The natural rhythms of life between the constants of birth and death involve change, the third constant. In the face of change, our ability to adapt determines how we emotionally approach lifes seasons and new situations.
One part of us tries to keep change at bay, which can lead to conflict if we no longer desire what we attempt to preserve. Then, avoiding the dreaded feelings of hopelessness and helplessness dictate our actions. Another part of us accepts the inevitability of change; we adapt and mold what we value and allow those values to find meaningful expression in the new circumstance.
When unresolved Needs constrain the person because letting go would mean having to accept loss, he may re-create past scenarios in the present with the hope that this time I will prevail. Therapy enables the patients, adults to observe, understand, and modify or discontinue this recapitulation. The person can then move on in life, able to tolerate the loss that accompanies growth. Similar intense feelings may be generated by both experiences, but there is a world of difference between a breakdown being controlled by the past, and a breakthrough taking charge of the past.
The latter involves giving up painful, self-defeating ways of relating and troubled sets of relationships for more appropriate ones as we progress in our lives.
The essence of Hinduism, expressed in the Bhagavad Gita and succinctly condensed here, is attach, detach, transcend. We cannot survive if we do not attach, and we cannot grow, transcend, if we do not detach. Judith Viorst expressed the importance of tolerating feelings of detachment in her well-titled book Necessary Losses. Ramens expression there is no healing without grieving also emphasizes the importance of tolerating the sadness of loss. If tears are shed, they are tears of resolution, not resignation.
We often confuse such sadness with depression, but there is a distinct difference between the two. When we are sad, we retain the belief that whatever we changed or gave up, voluntarily or inevitably, will somehow improve our lives. Our hope survives our loss.
On the other hand, when depression overcomes us in the face of loss, we abandon hope. Take, for example, the child who has grown, matured, and is now going off to college. Though the parents and adult child may feel loss and sadness, they also appreciate the appropriateness of those feelings.
In a healthy relationship, neither parent nor child would do anything to interfere with these natural feelings. Conversely, if the parents fear that their childs growth will leave them bereft of purpose and value, they may attempt to block his leaving or become despairing and depressed.
There is a time for all things, it says in Ecclesiastes, 3:1, including a time for attaching, a time for detaching, and a time for transcending. Grief and sadness reasonably accompany any loss without ever becoming depression. The equations below distinguish between these two states.
Sadness - Hope - Depression
Depression - Hope - Sadness
Copyright (c) 2010 Sheldon Kardener
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