depression is like a bowl of ice cream

(the opinions expressed here are mine and strictly mine. they come from my years of observation and do not have any scientific bases. take what you want.)

have you ever noticed the many flavors of ice cream? even sticking to the basics, you can have vanilla, chocolate and even strawberry. these three flavors represent 75% of the ice cream consumed. or perhaps these flavors can even get mixed together, like in the good old standby, neapolitan. that way someone can have a little of each flavor.

similar to ice cream, many flavors of depression can potentially confront us in our daily travails. also similar to ice cream, depression seldom exists in a pure “flavor”, but is a mix of the many flavors. here are what I see as the most common flavors of depression.

situational-sometimes the situation of the world can push us down the wrong path. sometimes happenings in our life’s causes us to feel low. if the low feeling goes on long enough, it opens the door to depression. grief or loss, whether it’s the loss of loved one, a job, a pet, or a dream represents some of the common situations. even a friend/loved one/spouse’s depression can pull someone toward depression.

emotions-sometimes emotions get the best of us. facing a constant barrage of the bring-me-down emotions can cause some one to enter into a depression. living in sadness, frustration, anger, or simply feeling down can be a struggle. sometimes our emotional struggles end up pulling us into the morass. the fact that your emotions run rough shot over you indicates a sure sign of being in an emotional depression.

thoughts- sometimes are automatic negative thoughts can hold us captive. who hasn’t been guilty of thoughts like, i’m not good enough, i’ll never be able to do that, or nothing ever goes right. the absolute negative thoughts wear on us and bring us down. if these are prevalent and consistent, soon the depressive hole becomes unavoidable.

chemicals-let’s face it, the brain is a tricky and complex beast. to add to that, it controls our thoughts, our feeling, our interactions with other people. potentially any food, medications, elicit drugs probably has some effect on our brain. an imbalance in the brain could having a negative impact on our well being. if the brain gets enough out of balance, the slippery slope to depression will likely follow.

mixed-ah yes, the neapolitan of the depression world. but, unlike ice cream which may be separated by color, taste, and texture, the fringes of depression become muddled. does a situation cause a thought, which triggers and emotion just because the chemicals in our brain are out of balance? where are the lines there? any delineation becomes difficult to impossible.

have a new flavor you want to throw in the bowl? comment below. maybe we can find enough flavors of depression to open our own ice cream stand.