Winter can be so depressing, can't it? I live in the great Canadian north. Well, not too far north. In fact, I live near Toronto, which is just one hour north of Buffalo. Still, in the winter, the nights get pretty darn long and the often times below zero days, are gray and snowy and downright depressing.

Whether you are a depressed woman facing what could be several years of menopausal symptoms or a spouse/partner living with said woman, there will definitely be challenges. Depression on its own is bad enough, but add the complications of menopause to it and you get a veritable soup of sorrows.

There comes a time in your life when you just have to say, “ENOUGH!” There IS something wrong with me. Life isn’t meant to be this dismal… is it? Perpetual sadness, prolonged fatigue, joint pain, headaches, muscle ache, lack of motivation, lack of decision-making ability, lack of focus, indifference, being antisocial, moody, emotional, guilty, having low self-worth, thoughts of suicide, planning suicide… all symptoms of depression.

Parents want the best for their children. So, it’s a sad and guilt-ridden moment indeed, when you realize that you have passed mental illness on to one or more of your children.

To Every Mood, There is a Season Have you ever noticed a pattern to your moods? Do they follow the full moon? Or the rain? Do you get the winter blues or feel more hyper in the summer? Many people do see a cycle with the calendar and the weather.  My third grade teacher said kids are more wound up when it’s rainy because there are more ions in the air.  I don’t know if this is true, or if it had something to do with inside recess, but something indicated a change in behavior.  And when things seem weird around us, how many times do you hear, "must be the full moon"?

35 years at Southwestern Bell/ AT&T, and struggling to make ends meet. 40 years as a union rep and labor foreman for a large highway construction company and his entire pension could be affected by whether there is a contract from the current negotiations. 33 years at Chrysler and faced with the decision to move or take a questionable buyout. Spending years saving in order to “retire early”, and then finding himself with nothing to do. These are the stories I’ve recently heard from people who DO have a positive work ethic. Men and women who have shown loyalty to their employers for decades only to find themselves lost at the end of their careers. When my mother retired at 62 my father-in-law warned her, “Watch out, the first year is hard.”

Often, depression can be triggered by negative thoughts, self-talk, self criticism, and the cognitive distortion called mind-reading. Interacting with someone and assuming you know what they are thinking, assuming they are thinking about you and assuming they are judging you negatively is a dangerous trap for depression and one that will surely make you feel worse. But even if that person is judging you, do you care about their opinion? Whom do you admire? Respect? Whose opinion matters to you?

You walk into the counselor’s office to talk about your depression. Your symptoms include fatigue, poor concentration, decreased libido, moodiness, sleep disturbance, appetite change, nervousness, disorganization, relationship conflict, irritability, poor work performance, withdrawal from others. Yep, your counselor agrees, you have symptoms of depression. The next step should be to figure out WHY you have these symptoms of depression.

It’s cocktail season. And that means millions will drink too much, including people who suffer from depression. While having a drink can relieve anxiety—at least temporarily—abuse of alcohol can make us even more depressed. And though pop culture paints a decidedly different picture, alcohol is actually a depressant. It’s not a stimulant.

'Tis the season to suffer from depression, but get moving and you'll survive.