Reflections of the suffering inherent in depression can be found in both modern literary works and folk tales. Practicing psychologist and author of the book “The Mysterious Forest” Ekaterina Davydova explains how writers have used the image of depression and how this can be useful for readers.
What is important to know about depression
As a rule, depression includes such symptoms as depressed mood, lethargy, and general decreased activity. Additionally, a person may be accompanied by physical ailments, such as chronic pain, loss of appetite, sleep disturbance, and hypochondria. Negative attitudes towards oneself (“I am bad”), the world (“the environment is cruel, dangerous, unaccepting…”), and the future (“there is nothing good ahead”) appear.
Clinically, depression is differentiated by duration and severity, and its diagnosis requires a visit to a psychotherapist. At the appointment, the specialist usually asks about symptoms, conducts special testing to distinguish depression from other disorders with a similar picture. Additionally, he or she may prescribe a blood test to identify possible problems in the endocrine system, a study of the brain and nervous system. After this, the psychotherapist prescribes treatment, which may include both different types of psychotherapy and drug support.
How Writers Describe Depression
Sometimes depressive symptoms are closely related to the functioning of the body. For example, postpartum depression . But if we are talking more about mental suffering of a psychogenic nature, such a condition can be looked at symbolically. Try to unravel its deep meaning. Sometimes depression becomes a kind of path to oneself, having entered which we discover childhood traumas, hidden needs and unrealized potentials.
Depth psychology offers many vivid metaphors for this difficult condition. Carl Gustav Jung has a quote: “Depression is like a lady in black. When she comes, do not drive her away, but invite her to the table as a guest and listen to what she has to say.”
We see a visit from a similar “lady in black” in the book “Promise Me Spring” by Melissa Perron. The main character, Fabienne, is a young and promising artist. On the surface, everything is fine: she has an interesting job, close friends, a family, a cozy home. But she is depressed. For reasons that are hidden deep inside. During sessions with a psychologist, Fabienne has an image of an internal “winter” that comes into her life and feels like a necessary stage.
The heroine explores her relationship with her parents step by step, learns her father’s secret, rethinks her attitude to work and creativity, deals with her sense of guilt and her own aggression. And ultimately finds a path to gradual healing.
A similar story can be seen in Mikhail Zoshchenko’s autobiographical novel “Before Sunrise.” The book begins with the chapter “I am unhappy – and I don’t know why” and continues with a journey back into the past. The author painstakingly searches for and finds the origins of his oppressed state, gradually healing his mental wounds and rethinking the past.
Images of depression can also be found in popular fairy tales. For example, in Hans Christian Andersen’s “The Ugly Duckling” there is an episode where the hero finds himself alone on a freezing pond. He has to constantly paddle with his paws so that the water does not freeze over completely. He loses strength and almost gives up when he is saved by a random traveler. In life, this “duckling on a freezing pond” position can be caused by the inability to find one’s place, rejection by parents due to otherness, and the difficulty of finding oneself.
Snow White can also be viewed through the prism of depression. The girl sleeps soundly in a glass coffin after eating a poisoned apple given to her by her evil stepmother. The following interpretation is possible: a negative maternal figure inside the girl’s psyche does not allow her to live her life, poisons her with destructive messages. An unconscious pattern of “don’t live”, “don’t move forward” appears.
We see a somewhat similar story in the Brothers Grimm fairy tale “The Rosehip”. The beautiful daughter of the king and queen pricked herself with a spindle and fell asleep. Along with her, all the inhabitants of the castle fell asleep for a hundred years, and the castle itself was overgrown with such thorny bushes that no one could get through its thorns.
In life, such a “glass coffin”, “thorny bush” turns out to be a complex of obligations, self-limitations, internal prohibitions. They lead to a depressive state. In fairy tales, the exit is the appearance of a prince. His image can be understood as the accumulation and activation of the heroine’s inner core, the manifestation of self-compassion and her own authority in contrast to the evil stepmother.
Another vivid image of depression in literature is the cocoon, akin to the one in which a butterfly matures. Jungian analyst Murray Stein sees the metaphor of the butterfly’s formation as a stage in our development. Being in the cocoon seems static from the outside, as if nothing is happening. But in fact, a transformation is brewing inside. People encounter this kind of state as they grow older. For example, this is how the notorious midlife crisis can feel.
How to use writers’ images in your life
It’s one thing to observe depression in literature, and quite another to notice its symptoms in yourself . If you feel like something is wrong with your mental state, try taking a special test on the Beck Depression Inventory . But remember that this is only self-analysis, not a diagnosis. And self-medication is not an option. It’s better to seek help from a specialist as soon as possible.
If you want to reflect on the meaning of depressive symptoms, the following options are possible:
-
Imagine your depression as a lady in black knocking on your door to deliver a letter. Imagine yourself opening the door, accepting the letter, opening it. Try to compose the text you imagine will be there.
-
Think of depression as a butterfly cocoon, perhaps imagine yourself in it. Do you feel like there is a transition coming up in your life? If so, from what to what? Do you need to speed it up, or do you need time alone and introspective to let something form inside you?
-
Think of depressive symptoms as a pathway to unhealed emotional wounds. What feelings do you think were once repressed, suppressed as unbearable? They may be related to grief, episodes of physical and emotional abuse, guilt, forbidden anger.
-
Imagine that depressive symptoms are something that shelters you from some unpleasant life circumstances. Maybe your relationship with your spouse has been crying out for an open dialogue for a long time? Or your current job is not really a place where you realize yourself to the fullest?
It is worth noting that such reflection can cause very difficult experiences, so assess the risks of doing it on your own. If you feel that it will be difficult or even unsafe to do it alone, contact a mental health specialist who will accompany you.