Recover Life from Depression

Depressed: When Control Is Out of Control

Why I try to understand depression, I find too few words with too many meanings. This isn’t quibbling over semantics. It’s about what you feel when living with depression and what you feel when you can finally live without it. It’s about the experience behind the words. Take the word, control. To control and to be controlling are bad. Your world is all about you, and everyone else is there to meet your needs. But […] Read more »

The Challenge of the Ordinary

Written by John Folk-Williams

When I’m depressed, I dwell most on the failings of the past and the expected disappointments of the future, but there is also the challenge of the ordinary moments of the present. The challenge when depressed is to recognize the things I do well but unconsciously, the daily actions I’m good at but ignore when judging myself harshly. I’ve borrowed this thought, though adapting it to a different setting, from a recent issue of Evan […] Read more »

How Stress Can Shape a Life Story

Written by John Folk-Williams

The psychologist Richard O’Connor believes that we tell ourselves stories about our lives to control stress. Stress has a way of becoming a chronic condition. It wears down your body and damages your brain, especially when combined with depression. Yet stress is a killer we often crave like a drug. We create stories that help us make sense of an unbalanced life. Stories of Challenge In my work, I often felt I wasn’t doing much […] Read more »