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Depression, the Paradox Barbara A. Miriello, MFT A woman of 35, sensitive, professional and a community leader came to me for help. She sought psychotherapy because her rich life had come to a standstill. She could not comprehend what was happening. She described a small piece of her strange predicament. It has always stayed with me. She explained: " I have a ficus plant in the front window of my house. Every day I sit there watching it and feel sorrow and guilt. It's dying. It's dry and needs water. I know I need to water it and I want to. I like taking care it. But every day, I just sit. I cannot make myself get up to get the water. I don't know why I can't, but it is as if I'm paralyzed. Really, there's nothing wrong...but I just can't get up. I'm so sad for that plant." We are just beginning to understand the bewildering, all too human phenomenon which until recently was known simply as melancholia. We now know that depression takes many forms and is systemic, affecting the body as well as the mind. Depression is often a direct assault on the very mechanism by which we recognize ourselves. It can ravage our very basic will to exist. It can create, distort, and alter identity. It can mean the wasting of a life. Although the statistics about depression are overwhelming, these numbers also tell us that this phenomenon is central to the human experience. Depression affects women, men, and children across all national, ethnic, socioeconomic, historic, and cultural barriers. It affects nearly every one of us, either through personal experience or the depression of someone close to us. Depression is so common and so costly -- psychically, physically, socially, and to the health care systems and marketplace -- that its importance would be hard to overstate. But, there is another side to consider. Quite paradoxically, depression can also be a natural, even necessary, emotional phenomenon. It is not simply a disease to be eradicated. It serves an important purpose in the healing process. A depression can be the healing journey through the dark side which is where the Self is found. It can be the turning point in a life's spiritual path or the ultimate encounter in a seeker's years of meditation. It may also be a part of the process of creation and discovery In recent publications it has begun to be recognized that an individual's work within these depressive states can be tremendously valuable, both to the individual and to the greater good. Depression has RAVAGED countless LIVES. At the same time, depression has been the crucible within which artistic, scientific, and spiritual greatness has been born. Depression has been the healing labor of new psychological life and the point of breakthrough to greater consciousness. Throughout the world, it is estimated that over one hundred million people are suffering from severe depression. In the US., sixteen million people are afflicted with depression at any given time. Most of the over thirty thousand suicides annually in the United States are a direct result of severe depression. However, at the same time, not all depression is destructive or pathological. How do we respond to this confusing aspect of human consciousness? In the "war" against cancer or alcoholism or muscular dystrophy or Alzheimer's disease, we are clearly attacking a degenerative phenomenon. We cannot say that these diseases or disabilities are a normal part of a healthy life. Although we may find an attitude of love and acceptance in dealing with them and they may be important teachers of life lessons, they are still not a natural part of human living. But with depression, the situation is not so clear. Depression is both a psychiatric, biochemical illness, a consequence of maladaptive psychological attitudes and behaviors, and a normal subjective experience of the emotional world. Depression can be an illness but differs from other illnesses in that there are circumstances in which depression is normal. Further still, in some instances, depression is not only normal, but necessary. It plays an important role in grieving and coping with the numerous losses inevitably experienced throughout our lives. This fact makes the healing process for depression unique. Barbara Miriello has been a psychotherapist in private practice in San Diego, California for the last 15 years. She was trained in Jungian therapy and has had a long interest in the interface of spiritual practice and psychotherapy. She has been motivated by the recognition of both personal and community healing which grows out of the integrity of one's own inner work. Barbara A. Miriello, MFT Center for Inner Work 5100 Marlborough Drive San Diego, California, USA 92116 619-584-1725 Office 619-979-6390 Page 619-582-2697 Facsimile |
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