Ancient Wisdom Perspectives on Depression
Sometimes traditional psychotherapy labels depression as a “mental health issue.” Depression means our brain is sick so we need to “fix” it. This is where medication might come in. And while I’m not opposed to medication, there are other perspectives on healing that can take us to incredible places. I’m a big believer in using the best of both worlds.
“Spiritual emergency” is a term from certain wisdom traditions as well as Transpersonal Therapy. Spiritual emergency can show up as major depression, however the depression is not considered an illness. In spiritual emergency, depression must be faced in order to achieve deeper connection to self and higher states of consciousness. DEPRESSION IS AN INITIATION. To “treat” or “medicate” a spiritual emergency is to stop the process from unfolding. Treatment and medication might make a person feel better, but it might not necessarily lead to a sense of fulfillment. Or else, the depression never fully heals.
The archetype of “Dark Night of the Soul,” teaches us that at the heart of depression we encounter our Soul. Our Soul has been calling to us through the darkness, we just didn’t know how to hear it. We lived in a society that told us to silence the sickness.
If you are in the darkness, fellow warrior, wisdom and spiritual traditions would say that you that you are not sick. Your darkness is speaking to you, calling you to take your hero’s journey. And that in answering the call, in doing “the work” of healing, you may uncover your Soul. “Soul” is just a meaningless sound meant to capture a way to live this life with a sense of purpose, heart, and meaning. It is the anchor that remains steady and is always available to us. It lives somewhere within.
Little Alice fell d
o
w
n
the hole. Bumped her head and met her Soul.
Sometimes, those of us with depression, don’t have a choice but to do personal growth work. It’s either do the work or die. I know this, because that was the case for me. There was a point when I fantasized about suicide. I did everything I could to try and heal.
I was in and out of traditional psychotherapy in different chapters of my life for years. My experiences as a client in therapy led to a lot of insight and self-awareness, with some change, but not much. As it turns out, traditional therapy was a small piece of a larger puzzle of what would truly heal me. I spent more time on that puzzle piece than was necessary. When I studied about Dark Night of the Soul, I felt a resonance within me.
I used what I learned about the Dark Night to follow my depression down the rabbit hole to a wise place within, you can call it my Soul. The word doesn’t matter- what matters is the way this place feels. It is a place that feels “right.” That always knows. When I live from that place, I feel at peace, fulfilled, and fully alive. I add value to those around me.
I had to go through my Dark Night of the Soul in order to receive the lessons. Dark Night was a process that shaped me and taught me along the way. I wouldn’t have been able to find my Soul without the lessons and the shaping of me.
If you learn how to trust the process, the depression might take you somewhere far more incredible than anywhere you might have considered on your own. Maybe to your soul. Maybe somewhere completely different, completely your own, but certainly an evolution of self will have occurred. Sometimes, life works with us in interesting and uncomfortable ways.
If you are looking for support as you heal your depression and you want to see if we’d be a good fit to work together…
suffering from Depression, and aren’t resonating with the “spiritual emergency”/ wisdom traditions approach ?
Consider "Subconscious Reprogramming.” This is especially good for those who tend to ruminate in the darkness and want different thinking and feeling habbits.