I. My Own Experience With Depression Forced Me to Find Answers.

The following 5 blog posts are a comment on an article in the online BBC News Magazine of 1/31/2012 in which Geoff Watts asks: “Why do some people never get depressed?”

Actually, I have an answer! My answer is based on 25 years of introspecting.  It is a long answer, say a 200 page book. It was my own debilitating depression and the degree to which it affected my life and that of the people around that forced me to find the answers. Through my findings I was able to form clear thoughts on why some people get depressed and others never do.

You can read in detail about my findings in the method that I developed as I was lifting myself out of my depression on my website at http://www.holispsych.com. For the purpose of the blog I will give a short overview in 5 separate parts. They can be read as one article. In this overview I will give you insight and include some practical advice on how to leave the state of depression behind and become the master of your life.

What happened to me? My first daughter was born a premature baby. I got some extra weeks off to recover and prepared myself to be up and functioning by the date set to return to work. I was unable to sleep that night though. That was very inconvenient as my job was one that required both focus and physical strength; I was a bassoonist in the Netherlands Philharmonic Orchestra, a job that requires a disposition comparable with one of a top professional sport-player.

I had never suffered from insomnia so I figured that my new situation of being a mother was somewhat unsettling for me and that I needed some more time to adjust. Surprisingly, I wasn’t able to do that, and also had no idea of what was going on. The insomnia was there to stay. I tried to manage but I couldn’t so I had to quit the wonderful job I had. Then I dedicated myself to bringing up my (by then two) daughters and managing the effects of my sleeping problem. I also embarked on the journey of self-knowledge that would ultimately enable me to pull myself out of the depression.

It took me 25 years of jotting down every single thought and emotion I had, recording them on my minidisk and pondering them at length, to finally get insight into certain patterns in my behavior. Step by step I implemented changes in my way of looking at things and learned to see life as what it must look like for many other people, yes, those people who never get depressed: because they have a healthy Sense of Self.

Please continue reading on my next Blog post that will be published on Feb 16.