About the benefits of depression

Depression is an extremely common, painful illness that manifests itself in many clinical forms, each of which requires careful psychiatric and psychological analysis. Each of us knows such painful experiences as depressed mood, melancholy, anxiety, dissatisfaction with oneself, a feeling of helplessness and loneliness, awareness of one’s inadequacy and guilt in relation to loved ones, lethargy, lack of interest in usual, satisfying activities, powerlessness and weakness, associated with physical illnesses, unpleasant, difficult to define sensations in the internal organs and other painful symptoms that we attribute to depression. Another column by psychiatrist, Candidate of Medical Sciences Emmanuel Lvovich Gushansky is about this illness.

I want to talk about the humanitarian aspect of some types of depression, about the other side of depressive pessimism. In many cases, depression, no matter how painful it may be, is a means of moral cleansing, individual catharsis. By turning a person to face himself, radically changing the system of assessments and values, such depression is a form of lynching and repentance; The verdict she passed influences her future life and forces her to treat others with previously inaccessible sensitivity and attention.

Depression associated with the loss of a person close to us slows down the process of separation, retains the image of a loved one in the soul, creates conditions for him to “infiltrate our “I”, take part in our lives, and gain immortality in our consciousness. Thus, the “work of grief” expands the capabilities of the individual, making it more multifaceted and flexible.

Depression is accompanied by a slowdown in mental activity, allowing you to stop at the frantic pace of life and turn to yourself. During such a “stop,” a person suffering from depression critically reevaluates his relationships with others and his role in these relationships, and experiences a feeling of guilt, which is inevitably associated with responsibility for his actions. Thus, the connection of the individual with his past is established or revived, and, contrary to the self-abasement inherent in depression, the person becomes an active, active person of his generation, his own and universal history. Guilt and its shadow - responsibility - is a heavy burden, only a courageous person can bear it, and the reward for this work is psychologically conscious citizenship, the right to be an active member of society.

The reflection that accompanies depression causes a reassessment of values ​​and allows you to be critical of your successes and merits, to see in yourself complacency, arrogance, vanity, and the desire to use others to achieve your own goals. Depression teaches sensitivity and delicacy - those qualities that A.P. Chekhov so valued.

A person suffering from depression always looks for and finds the psychological reason that caused his depressed mood. This subjective reason, which is an absolute truth for a sick person, is rooted both in the imperfection of society and in the peculiarities of interpersonal relationships in a narrow circle of individual communication.

The search for the causes of psychologically understandable conflicts and upheavals that caused depression has important social significance, is aimed at harmonizing society and can lead to an improvement in the spiritual atmosphere in the family and close circle of a person. In healthy people, an analysis of the psychological causes of depression in a person close to them can and should cause a healing complex of guilt and an incentive to sensitivity and attention to the Other.

Depression is a painful illness, severe suffering, which in severe cases can cause an existential crisis that shakes the foundations of human life and is rooted in biological characteristics and neurohormonal relationships. Identifying the biological causes of depression is the responsibility of psychiatrists and neuroscientists, who must work closely with psychologists when treating depression. A psychiatrist and a psychologist are mediators in the relationship of a depressed patient with the outside world, from which he tries to distance himself due to illness. This reveals another, egocentric essence of depression, in which the patient, experiencing his guilt in relation to others, makes the closest and dearest people feel guilty, look for the cause of the patient’s suffering in their behavior, or project their dissatisfaction and bitterness onto him. Depression is contagious.

Depression is treatable. There are many pharmacological, psychotherapeutic, and psychological treatments for depression. At the same time, the psychiatrist must be as tactful as possible, have the gift of sympathy and at the same time maintain a sense of distance in relation to the patient, not share with him a negative assessment of everything that happens to him and within him, but show the prospect of a way out of the disease.

After recovery from depression, a person returns to this world wiser, more delicate and attentive to others, his life becomes more meaningful.