Situational depression

[Paula]

Often, very often, but not always. Other than PND, I have never had a crisis because of trauma in my life

[rose]

Often, very often, but not always. Other than PND, I have never had a crisis because of trauma in my life

This is what I used to think. But then actually when I started looking at things more closely, there had been trauma.

My depression has always been there. But because I was so hard on myself, I didn't recognise trauma properly. I just thought it was another thing I should be getting on with, I didn't stop and say 'no, this is hard, I need to slow down' because I thought I couldn't, I shouldn't. My depression has made trauma worse in that sense. And often when people chat here on the forum I can see that they are dealing with a lot of stuff, but don't necessarily realise and recognise how much they are dealing with.
Now I am better at slowing down when things are tough. Instead of just blindly carrying on trying to push through all the trauma, I let it be there, I let myself cry, I take a hot bath, I rest more, I am kinder to myself. I do what people without depression do without thinking.