Depression Workbook

Early this summer I got The Depression Workbook by Mary Ellen Copeland. It seemed way too hard-core for me. Copeland talks about charting moods, making hour-by-hour plans for the day to provide structure, and making plans to deal with variously severe stages of depression.

Sure, I was depressed, but really? I could get through the day without a diagram, thanks very much.

A few months have passed, and Copeland's book seems much more relevant. A written schedule for the day sounds pretty nice. I've started trying to think about what triggers a deeper depressive phase for me, and how to stop the slide before I'm at the bottom of the hill.


I keep hoping that going to church will stop being a problem, but this morning I decided that attending worship at our church qualifies as a "trigger" of a depressive mood. I felt calm and well-organized about going this morning, but by the middle of the service was a little dizzy. Nothing unpleasant happened; there just seems to be so much accumulated anxiety about the place that peace and happiness are not there for me.