Common Obstacles of Healing Depression
By Georleena Douglas, LMCHCA
It is trending now to be in your soft person era. Making an effort to take better care of yourself, maybe not exerting so much effort in things that can feel stressful. Taking luxurious trips and spending money on oneself in the name of self care. These are moments of deep relaxation and pampering that are absolutely necessary, but what happens when those moments pass and you are still “sad”, “low energy”, feeling “disconnected from yourself or others”. Healing depression is not an overnight process and it certainly requires more than a day at the spa to begin to pull oneself out of a depressive state.
A common misconception is that depression and even anxiety are curable. These are mental health disorders that will be present in one's life forever and with treatment will become manageable. Healing depression will look different for different people. Some people use their loved ones as means to help them get out of a depressive funk, while others may take the time to temporarily isolate themselves to find inner strength and energy.
However you prefer to address being in a depressive state, it is going to take time. Oftentimes it feels as though time is not on our side as life continues to go on, while we may decide to spend yet another day in bed. Being patient with yourself is most important. I am reminded of a conversation I had with a client recently, they shared that they did not believe their mental health was a big deal to others and admittedly to themselves as well. I chose to reframe mental health in the lens of physical health. If you broke your leg tomorrow you would naturally seek immediate attention for the injury. It would be a process to have surgery to correct it, recovery time to heal and physical therapy to build up that strength again. Mental Health works in the same way. There is a process to get strong again and that can take a lot of time.
Allow yourself to grow through the process as you go through the process.