The Curse of the Strong

pofflewomp linked me to Depression: Curse of the Strong, which is a good, plain-language discussion of what clinical depression is. (Irritating website alert, though; turn your speakers off.) It cuts right to the heart of the bootstrapping, pull-your-self-together advice that you get all the time if you have any sort of mental illness, and for that alone, I felt that it deserves a signal boost.

When you think about it, it is not surprising. If a weak, cynical or lazy person is put under pressure and suffers a set of stresses, he will immediately give up, so he never gets stressed enough to become ill. On the contrary, if the strong type I have described is put under stress, he will go on and on and on, constantly striving, way beyond the point that the body (or more specifically the limbic system) is designed for. Eventually the wheels begin to fall off and symptoms appear. At this point the averagely strong person with a solid self-esteem will stop and say something like, ~'Hang on, this is silly, I'm making myself ill, others are going to have to pitch in and take some of the strain". So he pulls back a bit and thus avoids illness.
...

That is what this condition is - a blown fuse. In my view, understanding this is crucial.


So, what do you do? Well, the first and most crucial action is to stop fighting it, give in. This of course is anathema to the sort of person who finds himself in this awful state. After all, he has overcome every other difficulty or challenge he has faced in his life by effort and diligence, to give in is unthinkable. In any case, all his friends and even loving family will be offering their homespun wisdom : "Go on, pull yourself together, get more interests, get yourself out more, get more friends, come and have a party."

I can guarantee, if you take this advice, you will get worse.

Anyway, have a read.