Recovery From Depression: Looking Beyond the Darkness with Hope

This is the first in a series of 'short blogs' that will be published on a regular basis:

It was Aristotle Onassis who said, ‘It is during our darkest moments that we must focus to see the light’. He was right.

When we find ourselves in the darkness of an existential depression for example, the light seems to have no relevance whatsoever. Yet it is there.

Our perspective is subjective: when we are depressed, we do not see ourselves as we are. Rather, we see ourselves as we think we are. The darkness feels like our natural habitat at that specific point in time.

The key issue is to enable ourselves to look beyond the confines of our restricted vision. At first it is painful.  Bring to mind what it feels like when you turn on a light in the darkness. There is a period of adjustment, but gradually your eyes become accustomed to your new environment.

With depression, there is much that we can do to combat it. That often includes medication, which is important, but we can also consciously increase our awareness of the light.

That is what Logotherapy and Existential Analysis is all about: we acknowledge the reality of the darkness and the pain of residing there, but we emphasise our ability to think anew, even when that feels very difficult indeed. Small steps can result in significant changes over time.

We can always hold on to that.

#logotherapy #existentialanalysis #depression #mentalhealth #hope