means scrubbing the toilet, going for a walk, talking to a neighbor, or looking up some random topic on the internet. Anything that temporarily interrupts your spiraling thoughts is essential.
Sitting in a stupor thinking, “I’m depressed. It won’t stop. It’s always going to be this way,” will ONLY make you feel worse and feed the discontent. As hard as it can be, try to remove yourself from your head, viewing the depression, with your body and thoughts as the host, from a distance. When in the depths, this is no easy feat. Remind yourself: Everything is temporary.
Do not think about next week, next month or the next ten years. If you fear being depressed for the rest of your life and find yourself paralyzed by the sinking, wrenching feeling that the abyss which you now find yourself in is all there is and ever will be for you, sleep it off. Crawl into bed (no matter the time of day), sleep, listen to music, go for a walk, sit on a bench and watch other people and sigh at the absurdity of life. Above all, tread gently. Attacking and tearing yourself apart verbally and/or physically will only make matters worse. It is not easy. I repeat this statement lest you judge yourself as weak. It. Is. Not. Easy. Hell no. The strength it requires to come back from the depths is not for the faint of heart. I promise you, the day after the darkest hour is always the best, the sunniest, the reward for having endured. The thing about endurance is this: it’s a marathon, not a sprint.
Understand that the depression—the throes—will beset you again and perhaps again and again and again. You may get tired, weary, fed-up with being its host. When you are depleted it means your body and mind are resisting the depression. Let it come and wash over you, but don’t dwell on it. Dwelling is energy you can’t recover.
Those dealing with depression, and there are many brands and varying degrees, need to remember that it’s not going to miraculously evaporate. Turn the suffering into something useful or the suffering will devour every last shred of light. Do not tell yourself to be happy. That will never work! Instead, say to yourself, “I won’t be miserable.” Shifting perspective in this way has significant effects.
We have a finite amount of time on earth! Use it wisely.
Your comrade,
Wheston
