Great Depressions

Okay, so, I am a little depressed lately. Its nothing to get down about. Many thoughtful family and friends have been in contact with me wondering where my head is at and if I am feeling good in life. Yes, I reply gratefully, all is well with me and my psyche. I am just in the same low emotional well that we all find ourselves in. You can't really point to a reason or incident. But, your mood is not aligned in the positive direction, so, you feel a case of the blahs. We all go through it and caring people around you are on guard. For me, there is the added worry because I had a brother who committed suicide. That sends a quiet signal to the watchguards who care about me--- and, my family--- that we should be checked in on. I repeat: I am fine and still am in love with life........ The subject of depression is interesting to me. I view life through the filter of humor. I try to see the absurd in everyday circumstances, which results in my social commentary. Sometimes, that viewing can be really twisted in a cruel way, i.e. sick jokes or black humor. I am grateful I have this humor filter in my soul. I cannot imagine how a humorless person views the harshness of reality without the humor bone attached to you. If you view life and its occurances in the clear light without humor, then, it is a pretty bleak and depressing experience. Tragedy, human horror, corruption, broken dreams, make up the shape and face of the world. We all encounter setbacks and harsh brushes with cruelty. How someone who looks at this soberly, without humor to fall back on, must be deadly. And, those people, when they fall into that well of depression, are most likely to hear the voices of doom to end it all. I don't hear those voices, thankfully. And, neither did my brother. The true story of his demise, as some of you know, was more accidental death than an intentional taking of life. But, his death was ruled a suicide, so, that stain his legacy must be. But, as a Scoleri family member since birth, I can tell you we all have embraced the richness and celebration of life and all it gives us. Deep depressions do not inflict our DNA. Rather, we can tend to slide to the ''a little blue'' column under depression. All is well in Scoleriland........ Is it wrong to be depressed? No, I do not think so. Everyone swings back and forth between happiness and sadness at various times during a lifetime. Some of the most famous and brilliant people in history were moody fucks. Winston Churchill, Ben Franklin, Franklin Roosevelt. The list goes on. It has been reported that Abraham Lincoln was manic-depressive all of his life. These men certainly knew heartbreak and setbacks. However, they channeled the negative to spur their systems on to do great things, which they certainly did. Maybe, if Lincoln was clinically ''normal'', he might have been a colder, crueler person. His depression led him down the path to human understanding and enlightenment. He saw and felt the suffering of the common person because he knew the feelings firsthand. Depression, however sad, can be a useful learning tool for us and to use to further shape our character......... But, the obvious argument about depression is when does it cease to be a momentary downslide and become a genuine problem. Depression is too delicate and complex an issue to do a blanket statement on. I resent psychiatrists who classify everyone who goes through a bad emotional state as someone with a problem. These simple-minded takes on the human spirit is meant, in my opinion, to raise the good doctor in the eyes of the patient, as some kind of healer and all-wise counsel. They may care, as they claim, for your emotional being but that caring always comes at a price. I have never been to see a shrink [ and, I know that many people benefit from seeing someone ] but the tales of woe that I have heard steer me towards a very negative  opinion of the profession. I have heard the stories of a sudden breakthrough in the patient, only to be stifled because the time is up and we must address this issue at our next session. What? The patient has had an awakening and you do not pursue it because the money meter for the hour is up? The doctor then is sending a mentally fragile person in the world with his or her mind unshackled of emotional blockage, who is now vulnerable to depresssion. I'm willing to bet that a lot of suicides happen because the demons are running unchecked after a visit to a shrink......... The drug companies sure love depression. It seems like most of the population is hopped up on some kind of anti-depressive. That is fine with some folks who need to have a mood stabilizer. Still, many people are on this medicine like Prozac, who should not be on it. Another reason I hate psychiatrists is that most have become like a drug dealer, freely dispensing this miracle drug to control the moods of the population. Once again, this is ok for some but not for everyone. I see kids, little kids under ten, being told that there is a problem with depression and the child must be on Prozac or some other drug. They use terms like ''ADD'' to justify where they think your child is in danger. My question has always been, why not let the child be a little depressed? Why must the sad feelings of life be suppressed? These feelings go hat in hand with joyous feelings. Shouldn't a child feel all angles in the emotional cycle to better deal with life? I believe so.At some point, reality will hit that child in the face and now you have a human being incapable of dealing with sadness, pain, and unfullfilled desires. And, then, you have some serious depressive problems.... What is the answer? My way of dealing with negativity in life has been to face it head-on, not retreating. If I am down, I allow myself to be down. I know me better than anyone else and sometimes the well of sadnessand depression must be visited. For me, this visit somehow recharges my system and gives me a fresh start on happiness. I do not look forward to being down in the dumps but my system has to feel the negative in order to march towards the positive. That is me. I accept the negative stigma that depression is as a learning tool. It gets me reaquainted with the sad in me. Many people do not want to acknowledge that sad exists, as if that is something to be ashamed of. I do not wallow in it but I face it as best as I can. Hopefully, it helps me grow into a better person........