The Dancer's Depression

Depression is a subject that we all experience at least once in our lives. For some of the Dancers it is short lived for others it is a long battle for one's own life and sanity. Though it can be something so simple as just having a bad day or the other end which is being suicidal. Many things can trigger an attack of depression. Yes, it is an attack to our mental psyche. There are people who live everyday with a disorder called Manic Depression. I know first hand what that is like. There are days when it is so hard to even do the smallest of things like get out of bed. Manic Depressives are not always depressed they do have their good days. I should say from my own experience of over a quarter of a century. It is not easily spotted either. One cannot pick a Manic Depressive out of a crowd. Everyone knows someone that is with the condition. It is how well that you hide it. And no matter what is good in your life you are still depressed. I have lived that one too.

Take for instance, having a good job, being with the one person that is right for you and having a new child. One would think that would be a time of joy in a person's life. But for some it is a time of a deeper depression. Women have what they call post partum depression. That sometimes does not ever go away. Men, I feel can suffer from it too. It is different for them though. Theirs is from the fact that now they have a new baby and their lady no longer has time for them. It is also the new burdens of the fianancial constraints that are placed upon them. For women it is the fact that they are no longer carrying the baby inside them and that thier esteem is lowered by other reasons. Yet, for most they get through the time with a lot of love and support.

Someone close to me once posed the question is depression is dangerous. I truly feel that it is. For these reasons: One the person that is depressed is feeling like there is no way out of the situation that they are in and that they feel like that the only answers are to hide themselves away or escape by means of death. They want to end the pain that is causing the depression. They also want to end the loneliness and the frustration. Sometimes the depression is mixed with anger. That too is a dangerous combination. It can also be dangerous when mixed with drugs and or alcohol.