Tuning Out The Static

Written by craig

The noise, the static, was just unbearable. The more she tried to understand the words, the more painful the pounding noise became.

Imagine yourself in a small room, trying to make sense of your surroundings. At the same time, however, a couple of large speakers are blaring out noise, static, a cacophony of sensory destruction. Now, try to read a book, eat a meal, raise a child, have a life, all the while having to tolerate the unbearable noise.

This is what depression does. You try to live your life, but nothing you do eases the noise/pain. People who suffer from depression find that food doesn't taste as good, that they have trouble enjoying the things that everyone else seems to enjoy. They try to "listen" to the world around them but the pain often drowns out anything that tries to compete with it.

When I worked with adolescents, I loved to watch the transformation when they finally got on an antidepressant that worked for them. At first there was almost a sense of numbness; the noise was gone but their mental "hearing" was still deafened by the ordeal.

Then, a fifteen-year-old boy would rush into my office to tell me he'd gotten up early that morning just to see the sunrise, and it was beautiful!

A young woman would tell me in her next session that she had completely forgotten how good pizza could taste.

A young mother would tell me about the most wonderful day she'd spent with her six-month-old angel.

When the static fades, when the noise finally starts to die down, you start to get your life back.

I really love my job.