Depression Check-list....

It's pretty hard for me to believe, but less than a year ago I was diagnosed with Clinical Depression. The good news is - it feels like a lifetime ago! The other good news is, I'm feeling stronger and stronger, due to my continuing dedication and perseverance in all matters regarding my mental health. This isn't to say that I'm a perfectly happy person, but damn, despite the lows I still experience, it's nothing compared to what it was.

I thought I would share the Major Depression checklist from a book on my bookshelf called - 'The Mindful Way Through Depression - freeing yourself from chronic unhappiness':

Major depression is diagnosed when someone experiences either of the first two symptoms in the following list, and at least four or more of the other symptoms, continuously over a least a two-week period and in a way that depart from normal functioning.

1. Feeling depressed or sad most of the day
2. Loss of interest or ability to derive pleasure from all or nearly all activities what were previously enjoyed.
3. Significant weight loss when not dieting, or weight gain, or a decrease or increase in appetite nearly every day.
4. Difficulty sleeping through the night or the need for more sleep during the day.
5. Noticeably slowed down or agitated throughout the day
6. Feeling fatigued or a loss of energy nearly every day.
7. Feeling worthlessness or extreme or inappropriate guilt.
8. Difficulties with concentration or the ability to think, which can also be seen by others as indecisiveness.
9. Recurrent thoughts of death or ideas about suicide (with or without a specific plan for committing suicide) or a suicide attempt. (Williams, Teasdale, Segal, Kabat-Zinn, 19)

A year ago, I checked off numbers one through nine, without any hesitation. Three years ago, before my husband and I split, I could probably have done the same. Today, (which I'm realizing is the most important day for me to focus on) I can only check off one, so.... Hurray for me! Look where a whole lot of therapy, reflection, struggling to sit with my feelings, staying as true to my process as possible, mindfulness, oh and the aid of anti-depressants for help with clarity, has taken me!

Here's a photo of a different, equally scary, upward journey from a few years ago:

Williams,, Mark, John Teasdale, Zindel Segal, and Jon Kabat-Zinn. The Mindful Way Through Depression - freeing yourself from chronic unhappiness. New York: The Guilford Press, 2007. 19. Print.