This explains all the people who react to someone else’s depression with, “Why don’t you just think positively?”
My friend, if it were that easy for everyone, depression wouldn’t be a thing. When I’m off my Lexapro, literally any given topic can be driven to a depressing topic. Cute kitten pictures? Now I’m sad thinking of how short their lives are. Looking at flowers? Great, now I’m thinking about how many bees are dying. I can’t even look at the sky without thinking about space debris cluttering low Earth orbits or something.
Thank goodness for anti-depressants. They’re the only way I can derail the sad trains of thought that my brain drives me down.
‘Trains of thought’ is a good metaphor, because your thoughts do run on rails, and they do track improvement and maintenance each time you use one pathway.
That’s why it’s not that simple, to just think positively, and maybe you need antidepressants to even do that.
But it’s part of therapy to try to leave those trails more often and lay new tracks that lead to more positive places so you hopefully won’t need antidepressants for the rest of your life.
Hard agree. I have a health condition that is frightening to experience and went undiagnosed for decades. Feeling anything reminiscent of its symptoms now spikes my anxiety just as much as if it was the condition itself. I’m slowly deconditioning myself, but that track is so well worn that it’s going to take persistence and a lot of time.
This explains all the people who react to someone else’s depression with, “Why don’t you just think positively?”
My friend, if it were that easy for everyone, depression wouldn’t be a thing. When I’m off my Lexapro, literally any given topic can be driven to a depressing topic. Cute kitten pictures? Now I’m sad thinking of how short their lives are. Looking at flowers? Great, now I’m thinking about how many bees are dying. I can’t even look at the sky without thinking about space debris cluttering low Earth orbits or something.
Thank goodness for anti-depressants. They’re the only way I can derail the sad trains of thought that my brain drives me down.
They’re onto something though.
‘Trains of thought’ is a good metaphor, because your thoughts do run on rails, and they do track improvement and maintenance each time you use one pathway.
That’s why it’s not that simple, to just think positively, and maybe you need antidepressants to even do that. But it’s part of therapy to try to leave those trails more often and lay new tracks that lead to more positive places so you hopefully won’t need antidepressants for the rest of your life.
Hard agree. I have a health condition that is frightening to experience and went undiagnosed for decades. Feeling anything reminiscent of its symptoms now spikes my anxiety just as much as if it was the condition itself. I’m slowly deconditioning myself, but that track is so well worn that it’s going to take persistence and a lot of time.