THE FACE OF DEPRESSION

I have a friend who is struggling with depression and anxiety and I love this friend very much.

Depression/Anxiety is no respecter of persons. I myself suffer from dysthemia, which is a chronic low grade depression. I have been on medication for about 13 years now. I think since my teen years I struggled with depression but because that was all I knew I didn't know how I was feeling wasn't normal. My dad was bipolar and schizophrenic so I come by depression naturally. If a parent is depressed then girls have one in three chances of being depressed.

Why am I telling you this? I've never been ashamed that I suffer from depression or that I take medication. But society or the uneducated still see mental disorders as a stigma when in most cases it's chemistry in the brain. If one suffers from high blood pressure of diabetes they take medication and if they don't their are serious consequences. I have had counseling different times and talking helps and I read allot of self help books. I felt so guilty being a Christian and suffering from depression, that was before I knew my facts. I was in counseling when she suggested I go on medication and see a Psychiatrist. I remember thinking I don't need medication and I don't want to take it but my counselor said "when it kicks in you won't care". Well she was right! I remember the minute it kicked in (it took weeks). I remember thinking this is why people can accomplish such great things like become doctors. I felt that instead of walking around on one leg now I had two legs!

When the psychiatrist told me I had dysthemia, I started to cry! I was relieved! She said you could do all the self help you want but you can't produce more serotonin in your brain and that is what the medication is for. I also remember two other things that helped me to go to the psychiatrist. I read a book about a priest who struggled with depression and how counseling and medication helped him. I also was talking to a friend who was on medication for depression because she said she had lost her sense of well being. Well I remember telling her I've never had a sense of well being! I would say the medication has allowed me to live a normal life with our always being sad! I can now enjoy life and the medication does not make me numb or like a zombie! It just gives me the tools to face life and deal with the ups and downs of life without despairing. It has helped me in my faith life because I can now enjoy life and the gifts the Lord has given me. I see the depression now as being a gift because I can be there for my friend who is suffering. I know it's not as simple as "just get over it!" The things we suffer in life then become gifts for other people. It is the cross my friends! Life can and is very hard at times and we can thank Adam and Eve for that! Original sin is why we suffer and it is why we die. God never intended for us to suffer like this so don't blame God! He sent us his son, Jesus Christ who died on the cross to open the gates of heaver back up for us! Suffering refines us and can make us more like Christ. God bless you and remember we are only pilgrims in this foreign land called

earth.............our true home is heaven!