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“I have depression”

I recently read an article by Dr. Stephen Diamond, Ph.D. on the Psychology Today website. He was discussing the topic, “Is Depression a Disease?”. I really liked what he said in regards to accepting depression as part of our lives. He writes:

“Biology, in the case of depression and other mental disorders, is not, as Freud said, destiny. Biology is our fate. Destiny is what we do with that fate. To be biogenetically and temperamentally prone to depression or bipolar disorder or schizoaffective disorder may be one’s fate. But it need not totally dictate one’s destiny. That remains the individual’s responsibility. And one’s existential freedom to transcend fate and participate in creating one’s destiny.”

A lot of days I feel like I don’t have a say in my depression and there is nothing I can do about it. It is important to remember that I can participate in overcoming my depression and if I don’t make up my mind to do something about it, nothing is going to change or get better.

I think one way to help myself overcome depression is to recognize that it is a disease I have, not who I am. PhD Cheryl Fuller commented on Dr. Diamond’s article and made an interesting point. She stated:

“I find it interesting that when people have pneumonia, they say they “have pneumonia” but if depressed, they do not say they “have depression”, they say “I am depressed.” No one says “I am tuberculosis.”

Depression has become a way in which people identify themselves and I have fallen into that trap. If asked to pick three adjectives to describe myself, “depressed” would certainly be one of them.

In my attempt to take depression into my own hands and not accept it as my fate, I am going to work on thinking of it in terms of, “I have depression”, rather than, “I am depressed.” We’ll see if my depression tainted mind allows it… =)