I’ve heard clients say, “I don’t really have a reason to be depressed” or “my family doesn’t think I have anything to be depressed about”.
I’ve heard family utter “they can’t be depressed, they have everything they need” or “they can’t be depressed about that, that was so long ago”. I have even heard “they might be keeping something from me”.
Contrary to popular belief, negative thoughts about circumstances are not always the root of depression.
Now it can get tricky. You can think just because you have negative thoughts, you have somehow thought your way into a depression. This might be the case for some people.
It’s true. Some people have triggers like a bad break up, death of a loved one, work stress, divorce, or loss of a job. Negative thoughts can cause a physical reaction and emotional response within you. Good thoughts create good neurons and bad thoughts create bad neurons. So you get what I’m saying here?
However, others have a chemical imbalance in the body that can bring about a depressed mood and depressed thinking. This causes depression as well as other psychological disorders.
These clients are easy for me to spot. Once I ask them to explore some reasons they might be depressed and they can’t come up with any. They do not seem to have a trigger. It’s just crippling depression that plagues their daily lives for no significant reason.
They may focus on their symptoms of low energy, low motivation, low self-esteem, loss of interest or pleasure in activities, and feelings of sadness, hopelessness, and helplessness. In other words, “I just don’t feel good and I don’t why”.
How do you overcome this kind of depression?
Sometimes overcoming depression can come down to finding the right medication to help improve your brain chemistry, eating better nutrition, and getting daily exercise. It takes an integrative effort to help improve.
This is why you see some helping professionals focusing on treating symptoms before focusing on the causes.
It is difficult to think positive and remain positive when you have a chemical imbalance because the neurotransmitters and hormones you need to help improve your mood are low or deficient.
It would be beneficial to not focus on why you are depressed, but what can you try to help improve your mood. Eventually, you may find out what you were missing that you needed.
Sometimes it’s difficult to find the root cause before taking action to remedy the situation. So going back to the basics of self-care is always a good way to start.
If you ever felt depressed for no reason, what did you do to help improve your mood? Comment below and help others find clarity!
I’ve experienced depression since I was a young teenager and ‘never knew why’, tho’ I do now. The main reason is probably because mental illness runs in my family, with each of us having different diagnoses, treatment, and medication.
While I do take anti-depressants, I still get depressed so I let my partner know it’s not him, and that I just need not to engage for a couple of hours (could be days), I’ll come out of it on my own and in my own time. He knows that I don’t need to be fixed and I don’t want any advice, that I just go quiet and I’ll practice some mindfulness or visualisation, which helps.
It sounds like you know what you struggle with and you know how to manage it for yourself. That’s what find balance is all about, taking care of yourself base on your personal needs. I like it! Love and Peace!