Joyful Traumatic Stress Syndrome. Is there such a thing?

lomondtaffer on 5/6/2006 at 04:20

Of course Shakespeare wrote about it: he wrote about everything. It's just too early in morning for me to remember one, but I will... BUT, what I really want to tell you is that if you can't, after about a month. get round to feeling that you were just lucky to have HAD that beautiful experience/vision, whatever, and treasure it as a kind of 'sweet' pain, then maybe you need to think about depression and how to address it. (Don't shy away from that idea: sometimes all you need is a damn good talk with someone about what's bothering you.)

If you find yourself crying in weird places (lay bys, supermarket car parks, to name but two) please don't let that go on too long. You're just wasting precious days in your life on depression when there are things you can do to get out of it. As you can probably guess I and many others have been there too, and I kick myself over how long it took me to get round to sorting things out.

Gillie on 5/6/2006 at 12:41

Shakespeare wrote of Euphoria and sadness as many poets have.They wrote their feelings down. Many were morose.
I know exactly how you feel. The feeling of overwhelming euphoria see and feel something a moment you will never see again then depression.
You should if you are feeling like it get the help that is there.
I know I too lost some precious long time over it. It is not funny. You will find the difference it makes to your life.

btw Beautiful Loch Lomond

Shevers on 5/6/2006 at 16:10

Something close to that's what I have been feeling like over the last few days, but not quite so intense. It's less like depression for me, but it's still at the back of my mind all the time. And I'm not even sure if I want to be rid of it :weird:

RarRar on 5/6/2006 at 16:32

Quote Posted by Shevers

And I'm not even sure if I want to be rid of it :weird:

Wow, you sure hit the nail on the head with that little comment. Why would somebody want to cling to a feeling like that? Maybe just to feel something I guess ...

Shevers on 5/6/2006 at 16:43

I dunno, I think it's because of what you were saying about everything seeming drab and uninteresting after it - when it seemed to be fading I felt, well, empty.

lomondtaffer on 5/6/2006 at 17:21

Hi guys. Still haven't found that Shakespeare, but I will....

This 'empty' 'fading'' clinging on' stuff: It's only natural. If you've had a wonderful experience, there's bound to be a sense of anti-climax afterwards. But that DOES fade eventually, just leaving you with the pleasure of knowing that YOU experienced it, no-one else. It's a precious thing, but eventually you won't think of it every day, just occasionally. Then it becomes a sort of treasure in a chest, that you can take out and consider without pain.

The thing to do right now is give yourself something else to look forward to - even if it's something that seems trivial in comparison.

Raven on 5/6/2006 at 18:52

Is that not what we do when we grieve over the loss of someone (someone old ofcourse who lived a full and happy life)?

Dia on 6/6/2006 at 15:07

Quote Posted by RarRar

Has anybody ever seen or experienced something so beautiful that it makes them depressed? Maybe they realize that at some point we will all witness "the most beautiful thing in our lives" and after that nothing will ever be as beautiful (by definition).

The births of my children affected me that way.

And then came post-partum depression and not long after that, The Terrible Twos.

RarRar on 6/6/2006 at 15:54

Quote Posted by Dia

The births of my children affected me that way.

And then came post-partum depression and not long after that, The Terrible Twos.

So what I am describing is perhaps exactly the same thing as Postpartum Depression? I bet it is! I'm going to look it up and see what I can find.

Still waiting on that Shakespeare. Maybe the Bard dropped the ball on this one ...

lomondtaffer on 6/6/2006 at 17:19

From you have I been absent in the spring,
When proud-pied April, dress'd in all his trim,
Hath put a spirit of youth in every thing,
That heavy Saturn laughed and leapt with him.
Yet nor the lays of birds, nor the sweet smell
Of different flowers in odour and in hue,
Could make me any summer's story tell,
Or from their proud lap pluck them where they grew:
Nor did I wonder at the lily's white,
Nor praise the deep vermilion in the rose;
They were but sweet, but figures of delight,
Drawn after you, you pattern of all those.
Yet seemed it winter still, and you away,
As with your shadow I with these did play.

This is about love, of course, and your experience may not be about physical love, but the feelings of loss and longing apply universally, of course

and for later.......

When in disgrace with fortune and men's eyes
I all alone beweep my outcast state,
And trouble deaf heaven with my bootless cries,
And look upon myself, and curse my fate,
Wishing me like to one more rich in hope,
Featured like him, like him with friends possessed,
Desiring this man's art, and that man's scope,
With what I most enjoy contented least;
Yet in these thoughts my self almost despising,
Haply I think on thee, and then my state,
Like to the lark at break of day arising
From sullen earth, sings hymns at heaven's gate;
For thy sweet love remembered such wealth brings
That then I scorn to change my state with kings.

These are both Sonnets (from somewhere in the first hundred, but i'm lousy with numbers). Hope they bring comfort and joy to all and any who read them. (Note the key words 'LOVE REMEMBERED' in the second one!)

Hope the world is looking a little more inviting by now :angel: