Fear of Depression Hitting Causes it to Hit

Dear Ms Curtiss

One time for two weeks I did not experience any depression because I spent all my time in physical and mental activities for all day. I felt much better before I was having depression.

This experience required me to pay attention all the time to what I am doing now and never think about depression. 

I think by this way I turned off most the neurons in the sub-cortex and make the cortex the only one to work.  

I remember that I did not give any chance for the brain to think with anything except the present reality. 

I think when depression hit that means we allow the negative thinking to start and that why we have this cyclical almost everyday. When we are busy with anything 

depression will disappear completely and no hits anymore.

I think fear from depression to hit is the reason to initiate this hit. I think we have to forget depression at all and be busy busy busy.

Thanks 

R 

Dear R

What you are saying is true.  You can't experience emotion, depression and physical pain included, if you don't think about it. This is due to the process of pain perception, that signals from the subcortex that it is producing pain, depresssion and other emotions must go up the brain and be received in the neocortex, and must be acknowledged (be paid attention to) before they can be felt.

But beware if you think you are now immune from depression. It may be you are never again troubled in the same way. But depression has a way of tricking us temporarily into thinking it is not depression but that life, all of a sudden, is no good.

This is why it is good to realized that if you feel "down" you are being taken over by depression. You don't feel "down" because of present reality. You may experience the legitimate pain of mourning some loss but that is not what I am talking about. I am talking about nothing whatsoever in your life changing and yet your mood changes from absolutely okay to sad and despairing. Absolutely okay is your reality which is covered over by depression.

This is why it is good to recognize depression as soon as possible so you can distract yourself from it by changing your thoughts. You can change your mood in a few minutes as long as you recognize it is a mood. When you don't recognize your "down" as a "mood," as depression that must be moved away from, but, instead, think that life itself is worthless, depression lasts much longer. A. B. Curtiss