Posted by Bob Johnson (208.234.124.40) on November 08, 1999 at 12:17:59:
In Reply to: depression posted by krista on November 06, 1999 at 22:55:35:
Krista, the symptom of wanting to stay at home combined with the time, three-months, signals the possibility of depression. Other common symptoms (and not all of them have to be present to mean depression) are: a loss of pleasure/interest even when good things are in your life; significant changes in weight and/or sleep patterns; increased anxiety or the opposite, a loss of energy; feelings of guilt, worthlessness, or recurring thoughts about death/suicide.
If you have a good relationship with your physician, I'd suggest talking directly about these feelings of withdrawal. If medication seems useful, you have a 70 to 80% chance of relief, most especially if you combine medication with talking to a mental health counselor. On the flip side, untreated depression tends to recur with the risk increasing with each cycle (and depression tends to come and go in self-limiting cycles). It's an argument for being assertive in caring for yourself.
Depression is not automatically a part of the CH experience. There is good evidence that how we think about our experiences has a direct impact on our emotional reactions: we can buffer ourselves to an important degree from some of the emotional impacts of chronic medical problems. (You might dig around the archives and look for a string on "cognitive therapy".)