Trauma from Depression

    Ok everyone, I am writing this post unexpectedly because the next post has a photo and I am trying to make that photo move down on the screen so there aren't two photos of myself right next to each other.

   This post is about something that I have not ever thought about until today and it might be something that is either common knowledge in most mental health settings or something that there is at least a lot of research about, but I don't think I have ever heard anyone talk about it before.

   The thing I am wondering is if people ever get PTSD from depression.  Well that seems messed up like by definition PTSD happens from life threatening situations, but okay, there we have it.  Depression is very life threatening and is also a threat to all kinds of other stuff, which I don't think always get taken into account when assessing trauma.  Like other stuff matters in life besides life itself, and those things can be at risk in ways that cause all kinds of hypervigilance and other symptoms.

   I think my personal experience with depression a long time ago is that it was something that traumatized me but did not give me PTSD.  That is another interesting topic, because there can be trauma that people resiliently recover from without any PTSD, and trauma can also hurt people in extreme ways other than PTSD. But anyway I just mention it because I think depression is more commonly expected to set in after PTSD and not the other way around, but it is also likely that people are traumatized by the confusing and terrifying experience of having your mind make you feel bad no matter what you do that is good. And especially for beginners at depression, even one suicidal thought can feel like such a permanent moral crisis.

Using a crutch as a crutch

Hi everyone, I have a few mental health blog posts to write, and I am aware that I only occasionally write on this blog.  A lot of people write about mental health so I might only share my most extreme thoughts.  Something I was thinking about that I think is a common topic is about the way the severity of emotional pain from depression or other mental illness is often impossible for other people to understand.  In fact, during the times I feel okay, I almost even can't remember or have any concept of how bad I have felt before.  So I know that it might not be reasonable to expect people who have never had depression to understand when someone is right in front of them with a disorder.  But I have an idea that I think could help all of us, which is for people with depression to consider wearing an arm sling or using a cane or crutches when they are depressed, as kind of a visual representation of the medical nature of the problem.  In a way, it could still add to the underestimation of the pain, but I think it would at least make the existence of the issue be less invisible.  It seems like I am joking, but if people wore a sling and then people asked them about their injury and they said "I can't talk about it," I think people's reaction might be closer to matching the level of sympathy that is warranted and the compassion that is hard to convey when the amount of pain literally is unimaginable.