Kenny's story

Reading this was quite painful because having been through depression myself I could identify with Kenny so well.

So here goes to apply a psychologists understanding and look at the interanl and external factors

His desire not to go to work was a symptom of how stressed he had become. The stress had caused in inbalance of serotonin in his brain, and it was this that made him not want to go to work. This would not ave happened overnight. It had probably built up over weeks or months. It is possible there had been more subtle signs before that he ignored.

It is interesting he says he wanted to escape.

The medication helped to restore the serotin levels in his brain and get him on a more even keel, but still didnt solve the main problem which was that Kenny was profoundly unhappy with a large aspect of his life. He didn't have a job he was happy doing. The loss of self esteem this would cause would be contributing to keeping him stuck in a very bad place - not wanting to go out and socialise. And this would in turn keep his serotonin levels off balance and the whole thing becomes a vicious circle.


His recovery was undoubtedly helped by the serotin levels being gradually corrected (by medication, counselling and positive thinking. His eureka moment of thinking ' You've got to do something' would not have happened unless the internal factors had corrected so he was able to take the opportunity that came along that day. Without the correction of the internal factor the external factor would not have helped.

The desire to be a breadwinner again is an internal factor. trhere is no sign that there was any external pressure about this. But it was an important enoug role for him to help him re-balance the internal factors so he COULD actually work again.

Just as you spiral down into depression, you have to gradually spiral out of it with each positive step giving positive feedback that makes the next step a bit easier to take.

I can relate to this so much - it is almost painful to read and think about this. But it also shows me how far I have come since my dark days.