{"id":337,"date":"2010-04-26T19:36:48","date_gmt":"2010-04-26T19:36:48","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/jennydeupree.com\/?p=337"},"modified":"2013-09-14T15:25:29","modified_gmt":"2013-09-14T19:25:29","slug":"surviving-americas-depression-epidemic","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/jennydeupree.com\/?p=337","title":{"rendered":"Surviving America’s Depression Epidemic"},"content":{"rendered":"

More quotes from Surviving America\u2019s Depression Epidemic, by Bruce Levine<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cIt saddens me when unhappy people who have become so despondent that they consider suicide view themselves as weak or sick.\u00a0 If death feels more attractive than life, it means nothing more than the fact that one\u2019s present pain feels unbearable.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0 intro p.x<\/p>\n

\u201c … I believe one important cause [of depression] is a culture that demands happiness…\u00a0\u00a0 The unhappiness taboo has dominated the United States since it became a nation primarily of consumers rather than citizens. … The belief that people should be either happy or trying to be happier is a fundamental principle of modern consumerism \u2014 the never-ending search for products and services to bring happiness and prevent unhappiness.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0 p36
\n\u201cWith morale, people can attempt almost everything.\u00a0 Without morale, they lack the energy to regain morale.\u00a0 This is why the demoralized can feel stuck in a box.
\n\u201cIt\u2019s futile and often counterproductive to tell the immobilized to \u201cwork a program\u201d for which they lack the energy…\u00a0\u00a0 For extremely depressed and immobilized people, discovering that which requires almost no energy but which provides more energy often means starting extremely small.\u201d p39<\/p>\n

I found his words about “morale” extremely comforting and validating.\u00a0 Also the idea that when you are depressed and immobilized, being able to do something about it is nearly impossible.\u00a0 I usually get angry at myself for not being able to do something to help myself, which only makes things worse.\u00a0 It used to surprise me when praise from someone else, or their understanding how hard I am struggling, gives me a hit of energy.\u00a0 I used to think that meant I wasn’t so badly depressed, but now I see it’s just what he’s talking about – something that doesn’t take any of my energy to boost my morale.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

More quotes from Surviving America\u2019s Depression Epidemic, by Bruce Levine. \u201cIt saddens me when unhappy people who have become so despondent that they consider suicide view themselves as weak or sick.\u00a0 If death feels more attractive than life, it means … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8,5,19],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-337","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-depression","category-healing","category-interesting-link"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/jennydeupree.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/337","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/jennydeupree.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/jennydeupree.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jennydeupree.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jennydeupree.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=337"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/jennydeupree.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/337\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/jennydeupree.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=337"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jennydeupree.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=337"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jennydeupree.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=337"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}