essed.
Reactive depression; a clinical example
A 47 year old man developed a depressive illness six months after a problem in his marriage. He had become involved with a woman he worked with and spent the night with her while on a business trip.
His wife knew that something had taken place while he was away and quizzed him about it. Finding himself under pressure, instead of finding a way to admit what had happened, he denied everything. Later he said that he had forgotten what had happened on the trip.
Quite quickly, in the same way as he had denied his wife’s questions, he denied the events had taken place to himself as well.
The denial provided him with a water tight defense against any wrong doing and his own guilt, but the price of maintaining this fiction was that he developed symptoms of depression.
He became increasingly stressed and anxious, became quick to anger, and developed problems sleeping.
In time he came to see me to get help with these symptoms.
When he came to see me there was no acknowledgement of the underlying story of infidelity, he simply wanted me to help him find a way to sleep.
As we started to work together our conversation arrived back at his business trip and his anger with his wife’s questions and allegations. Initially he put the same defense to me that he had done to his wife. Then, one day, he stopped denying it and told me about the night he had spent with his colleague.
The strength of his depressive symptoms lessened as he admitted to himself the facts of what had happened. It was as though another person had entered the room.
He began to see that his depression was a reaction to the whole episode. It left him with a problem in his marriage, but now he was more aware of the truth of the matter.
Treating reactive depression
Currently the dominant approach to these types of reactive depressive symptoms is by trying to jog the sufferer away and out of his symptoms, to change the way he behaves and acts.
We are encouraged to think that if we can change our thinking our problems will disappear. This approach may not be helpful, particularly when it is important to trace the depression back to the thing that it has been formed by reaction to.
Sometimes it is necessary to get at the root cause, to treat the underlying problem rather than just focussing on the presenting symptoms.
The symptoms are important and need attention, but they can be a reaction to something which needs to be addressed.
If you are suffering from a reactive depression
you may find it more helpful to take time to go over the history of the depression, to look beyond the symptoms and to, as it were, give yourself the chance to pinpoint the events that have triggered the depressive reaction.
If you can understand that the depression is a reaction to something that has happened, it can make it much easier to know how to treat it.
Otherwise you can be left thinking that the depression is perhaps something you were born with, perhaps a faulty genetic psychological constitution.
There may be something in these ideas, but they can make it harder for you to spot the fact that your depression is a reaction to something that has happened to you.
I have twenty years experience of helping people find ways to engage with issues like these. Contact me to arrange a free telephone consultation to discuss how my work might help you.