Being in a dark place

Many people experience low moods from time to time, but there is something more serious going on when a low mood seems to be particularly persistent. Depression or low mood can affect people in many ways, but what is generally common is for people to experience a dwelling on how bad they feel and how hopeless the future seems. Many people experiencing the symptoms of depression can start to wonder if there is something deeply wrong with them. People may worry things might never get better and might have a total lack of energy. They could feel at times like there is no point, and that they can’t be bothered to do anything at all. If they are retreating from doing the things they used to love, people start to miss out on any positive experiences. This can mean their mood gets worse, which then further exacerbates the dark thoughts. Depression may also accompanied by general feelings of worthlessness and shame. Those who are depressed often have a sense of guilt, blaming themselves for everything, including the fact they are feeling so down. Often their self-esteem and self-confidence become very low. 

Events or experiences in our past might be proving difficult to overcome and may be casting a shadow over our ability to live in the present moment. Sometimes we may feel responsible for things we were not responsible for. Sometimes we may have come to unhelpful conclusions about ourselves which, while they feel true, may not be true at all.

It can be helpful to start to work through what maintains this cycle of depression and to start identifying aspects of our lives that could be perpetuating or worsening the depression. It can also be helpful to start discovering, and challenging, unhelpful assumptions and beliefs about ourselves, working towards developing more helpful and balanced thoughts. This can be the first major step towards feeling better and beginning to find hope for the future.