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story archive >> '; document.getElementById('storyimage').src='images/anna100.jpg';">Picture of Anna Tasha had noticed a regular pattern of mood swings during her teens, but was only recently diagnosed officially with bipolar disorder. She has learnt self-help strategies to supplement medication... more > >
“I wanted to escape or reach for something higher, but I couldn't find any meaning at all. I couldn't find anyone to talk to or share my feelings with. Looking back, I think I mixed my existential questions with my real life questions, in a way.” Elena
“You need to find a focus in either your personal life or in your career and to have some goal in your life. It can help to have a reason to be determined to make some achievements, like I had the motivation of my son needing me, to help you find your direction in life and to carry your burdens.” Tan Huan
Students Against Depression
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Hamlet
Depression can make your life seem painful and pointless. It can also make life in general seem empty and meaningless. Simply dismissing these feelings as "irrational" or a symptom of "illness" ignores the fact that questions about the meaning of life are profound issues facing humanity in general.
Some of the big philosophical or existential questions facing each of us include:
Global conflict and war, global warming, environmental destruction, devastating natural disasters, famine, genocide, widespread human poverty and other such large-scale issues also challenge the human race in general with difficult questions about our future.
There are no easy answers to any these questions! Most of the time, we live our lives on the basis of answers and meanings which we have not questioned or considered in detail. We grow up with a view of life learnt implicitly in our family, school and cultural environment. But adolescence and early adulthood is often a time when these questions can become very prominent. Sometimes the assumed meanings and answers no longer feel adequate.
Some people think that the pain of depression can be seen as a kind of "signal" to ourselves to take stock and reassess our lives. At the very least, we may need to recognise and change unhelpful habits like depressed thinking. It may also be the opportunity to think more deeply about how to make our lives more meaningful.
The Holocaust survivor, Viktor Frankl, built a philosophy based on his concentration camp experiences which accepts suffering as an "ineradicable part of life"*. He emphasises the responsibility of each human being to stop asking for life's meaning to be provided, but instead to "recognise that it is he or she that is being asked" (see books and other inspirations).
In other words, there is no predetermined meaning to life - it is up to us to try to make our lives meaningful. As individuals we have to find what values or goals or occupations will give our own lives meaning. And as communities and societies we have to find how best to work together to build meaningful futures.
The answers will be different for everybody, but the things that have helped many people find meaning in their lives include: feeling that their occupation is worthwhile or helpful to others; having a religious belief or a value system which gives meaning; being in touch with the natural world; or simply each day reminding themselves what they are thankful for...
Of course when getting out of bed in the morning is quite enough of a challenge, then this might all seem a bit daunting! Depression works hard to empty our lives of meaning. Tackling depression should start in small steps and should focus on finding the smallest changes that can make the biggest difference first (see finding what works for you). But knowing that there is a way to get meaning back into your life can also be a motivating goal to work towards in the long run.