Project Arete: The Virtuegraph for depression

1. Introduction

As this is written, your servant is coming out from a depressive episode. An attempt was made towards writing it during the depressive episode, but a voice I was too dull to accomplish it. This is the catch of depression: in it’s hopelessness and self-brame, you are not in a good position to reason your way out of depression on your own.

Sometimes we have a clear idea of the source of the depression: it might be childhood or adult trauma, a source of constant stress such as demanding yet unfulfilling job, or a restless mind that builds up anxiety and then releases it in the form of panic attacks. Our first impulse is to go for the root cause and slay it. But soon we discover that in our current state it only makes the situation worse.

Quitting the stressful job ends up in an unemployment rut, confronting the trauma puts a hot potato in ones hands on top of the depression, and even minimal exposure to the source of anxiety leaves one in a worse state than before. Soon all hope is lost, and we lay in bed, ruminating on all that is wrong with our lives.

We go through what has been accomplished in life: very little to amount to. Why is it that we put ourselves in this situation? The tinge of meaningless-ness pervades the vision. I need not to get too deep in it, as it’s mere thought causes one to stare into an abyss. One does not go to war beaten up, one prepares for it in solitude. The questions will come to an answer, if you think through it from a better position.

The immediate demand, then, is that you prepare your mind and body for such a task. Face things from the point you’re at, and slowly climb yourself back into a healthy position. Health later blooms into experience, but allow us to think only on depression for now. Experience under depression is very gray or even downright hostile, a clear invitation to retreat from the world and look inside to understand what’s broken.

This task has driven more than one mad, so if you suffer from a highly neurotic state mind at this time at this time, I would recommend to explore this path being handheld by a therapist. I am confident that this product is an excellent companionship for CBT therapy, and I encourage you to reach out a therapist first if you truly find yourself in dark place. And even if you’re not in a dark place, it’s about getting skillful in the use of cognitive tools for mental health.

Let us then begin by explaining some concepts.

  1. nothing

Get enough sleep? Get nutritious food? Be friendly to other dogs? Get enough activity for my shape and age? Where is my libido released?

It is not time to tackle the addictions yet, because though they are a great source of accomplishment, it requires one to become well prepared. We waste a lot of energies in the form of inner conflict, but for our own interest it’s best to begin tracking them and treat them strictly under observance, without attempting to judge them. Let us treat addictions in a future cycle, for these require a different form of art. We have enough work for now.

Do I get enough sleep?

I will come around to tackling addiction at it’s time. Observe for now.

Loook inside, you have attempted to do this with some success. The purpose is to, just like I do in my diary, to tump all that comes through the mind. The consciousness has posed itself towards the way in which I type my letters. The mind is disperesed, because of pot, and this will require a fiar amount of effort, so allow us to look inside. There is a source of suffering,

Sleep

It is best

Do you get enough love? Do you get enough sunshine? Do you get enough exercise?

It might be useful to think about ourselves as dogs

How many times we’ve opened the window to allow an insect to fly out to nature, where it belongs, only to discover that the senses of the fly do not allow it to know there’s an escape nearby. In the matters of the inner world, we seem to go blindly bumping against invisible walls, hoping that if we just push hard enough, we might be able to cross to the other side, only to find ourselves exhausted, and as soon enough energies are mustered, again we bang against the same window, unaware that if we approached the problem differently, we might find the exit.

Though we definetely need to address the root cause, in our current state it akin to operating on an unstable patient. Stabilize the vital signs first, then cut open to remove the tumor. We need to find a way to think straight before reason is of any assistance in our plight.

Sleep Meditation Exercise Nutrition Sunshine Medication Therapy Gratitude

Acknowlegements

Before I start detailing how to position yourself in the direction of recovery, the acknowledgement should be made towards the influences that have informed me through the process. They are listed in the order of apparition in my life, and though at the time I didn’t know it would influence my work, their thought is throughly recognized.