It's Natural to Think you Have to Suffer Depression, But You Don't Have to Suffer it

Hi

I read Depression is a choice and gained some hope from it. The simple fact that you don't suffer long periods of depression anymore is enough to lend hope to those of us suffering. I have, for about 5 years now (I am 32), suffered on and off from anxiety/depression. I am going out tonight to buy Brainswitch. I hope it helps me. I am 2 months into a particularly nasty (for me) mood spell. I have read countless books! I thought radical acceptance was going to be the answer for me, but it turns out I'm not that great at accepting this. Anyway, I wanted to thank you for taking the time to write. If it helps even one person, it's so worth it.

Thanks,
R.

Dear R.

Thank you for your letter. I will relate an experience to you that should be of some comfort. The other night I woke in the middle of the night with a particularly excruciating depression. It was so agonizing that my first thought was, no wonder people are so afraid of this. This is unbearable. I felt like I was going to throw up I was in such pain. Then I thought how easy it is to suffer this, but why am I suffering when I know I can get out of it?

Because it seems so natural to suffer the pain in your own body, I thought. It seems so inevitable, so necessary. And yet, I thought, I know that I can thoughtjam it and why don't I? Then I did start to thoughtjam it with the dumb little song "Yes, we have no bananas today". The depression was so insistent that I shortened the phrase to “Yes, we have no, Yes, we have no,” and screamed it over and over into my mind. I went back to sleep in less a half hour (I know because my clock chimes every half hour and I didn't hear the chime. When I woke in the morning, I had no depression.

I want to tell you this because I want you to remember my experience when depression hits you. It is easy and seems absolutely necessary to suffer your depression when it comes upon you. Almost every psychiatrist will tell you you have to suffer it. They tell you that you have no control over it. And psychiatrists suffer more from depression than any other profession, and drug themselves to combat it because of their beliefs. Almost every clinical psychologist will tell you you have to suffer it. Why these professional men are so ignorant about how the human brain works I do not know. But I will tell you right now that you do not have to suffer it,

The Feb 8, 2010 Newsweek Magazine’s cover story was about new research that shows anti-depressants are no better than placeboes. The medical profession is finally coming around. Depression is extremely hard to turn away from, but with great effort, you can turn away, and you do not have to suffer more than a few minutes. A. B. Curtiss