I have facilitated groups or journeyed alongside women with depression since 1998.
One of the things I counsel women in depression who come to me is “find a reason to get up every morning” even if you feel like a sleep walker or a zombie. Keep moving! Surely around you there is someone, something, some purpose that compels you to live. We are beings who are created to know, love, worship, serve, and fellowship with God and with one another. When one’s attention is entirely on herself and her pain, when she isolates from life, she is living so outside her purpose, it is no wonder she can see nothing but darkness and pain. There were women who lovingly encouraged me and invited me back into life at the point I thought there was little for which to push myself forward 24 years ago. At the most despairing moment it was my family, an expected grandchild, and the knowledge that there were people who loved me, including God, that strengthened my will and moved me forward beyond the depression.
Now many years later in the throes of widowhood which, for some, may seem like the permanent pall of a unbearsble depression I find that the same prescription applies- get up everyday and find something that draws me forward….. for me it is a new great grandchild, grandchildren launching into exciting careers, continued ministry with marginalized women in need of assistance, joy in the beauty of God’s creation, so many lovely things about which to live for. I would tell others, too, if you observe someone in isolation, in pain, do not abandon them. Keep reaching out. Keep wooing them back into life. There is life beyond depression, even in widowhood.