Skip to main content

Withdrawal and Depression

I think we all know that depressed people exhibit withdrawal from people and things at some point. For some, this is a positive occurrence but for many, it is making their condition worse. Here is my take on the matter...

Social withdrawal


Negative: According to many, "social withdrawal is the most common telltale sign of depression". The reasons for this are many but generally have to do with our unintentional isolation from people's input on our thinking.  The isolation causes an increase on our stress response thereby making the situation worse.

Positive: When withdrawal is by choice, as in intended, we make a conscious decision to take time away from people to resolve something or things that no longer serve us. I have done this many times and with good results. I also saw others gain from taking time for themselves and come out of the self-imposed isolation with better understanding of their condition, come up with avenues to do things differently, enforce their own strength, and increase self-confidence.

Withdrawal from things

Negative: Withdrawal from activities or habits we previously enjoyed is onset by the lack of motivation or general disinterest that is a characteristic sign of depression.  Again, the withdrawal is brought on by the feeling of 'why bother' rather than a choice.

Positive: When we stop doing the previously enjoyable but ultimately detrimental things (like frequent use of social media) or habits (like eating donuts), the end result could be beneficial.


I will expand this post with concrete examples at a later time but for now, suffice that not all withdrawal is bad.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Depression SWOT Analysis

One of my special talents (no big head here just historical evidence) is translating and adopting seemingly unrelated concepts to solve problems. This is the context for sharing how I used a traditional business tool SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats) to assess and plot a path out of depression. First off, using business tools for mental health is a great thing because it allows for taking the illness into a more pragmatic framework than traditional therapy approaches. Secondly, business concepts are known to many so there is an innate comfort in relating to them. Third, using a tool that is not psychological in nature may help put more emphasis on problem solving than illness identification. What I mean by this is a different viewpoint that focuses on current practices and options moving forward. So lets begin. SWOT is a staple of competitive analysis tools in business. You can read a good writeup here: https://www.mindtools.com/pages/article/newTMC_05.htm My ado...
Post a Comment
Read more

Digging out of the Depression Hole - Acknowledge

I'm back after many months to share the journey to digging myself out of a period of deeper than usual depression.  I hope that these posts will help some of you in your own journey. I want to emphasize that deep depression is not something that happens at the time of causes.  It is a result of prolonged and piled up unresolved emotions and feelings.  Being functional keeps many of us dealing with the root causes when they occur.  Therefore, do not try to find causes of depression in current situations, the damage happened in the past.  I wrote this as an 8-year-old: I have everything but I am just not happy. Well, you may have everything okay right now but the past has caught up with you.  Like when I had cancer... I was taking the treatments like a champ but 6 months later I fell into a deep depression. Emotions have a lag time. Depression is not new to me as I have suffered it my entire life (at least all of it that I can remember). Naturally, I've d...
Post a Comment
Read more

Depression - 4 Daily Essentials

After almost a year of searching for, testing and developing practices to eliminate depression, I've come up with the most essential 4 that has the greatest impact. I'll keep this really simple. 1. Start the morning right (5-minutes) State out loud: I am the maker of my good day Make a list of 3 positive things you a thankful in your life Make a daily to-do list of 3 items (must, optional, just for me) Commit to make the day count for you (learn something, feel progress) 2. Reset when unwanted thoughts, events, whatever happens Make a list of 5-minute activities (water plants, load dish washer, sort laundry, send a message to a friend, walk around the block, window shop online for something specific, have a cup of tea, meditate, listen to a song/talk/audio book, etc.) Whenever you sense the onset of a downward feeling (usually a gut or heart squeeze) nip it immediately by doing one of the items from your list 3. Take a 15-minute 'me time' Create a playlist of meditation...
Post a Comment
Read more