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Depression: Causes and Action Steps
By Joe | July 25, 2009
It seems to me that in the past dozen years or so there are more illnesses and various challenges for people to deal with. As I was growing up I don’t recall hearing much about depression. It seemed people dealt with the issues that came their way and they made it through one way or another.
Now maybe the issue is that few people talked about it 40 years ago, I don’t know. What I do know is there are about 70 million Google listings for depression and about 13 million Google searches on that topic every month. With that many people searching for information it is a huge issue.
Yes, there are many different reasons people experience depression. Often it is not just one event or issue, rather a combination of events. It can be looked at like adding sticks to a camel’s back – while a single stick won’t break the camel’s back, if enough get put on, the camel will collapse. It is a similar effect with people. One day we are fine, and POW, the next we are as flat as a pancake.
“So what happened, and why did it happen to me?” you may well ask. We don’t need the world to crash around us in order to be depressed, it just takes one or several things and we are out of whack. Some of the bigger issues that cause depression can be:
- The loss of a job or other career issues.
- Losing a spouse or child.
- Divorce.
- Getting passed over for a promotion.
- Having someone ridicule you in public.
- Illness.
- Encountering an issue you cannot handle yourself.
- Being a crime victim.
One key ingredient to getting out of depression is to seek help. Sometimes our greatest fears and trauma’s can be trivial to others. If you are terrified of climbing a ladder for example, I can assure you that to a carpenter, it is a matter of daily activity. If you can find someone who has mastered what it is that you are depressed about, perhaps they can help you see things differently or offer you advice on how to handle your depression.
Then there is always the professional venue. The medical profession, counselors and therapists can offer you numerous options on how to deal with what is going on. It is important to recognize the situation and deal with it before it can do more harm to your mind, body or life.
Here are my recommendations in order:
- See if you can figure out what is causing your depression – once you know what it is and face it head on you may be able to overcome it.
- BUT don’t wait longer than 30 days!
- If this doesn’t work, then find a friend you can confide in and get their input.
- If this doesn’t work then, seek professional help – a doctor, minister, therapist or someone who is trained to deal with depression.
The bottom line is don’t go it alone. If you do not handle your depression quickly it will continue to grow and become an even bigger challenge. It is like a magnet. It will start getting you depressed about everything that comes your way. You have now turned an itch into a full blown body rash.
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