Depression: The Death Fantasy - By Samantha Weaver

Depression affects 1 in 3 people in the UK and can vary from mild to extremely severe. Having suffered severe depression for the majority of my life, I feel equipped enough to be able to discuss the way the mind works in relation to the topic of depression and death.

At some point while suffering with severe depression, I began to start thinking about death. Death I eventually began to believe as being the only option available to me to rid myself of the pain I was experiencing. Of course, I now know that it is not the only option, but I sincerely believed that it was at the time.

The death fantasy that those who suffer with severe depression begin to experience had pounced on me and was starting to cloud and distort my mind. There wasn’t a day that passed that I wasn’t thinking about death in one way or another. At first, I had simple thoughts. What would my funeral be like? Who would attend it? But over time, these thoughts became more isolated and the questions I began to ask myself started to turn into images in my mind. I could actually picture myself following through with suicide.

I would question how easy it would be to kill myself? Could I just step out off the pavement into the road and in front of oncoming traffic? Could I jump from a bridge? Could I hang myself or poison myself? Which of these methods would be the quickest, the least painful?

Of course, I knew what I was thinking wasn’t right. I knew I should not be torturing myself with this type of thought, but I couldn’t stop myself, I couldn’t help myself and I started to think about things more deeply. How long would it be before someone noticed I wasn’t around? How long would it take for my body to be found?

The worst times were when I was sat alone, at home with nothing on TV, no-one to talk to and no-one around that could distract me or talk some degree of sense back into me. If I went to the kitchen to make a sandwich, I was troubled when I picked a knife out of the cutlery drawer and began considering how I could use it to slit my wrists. I only ever made my sandwich and never became a self-harmer, but the thoughts were there, the death fantasy always lingering in my mind, in my daily routines, ready to pounce on me if things got too tough, if I found I was unable to cope with something. It’s like it became an opt-out ‘option’ there if I needed it.

I started to question if this type of thinking meant that I was crazy? Maybe I wasn’t right in the head; maybe I actually was a loony or a psycho? For certainly any ‘normal person’ wouldn’t be thinking about death, wouldn’t be as fixated on it as me?

Many people think that suicide attempts are a ‘cry for help’ but I can categorically say that they are not necessarily that. Depression distorts the mind so much that all a person can think about is the negativity in their lives and a way out of the pain - death. They hate to feel sad, to feel depressed, to feel as though they are unable to function. No-one that suffers with depression wants to feel the way that they do and it is a very scary thing to find yourself contemplating your own death in your mind.

Thankfully, I managed to get myself into my GP’s practice. But the fear of telling a professional the type of thoughts that you are thinking is huge. I worried that I would be sectioned, worried that I would be thrown into a straight jacket and dismissed as crazy in a mental institution. The courage that I had to find to discuss what was happening in my head was immense. However, it took strength, courage and a strong belief in that I was doing the right thing to help myself.

And the advice I would give anyone else who may be suffering depression and in a similar position to that which I was in is to seek the help, to talk to someone, to try to do something before considering the only option that you think is available to you. Because death isn’t your only option - you can get better and have a life depression free. I am living proof.

Author reserves all rights to this article (c) Samantha C Weaver

Samantha Weaver is the Author of Saving Samantha: A Young Woman's Escape from Childhood Hell, due for release Apr-2006. Find out more at: http://www.samanthaweaver.com

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Bad Habits Can Lead To Stress Related Depression - By Christopher Ruane

When a person has bad habits, you can bet that this person will have stress throughout their lifetime. For example, if a person smokes cigarettes it increases the vitals functioning capabilities, which gradually affects the heart, lungs, and other vital organs.

An autopsy will tell if a person smoked or not when the person is internally evaluated. If the person was, a smoker it will show on the body’s organs and the person’s lungs will be black. Now we know that a person’s internal organs are pinkish and when black is current then problems occurred in the person’s life.

When a person has problems, stress is obviously overwhelming. Likewise, if a person drinks heavily it affects the central nervous system and reduces a person’s ability to cope with stress. Heavy drinkers put their self in harm’s way by destroying the body and potential going to jail in the future.

As you can see, bad habits can cause stress and will cause stress. When a person is born, they are often healthy and if this person avoids bad habits that cause harm then the person’s life will be rewarding. If you are free of chemicals and substances that can cause you harm you will have the ability to make good decisions that offers you a successful future.

Eating too much is also a bad habit that needs to be modified. If a person overeats regularly and avoiding exercise then this person is subject to obesity, heart failure, strokes, diabetes and so forth. We see this causes problems and problems are one of the elements that cause our stress to increase. One of the obvious bad habits that create potential dangers is stress itself.

When a person is lacking the ability to manage his or her life and becomes stress every time an expectation presents itself then this bad habit too can cause harm to the body. Coping means we have the ability to manage our lives successfully without creating stressors that cause our stress to increase.

Minimizing stressors can help us to live a more productive lifestyle and provide us hope when times are hard to deal with. It is never easy to eliminate a bad habit since it is obviously a ritual, but it is possible to work toward reducing and finally eliminating the habits that cause us stress.

If you are use to smoking a cigarette after each meal then tell your self that today you are going to drink water instead of smoking after a meal. If you drink coffee and it opens your smoking cravings up, then start drinking orange juice, milk or some other healthy beverage. If you are a heavy drinker, tell your self every day that you are worth saving.

Sit down and review with your self the many problems you are facing and if some are less severe than others are. If you are often late paying your bills then you know that this is a problem, so you will need to learn and practice paying your bills on time. When you do not pay your bills on time, late charges occur or shut-off notices following.

As you can see, we all cause many of our own problems, which initiate stress. Sitting down and evaluating our situation and decisions can help bring forth rewards by seeing the problems we created and learning how to eliminate the problems in our lives. For example if you are often late for work then you know you have a bad habit that can cost you your job.

You may think that losing your job is not a problem, since someone else will hire you, but loosing your job is not the only problem in the picture. If you continue to adhere to your behaviors by being late for work, you are going to get a bad repetition with businesses.

Business owners talk amongst other owners. Now you can permanent displacement is potential, poverty, potential crime, and so forth. We are adding to the list of problems by ignoring or not accepting that our bad habits are the leading cause of uncontrolled stress. Our decisions are at the top of the list that determines if our stress is overwhelming or not. When behaviors cause stress, it is time to make some changes.

For more related information visit: http://www.DepressionSymptomsTreatment.com - a site that offers advice for avoiding, coping with depression. Get professional knowledge on dealing with symptoms, drug side effects and improving your life!

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