Mid-March Monte Report

Since the last Monte Report things have been marginally more challenging than they were during the previous several weeks. I can't pinpoint any particular reason, however. This graph roughly represents my mood of late. So, things aren't terrible, but they're not really improving. I'm optimistic though that daylight savings time will boost my spirits by allowing me to do some hiking during the week after work. I've been hiking pretty regularly lately, especially on the weekends, and surely that does me some good.

The book Coping With Depression has some somewhat encouraging words to say about the difficulty of depression:

"For most domains of functioning, depression is more debilitating than most chronic general medical conditions. Only serious heart disease [is] associated with more days spent in bed, and only arthritis [is] associated with more bodily pain."

and

"In 1990, depression was found [by the World Health Organization] to be the fourth leading cause of disability worldwide. . . . The level of disability caused by major depression was ranked equivalent to blindness or paraplegia."

and

"Feeling like a failure for not recovering quickly will compound [major depression]. . . . Some persons do recover quickly from a major depressive episode, but most do not. . . . Fortunately, as your symptoms abate, the likelihood that you will recover increases substantially."

So, although the author emphasizes how serious my problem is, it's encouraging to know that I shouldn't feel like a total failure for failing to do better. And it's encouraging to know that improvement bodes well for further improvement.