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Revisiting: Acting the Roles of Depression

by John Folk-Williams 10 Comments

Manet Barmaid at the Folies Bergeres

This revised post from the early days of Storied Mind seems especially relevant to the work I’m doing with Acceptance and Commitment Therapy. Sometimes I’ve interpreted certain life and career choices of the past as avoiding depression. At other times, I’ve seen them as accepting the need to deal with it rather than play a […]

Filed Under: Healing Tagged With: acting, belief, fear, self, shame

Self-Acceptance and Depression

by John Folk-Williams 11 Comments

Water Girl by a Stream

Depression grinds down many qualities of well-being, among them self-acceptance. Until recently, I hadn’t spent much time being comfortable with who I was. Self-rejection had been much more familiar. There have been many times when I felt fine with my life, but later I’d realize I had been overlooking everything too painful to face. When […]

Filed Under: Self-Esteem Tagged With: awareness, depression, self

Conversations with Myself: Accepting the Past

by John Folk-Williams 11 Comments

Introspection

Accepting the past is hard work. Avoidance of any part of the past that makes me uncomfortable used to be my go-to strategy, even though it never worked for long. I guess it’s the opposite of the tendency to obsess about everything I ever did wrong. (For example, reliving that humiliating interview 43 years ago, […]

Filed Under: Healing, Self-Esteem Tagged With: acceptance, avoidance, memory, self, work

A Stage for Anxiety

by John Folk-Williams 5 Comments

Bench shimmering in night rain

(Anxiety has dominated more of my waking hours than I care to admit, yet I’ve written relatively few posts about it. While working on the next ebook, Depression Present Tense, I came across this early post that captures a typical incident. The new book is an attempt to capture the inner feelings of depression in […]

Filed Under: Anxiety Tagged With: identity, panic, self, shame

If You Can’t Escape Depression, You Can Try Making Do

by John Folk-Williams 143 Comments

Inability to Escape Depression

It’s hard to escape depression when it dominates your mind. The illness has many faces, but its most visible one is your own. You see it everywhere because you can’t stop thinking about what’s wrong with you.

The illness is filtering out everything that would disturb your isolation – like brighter feelings, hope, the reaching out of a loved one, self-confidence, the energy to connect with people. It keeps your mind roiling with your flops, dumb mistakes, broken relationships, and acid self-contempt.

When you’re well, you can lose yourself in the daily flow of living, but when you’re depressed you never lose yourself.

Filed Under: Depression Symptoms, Mindfulness Tagged With: awareness, coping, self

Has Depression Become Part of Your Identity?

by John Folk-Williams 106 Comments

I can pinpoint a moment when I came to believe that depression was not just an illness that struck from time to time but part of my identity as a person. I was talking with a friend one day about how big a problem depression had become. He thought it must be brought on by […]

Filed Under: Purpose, Self-Esteem Tagged With: depression, diagnosis, identity, self

Declaring Independence from Depression

by John Folk-Williams 9 Comments

Here’s one part of a post from a couple of years ago, written a few months before I knew I’d really gotten past depression. Stephany at Soulful Sepulcher had suggested that I try assuming this: I have recovered. That really got me thinking and actually proved to be a turning point. I started imagining what […]

Filed Under: Recovery Tagged With: depression, mind, self, shame

Writing, Creativity and Healing

by John Folk-Williams 18 Comments

Some Rights Reserved by tore_urnes at Flickr Thanks to isabella, and her recent posts on writing and healing (like this one), I’ve been thinking more about the way writing, creativity and healing fit together. From the beginning of this blog, I had no doubt that creative expression of all kinds, and writing for me, could […]

Filed Under: Creativity, Recovery, Writing Tagged With: depression, mind, psychology, self

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Surviving Depression Together Now Available at Major Retailers

Surviving Depression Together


Surviving Depression Together

"John, this is a ... much needed resource. Thanks for writing it!"

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A Mind for Life Ebook Now Available at Major Retailers

A Mind for Life: From Depression to Living Well

A Mind for Life Ebook

The inner work of getting your life back from depression. This ebook is now available in most common ebook formats at major retailers.

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Living Depressed

Depression affects emotions, mental abilities, self-concept, behavior, relationships and the entire body. These core posts describe the full range of symptoms affecting daily life. Read More.

Choices in Healing

Hoping for recovery gives you a motive but not a method for getting there. This section has posts about therapies and healing methods you can work with either on your own or with professional guidance. Read more.

Living Well

If you've learned how to manage your depression, you'll want a fulfilling life rather than one dominated by fear that the illness might return. In this section, you'll find posts about how to work toward that goal. Read More

Relationships in Crisis

One of the hardest challenges of living with depression is holding onto your closest relationships. This section features posts on how to help a relationship survive. Read More.

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