Depressive Illness: The Curse of the Strong by Tim Cantopher

Author:Tim Cantopher [Cantopher Dr Tim]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Psychology, mental health, Psychopathology, depression, Self-Help, Self-Management, Stress Management, Emotions, Family & Relationships, General
ISBN: 9781847092366
Google: UpmLDwAAQBAJ
Publisher: Hodder & Stoughton
Published: 2012-09-20T23:25:35.195950+00:00

7

Staying well

If you look at most textbooks on depressive illness, you will read that it is usually a recurrent condition. That is, most people who get an episode go on to have one or more further episodes in the future.

I don’t find this to be so. While some people do have recurrent spells of depression, they are in two groups. The first group comprises those who have a recurrent illness which is independent of, and largely unaffected by, stress. As I mentioned in the introduction, I am not dealing with people who have this type of condition here. The second group, which is much the larger, comprises those who get further episodes of clinical depression because they have learnt and changed nothing from their first episode.

If you keep putting 18 amps through a 13-amp fuse, it will keep blowing.

Once you have recovered from an episode of depressive illness, it is possible not only to stay well but also to become happier than you have been for years. In order to achieve this, though, you must understand why you became ill in the first place and then make the necessary changes to put these circumstances right. You must make choices in your life.

There are lots of apparently valid reasons not to do this. When I urge a busy businessperson to look at the choices in his life, I tend to get a scornful response: ‘Choices, what choices? When you have responsibilities, you have no option but to soldier on; the school fees and the mortgage have to be paid.’ But he is wrong. There are changes you can make to your life without changing the children’s schools or moving house. These changes won’t be easy and will involve learning to say no, and to be more assertive in setting out your needs.

You may remember Jane, from Chapter 3. I once treated a doctor colleague who was very like Jane. We’ll call her Sue. She is happy for me to tell her story.

Predictably, Sue was one of the best GPs around. Her patients loved her, as she gave them more time and attention than any of her peers. She rarely said no to her colleagues when asked to take on extra duties. She was also a devoted wife and mother. The story is familiar and, of course, she eventually blew a fuse. I treated her with the usual healing balm of antidepressants and rest. She recovered and returned to her practice. Six months later, having battled away in the same way as ever, she relapsed. More of the same remedy, recovery and another attempt to return to work. This failed for the same reason as before.

Sue and I were forced to accept that it wasn’t going to work. With great sadness we took the necessary steps for her to retire on medical grounds. When eventually her retirement happened, her patients and colleagues were very sad, but she was happy. I was confident she would do well as she had made plans to do what she wanted with her retirement.

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