The concept of this blog is to build a small community based on the idea that writing stories is a useful method of fighting the impacts of depression and related mood disorders. My experience is that of a life-long sufferer from this quiet but deadly illness. I have no cures or therapies to offer. I have only stories, reflections, impressions, records of moments when a bit of life broke through. I invite you to share this space with me, to tell your stories to others who have similar issues to deal with. It’s a small step, a minor force when contending with the power of a major illness, but one that I have found helpful in ways that medication and therapies do not quite address.

What is it about writing stories that helps me make a little progress against depression and get a piece of my life back? I’m no psychologist or psychiatrist or therapist, so I can’t explain it in the terms of those professions. I just know what the results are for me after working at it for years. First, the act of writing helps me discover things, see things differently, learn – and that’s exciting – life-giving. Writing is full of surprises and can take you places you’ve forgotten you knew about. It awakens me, reminds me of possibilities, brings back a little of the energy that seems so far away when I feel lost in depression.

Second, writing helps me connect to whatever thing or person or experience I’m describing. It’s the connections, the relatedness to something outside myself that is so critical. Sure, I’m only writing about it, imagining or recalling the connection, but that inner act is part of the process of breaking the hold that depression has on my consciousness. Instead of accepting all the negative self-characterization, all the isolation the illness imposes, I can begin to change that through the telling of the story. It shows me another part of mind or psyche or soul that is active, thinking, feeling, remembering. That is a critical step to take, a small one, to be sure, but a step I can take today in a few minutes of writing. And it is a step I can take tomorrow and the day after that.

The third part is lacking in the privacy of my studio, and that is what I am hoping you will help create here. Having someone to tell a story to is important – that is what stories are for, after all, to build a bond between the writer and the reader, the speaker and the listener. The story only attains completion when that circuit of communication is created. So here we can build a community of people telling stories to each other that help us all take action against the mood disorders we live with.

I’m glad you’ve gotten this far. Read what looks interesting, and then try posting your own brief stories. That way we can start to build a small community of folks telling stories of moments, recognitions, encounters that made a difference in the struggle to rekindle the fire of living.

PLEASE NOTE: This site does not offer medical or therapeutic advice or step by step methods claiming to cure. The purpose is not to make suggestions to you about your treatment – that is between you and the professionals you consult.

Please feel free to reference material on this site through links, citations or brief quotes with attribution. All the original writing and images are copyright protected. Send me an email (john@storiedmind.com) for permission to reproduce. I will do the same for you.