Traumorphosis: Softening into Sanctuary

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head-hugNever mind the guns on this dude’s arms, I came away from this post thinking about depression in a new way, thinking about mood disorders with new eyes. Alexa writes from the heart and the soul, and I feel very honored to be associated with such deep insight as hers. Thanks, Alexa!

Therese Borchard, author of Beyond Blue, recently headed a blog post with this question, “Do you WANT to be depressed?”
Do you, dear reader? Does anyone want to be injured or ill?

I wonder if major depression is the only condition that draws forth such an ignorant question. How often do we hear people ask others, “Do you want to have cancer? … a broken leg? … heart disease? … ALS?’ It seems to me that even people labelled with other conditions that we call “mental illness” aren’t subject to that question … “Do you want to have schizophrenia? Do you want to live in a state of panic? Do you want to have been traumatized?”

Of depression, if we were to play with “Do you want to be depressed?”, we might also ask, “Do you want to be depleted of vitality? Do you want to live in a state of corrosive loneliness? Do you want to despise your existence? Do you want to stand far outside every circle of relation in the world?”

How would you answer these questions?

Only a person deep in the mire of major depression might answer “Yes” … but this answer is not a natural one. We are beings, creatures, of relation. We are mammals; we are wired to bond.

Continue reading …

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Therese Borchard
I am a writer and chaplain trying to live a simple life in Annapolis, Maryland.

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