Stormbringer's Thunder

I think you ought to know I'm feeling very depressed - Marvin the paranoid android, The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy There's something you should know. I have been diagnosed with depression. What a time I'm having: diabetes, high blood pressure, lack of substantial income, depression. The thing is, depression was the first major diagnosis. Oh, and allergies when I was a kid. I used to talk about it more, and I sort of lost track while simply dealing with it. But I think I can serve a purpose by making this Weblog posting. I'm not getting you down at all, am I? - Marvin First of all, it's not just a case of "the blues" or "being down". Everyone gets depressed now and then. No, I'm talking about a clinical diagnosis. True clinical depression involves brain chemistry, and the imbalances thereof. When you're depressed in this way, circumstantial depression gets worse; it hits you harder than other people. Other times, you...

Sometimes it seems to take forever to learn things. And sometimes, we learn things in a relatively short time but it takes many years to master them. I learned something important from a therapist. (Yeah, I had a therapist for clinical depression. It was good enough for Tony Soprano, so get over it.) This involves expectations, and what "should" be. He was fond of the Albert Ellis school of psychology, Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy. I don't agree with everything (I think the man's an atheist, for example), but a great deal of it makes sense. Suppose I go into a shop. Normally, I expect professionalism and courtesy. But suppose this guy is having a bad day, and he's rude. He shouldn't be rude, he should treat me right. Isn't that awful? No, it's not. I get angry because I'm expecting something I'm not getting. Instead, I should accept the fact that it's a little thing. The world isn't going to cave in because he treats me like a ...

Edited 10-18-2009 Buona Sera. Time to jump right in. The spacing in this article is annoying and I can't get it to do what I want, so we'll all have to deal with it. Yours truly has to deal with depression. No, everybody gets the blues. I mean, as a diagnosed condition. (I went off the medication because I got fed up with it.) It's a struggle, and some days tend to be worse than others (obviously). Anyway, on those days, I have to go about my business on "autopilot". That's my term for doing things automatically, out of routine, just so I can function. Have you ever seen that poster with a group of animals lounging around and the caption, "We gotta get organized"? That was my high school class motto. But it became more profound for me as time went on. Getting organized is not only a powerful stress buster, but an aid to relieving depression. And I'll take all of those that I can get. One thing I have to say right now: This is f...