When the Black Dogs Come

I have been living with depression all of my life.
In 1996, I started seeing a psychiatrist and a psychologist for my "condition."
I also started taking prescription ant-depressants at that time.

Earlier this year, in the fall of 2008, I stopped.

Through a combination of diet, exercise, "talk therapy", and mindfulness I became friends with my "clinical depression."
I would say that my greatest ally in recovery has been experience.
Experience can be the greatest teacher--if only we would pay attention. Which is where mindfulness comes in. "Mindfulness" is the condition of being awake and came to me via my experience with zen buddhism.

i still "suffer" from depression, but I don't suffer as greatly or as for long. All of the quotations are because really, after all the paradigms and labels and conditions and syndromes, it's just life.

It's life and we all suffer. But if we pay attention, hopefully not as much.

Next: BLACK DOG STRATEGIES