Our relationship with depression in many ways has become part of a deeper issue within society. We often look for an immediate means of fixing ourselves, which in many ways reflects our consumeristic culture, where we believe that any dis-ease can be resolved through continuing to consume more.
We therefore, see depression as some kind of anomaly, and something to be treated and gotten rid of. However, depression can also be the psyche’s own form of communication, telling us that something in our lives is out of balance or needs to be attended to. Rushing towards a treatment and the subsequent use of medication, can therefore leave us disconnected from this important communication and invitation to heal.
It is also worth defining depression, which can be seen as having several different facets. The Jungian analyst, James Hollis, writes about these being “reactive or environmental” and “inherited” and “historical”. He states that we might experience one, or all of them simultaneously and are often undifferentiated, though have different root causes, as well as asking differing questions of us. He describes the following:
- Reactive or Environmental Depression:
A reactive depression is a normal response to a loss or disappointment. It is understandable to feel a period of depression, following a bereavement or ending of a marriage. The extent to which we are emotionally invested in the world we live in; will determine the pain we experience. With the right support reactive depression will resolve itself. It only becomes a longer-term difficulty if it begins to profoundly affect the normal day to day functioning of the individual.
- Inherited Depression:
Inherited depression derives from biological causes. This kind of depression can be carried genetically through the family. Individuals experiencing this, find a real difficulty in performing the day to day tasks that many of us take for granted. As though they are constantly walking up a steep hill, carrying a heavy weight. This kind of depression can respond particularly well to medication, as this helps to re-balance the chemical make-up of the brain.
- Historical Depression:
Depression can sometimes feel like a well, with no bottom. However, from a therapeutic perspective, historical depression is a well with a bottom; even if we may need to dive deeply to find it! We might see this form of depression as a kind of collusion against ourselves. Where we have suffered an early trauma in our lives, such as an emotional abandonment by a care giver. We come to see ourselves as not being worthy of love and care from others in later life. Therapeutically, the task here is to attempt to become conscious of the difference between what happened to us in the past and who we are in the present.
(Hollis, J., 1996. Swamplands of the Soul. Toronto: Inner City Books)
These symptomatic messages from our psyche, often show up as some form of crisis. Depression here, might instead be pointing us towards a discrepancy within our lives. Who we can to be believe ourselves to be, as seen through the lens of our early childhood conditioning and the call of our true self. That, which we are and have always been.
Unfortunately, at these times, what can be lost is the capacity to stay with what feels dissonant and ask ourselves the question “what might be the meaning of this”, or “what is being asked of me here?” The therapeutic process is one whereby we are invited to take a space for ourselves and sit with some of these questions. Questions which maybe, we have never allowed ourselves to consider previously.
So, the use of medication can be beneficial in the treatment of some forms of depression; especially if there has been a chemical imbalance in the functioning of the brain. However, depression might also be asking us to consider deeper questions related to identity and who we believed we had to become in the world.