Our Journey from Darkness to Light: How 15 Women Chose Strength Over Weakness

"You've just got to listen to what Patricia has to say, she's so experienced with depression!" my friend Joann declared to her Women's group.I never graduated from college. The truth is, I only attended one year and during that time I focused almost entirely on the social scene. However, if degrees were awarded for full life experiences, I guess I may have earned some kind of "experience" degree in depression. I've lived through three major depressions and countless minor ones. I guess I must have been a slow learner because it wasn't till the third depression, when once again, I was down for the count, that I discovered my need for medication. Although I still have my ups and downs and I have to work daily to maintain a balance, I do take my medicine, I use tools contained in this book, and continue to learn and apply others. They help me stay in recovery from depression. One major downfall, as I learned later in life, was approval addiction. My dream was to "please everyone so that I would never get in trouble, and everyone would be happy with me." The night I realized I would never achieve my dream was the night my life changed forever. In between bouts of depression, public speaking, writing, and teaching became a way of solidifying my lessons and giving value to the nightmare I lived through. It also allows me a chance to continue progressing. I am a people pleaser and an approval addict. Yet, I find healing in helping others, as well as myself, so our tunnel of darkness doesn't have to be so long.