Culture & Depression
In my own life I have observed when depression tends to sink in: when I am not meeting my deepest needs. When I live a life that does not work for me.
It is very simple.
We have basic and universal needs, and we try to meet those needs through various strategies. Often, we are attached to particular strategies even if they do not work very well, and even if we are not very aware of which needs we are trying to meet through them.
In my teens, I experienced depression alongside with a tremendous exitement about what this world has to offer. I explored Jung, Steiner, Bertelsen, Daoism, Buddhism, sustainability, art and more, and it gave me a tremendous hope as I could see a way out of the habitual patterns I had inherented from my culture and family. Patterns that led to a life where my deepest needs were not met, and depression as life's way of reminding me that they were not met.
When depression arrives - even in its mildest form - I know it is a reminder: which deep and universal needs are not fulfilled in my life? And I know there are more strategies possible to fulfill them than I - or any human being - can ever explore.
And the simplest strategies are often the most effective.