This is an excerpt from a book I recently completed called Get We Get Better: 48 Treatment Options for Chronic Depression. Following the mental health journey of depression survivor Ruth, it offers numerous practical, evidence-based strategies for improving your physical, behavioral, vocational, relational, cognitive and emotional health. For updates and availability info, subscribe for free to the right. I post two or three articles per month, mostly on the topic of depression.
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Treatment option 17: Identifying a sense of purpose
You’ve heard the quote by 19th-century philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche: “He who has a why to live can bear almost any how.” For people with chronic depression, their shifting mood states are a big part of the “how”–the adversity they face on their way to their goal. So they need a “why,” too.
Does your career, your community, your art or your volunteer project give you a deep sense of purpose? Maybe it’s your spirituality or religion that helps you find the underlying meaning that makes your current circumstances more bearable.
If you’re not sure what your purpose in life is, consider journaling about everything you care most about. Is there a theme? One of my clients told me that the purpose of his life was to simply “do no harm.” I pondered this a moment before realizing that the goal’s simplicity hid its nobility. Do no harm. It was a larger ambition than any I’ve ever made for myself–one with potentially far-reaching consequences for his life.
The aforementioned Martin Seligman, one of the founders of positive psychology, argued in his many popular books that happiness isn’t just about feeling good. A sense of well-being includes all emotional experiences; it’s defined not by a person’s feelings but by their sense of connectedness and meaning. One of his many profound quotes comes from Authentic Happiness: Using Positive Psychology to Realize Your Potential for Lasting Fulfillment: “Positive emotion alienated from the exercise of character leads to emptiness, to inauthenticity, to depression, and, as we age, to the gnawing realization that we are fidgeting until we die.”
Don’t just fidget. Live a well-rounded, meaningful life.
If desired, add “finding my life purpose” to your depression treatment plan. Then decide on next steps, such as finding a medication provider, and write them on your short-term and/or long-term to-do list.
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The solution is almost always fewer things. Get The Naked House: Five Principles for a More Peaceful Home at your preferred book retailer today.
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Babies come. But babies don't go. Get Fights You’ll Have After Having a Baby: A Self-Help Story on Amazon now.
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