Depression

Why does everything ALWAYS go wrong for me? Everyday tasks seem so hard. I find it hard to drag myself out of bed. In fact I often spend hours sleeping in the middle of the day. I have no "get up and go", and run on low energy. I feel a sense of hopelessness. My work and relationships are in jeopardy ... my life is going nowhere. I just can't shake this sad, melancholy feeling ... I've even thought about ending it all.

This is a description of depression.

People with a low self image ... who feel negatively about themselves ... are likely to feel depressed. Low self-esteem is not the only cause of depression. Other possible causes include an actual loss or bereavement, certain medications which have depression as a side effect, and chemical imbalance which leads to a diagnosis of a clinical depression. A person with low self-esteem may become depressed after facing a difficult situation or after having experienced difficulty with a particular task, job or relationship. These types of depression are usually grief reactions to the loss or difficulty and will take some time for the person to get back to normal.

The type of depression that results from a low self-esteem is called characterological depression. This may occur in people who have feelings of inadequacy or inferiority: In other words, in people who have a low opinion or perception of themselves. They may feel that they are unliked by others and they anticipate being rejected. They develop morbid expectations and believe that anything that happens to them will end up being unpleasant. They feel they do not deserve any better and that the world is just unfair. They expect to be belittled so they react to innocent stimuli as being insulting. They become wary and distrustful of relationships and they are thrust into a lonely existence, which only aggravates their depression. Characterological depressions are not helped by anti-depressant medication because they are due to an attitude or mindset problem. In order to come out of the depression and "get back to my old self" you will need to correct your self-image.

The feelings of low self-esteem and inadequacy that are responsible for the depression are unwarranted. People who are in fact endowed with positive personality assets may have an erroneous self concept, whereby they may consider themselves:

dull, when they are really bright;
unattractive, when they are really nice looking;
awkward, when they are really socially adept.

To them this perception is very real, and they adjust to life as if their perception of themselves were factual. With them the glass is always half-empty. In order to shake this type of depression, a person must be willing to bravely re-examine his attitudes, which now form part of his identity, and be willing to take a new personal inventory. This will take effort.

Based on Getting Up When You're Down, by Abraham J. Twerski, M.D., Published by Shaar Press pages 73-79.