Succeeding While Depressed

I have been severely depressed most of my life, but managed to become known, internationally, in two different fields of system science. I achieved that success partly because of the ways that I coped with my depression. After studying, then writing about, who we really are and why we are here, I have worked my way out of my depression. I am more functional now that I ever was before. As a result, I have been able to face the impacts that my depression has had on me and on my family, friends and others who were affected by both my depression and the choices that I made in trying to cope with it. I believe that some of the things that I have learned, in this process, will help others who are either depressed themselves, or know someone who is depressed and needs help getting out of that debilitating state. One of the biggest problems about dealing with depression is the vast failure of the medical community to provide safe and effective support for the depressed. Using drugs to deal with the symptoms is a bad approach, for two reasons: 1) the real need is for a cure, not a treatment of symptoms; and 2) the side effects of the drugs can be horrendous. For a while I was taking three drugs, two of which were to lessen the side effects of the primary drug chosen by my family doctor. I was usually worse off using the drugs than I was when I was taking nothing. We are spiritual beings having a human experience, where this experience is beautifully set up to have us look for and find the problem in that experience, then have us choose to find a solution for the problem and, finally, put that solution into practice. My primary reason for being depressed was a spiritual one and no one treated that problem. It was only when I realized that I was deeply troubled by the disconnect between 'who I was told that I was' and 'who I am' that I could get better. When I discovered the truth as to who I was and why I was here, the solution to my depression was available. When I put that solution into practice, the depression went away. I used avoidance techniques to get away from properly dealing with my depression. Working too many hours a week was my primary avoidance technique, but I added way too many hours on hobbies to that first choice. My personal, especially family, relationships suffered greatly and all of my four wives and many children paid for my avoidance techniques. All of these choices were primarily subconscious. I do not remember making any conscious choices in this area. Even my experience with one good psychiatrist was cut short before true help was provided. The shock treatments that I received helped some, but I lost most of my ability to remember my childhood, as well as my prior ability to visualize concepts and physical objects. I can no longer visualize anything, a problem in much of what I want to do these days. I also developed ways of hiding the extent of my depression from family, friends, people at work and the medical community. I became so good at this that few understood the depth of my depression. At one point, I not only had no hope that things could get better, I had no hope that there could ever be hope in the future. That was my lowest point, but I did not bounce back, mostly I just lay there, numb. I started writing to better understand who I was and why I was here, and the solution to my problem arose from writing 'in the flow, ' where I was co-creating with the universe. My message to those who are depressed, from my own particular viewpoint, is that there is hope, but it will not have a medical component until that community gets its act together. To the depressed, and their friends and family, I suggest that you see coping mechanisms as a problem, not a solution. Be as real as you can be and try to truly 'see' what is really going on. We were all destined to become great, each in our own way. Choose to see the universe as great just as it is, but trust your inner voice to lead you to your own solu

About the Author :
The author was a system scientist and helped move new science into new practice for five decades. After five cardiac incidents and two out-of-body experiences, he now writes on how the study of science and spirituality are coming together for the first time since the Ancient Greeks. They saw science and philosophy (spirituality is a part of philosophy) as the two sides of the one coin of knowledge.