a n g e r

What's the first word that comes to mind when you read the word 'depression?'

Sadness?

Grief?

Suffering?


There's one I'd like to call your attention to that isn't frequently attributed:

A N G E R

It's part of a handful of ideas that I'm finding to be loosely interrelated.

 So, let's briefly touch on a series of ideas that go something like this:

  1. Depression, if only in part, is anger turned inward. 

  2. Much of that anger stems from your perceived locus of control (you, or the universe).

  3. The more external (i.e. universe) the locus of control, the greater your feelings of internment, frustration and anguish. 

  4. Anger at the universe offers no recourse (the universe doesn't give a 'flyin' flip,' as one particularly astute woman we'll just refer to as "Mom" once remarked).

  5. Things don't go away just because you don't know where to put them. 

  6.  Newton's third law: For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction.

If you push that anger into a corner, it will simply roar right back at you.

If you believe it to be stupid, it will outsmart you.

Try to kill it... and like any attacked animal,

it

will

try

to

kill

you.

John Anson