In the last posting, I presented the Battle of Gettysburg as a metaphor for the battle of depression raging within those of us who have been so afflicted.
Within that metaphor were real people who spoke of depression, from enlisted men to officers, including Confederate generals Lee and Longstreet, and back in Washington D.C. Abraham Lincoln. How terrible that must have been – depressed in the midst of a blanket of depression fallen over a battlefield where there were 51,000 casualties.
Where is the hope of that? The war started on April 12, 1861, with shots fired at Fort Sumter and ended four years later on April 9, 1865, at Appomattox. Four years is exactly my war of being in major depression. The hope is that the war eventually ended and so did my depression, though I still experience skirmishes now and again.
How is it for you who are likewise afflicted with depression? Is your major battle over? If not, don’t give up hope. There are new treatments coming into the pipeline all the time. If your present psychiatrist has run out of ideas, find a new one (my depression didn’t start getting better until I found the right psychiatrist). If your present psychotherapist or counselor is not helping you, find a new one. They’re not all the same. How well I know that!
Triumph Over Depression 