Posted by dj on June 22, 2000, at 20:22:31
In reply to As with everything, YMMV, posted by shar on June 22, 2000, at 18:21:37
>
> DJ--I thought it was very interesting that in the Lemon article they found significant differences in depression that began in childhood vs. present time.
>Shar, in their book "The (New) Manual For Life" (which I'll note more on below) Bennet Wong and Jock McKeen (who I will note more on below) make some very good distinctions about types of depression and how we all have our own unique 'algorithm' for that and other dis-eases, which is why the milage varies...
> The part that just grabbed me was their description of "growing up with a profound experience of emptiness, helplessness, desolation, and isolation." Wow, it's like "This is Your Life" or something.
>Rang true with me too. I was in that workshop but the first article, my situation at the time and the Haven's very good reputation and close proximity attracted me to it.
> I also liked how the person you mentioned in the previous article thought depression needed another name. It has been co-opted over time, but to me, brainstorm is too active-sounding. I'd like something like "the invisible, paralyzing, suffocating black hood weighing 5,000 pounds" (just my experience). The Beast works for me too.
>Willian Styron - "Darkness Visible" - a heckuva writer and a heck of an insightful book!
Winston Churchill grappled with the Beast and he may have been the one who described it as such. Abraham Lincoln also was plagued by it and was a better leader for it, due to his acute sensitivity as with Churchill.
In the "Disengaging Depression" workshop as in the book "Undoing Depression" there is an emphasis put on creativity as a way out from under the Beast. We used clay to model our images of the Beast when I participated, with some amazing results, one of which lingers on my desk shelf.
Sante!
dj
poster:dj
thread:37856
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20000619/msgs/38157.html