"Depression isn't a feeling - it's avoidance of difficult feelings. The person de-presses themself, pushes the difficult feelings down and suffers the consequences."


BRILLIANT statement, autolycus! I think you are quite right.

I was recently reading some great material on this, and it said that "all mental illness is a result of avoiding legitimate suffering".

And what is legitimate suffering? Doing the most sensible thing is legitimate suffering. Meaning, one is unwilling to do the sensible thing in one's life, because it is difficult, it involves work, it means confronting an obstacle, it is seen as unpleasant in some way, it is seen to equate to "suffering". The longer one avoids doing sensible and necessary things, the worse everything slowly gets. You can avoid by getting drunk, by getting stoned, by delaying, by hiding, by refusing to move, by doing something easier that is more fun and absorbs your mind for awhile, or by getting depressed and just sitting around agonizing or lying in bed.

And don't I know it!