I hope you will appreciate the following guest post.  I think Abby is an excellent writer and am happy to have her article on His and Hers Blog.

It’s a disease as deadly as cancer, yet we don’t accord depression the same importance – the latter eats away your body and turns you into a living vegetable, and the former does the same to your mind and soul. When you’re affected by depression, the world becomes a darker place and everything takes on a shade of grey. Your vision is compromised and you don’t see the positive side of any situation or circumstance. Some forms of depression are more severe than others and need medical intervention and continuous treat. They take years to cure, and by the time you learn how to cope and manage your thoughts, you find that every aspect of your life has undergone a sea change.

However, some kinds of depression can be banished at the outset if you’re aware of the problem and seek active help. Some people turn to good friends and close family members for support and guidance while others seek psychiatric care. Yet others feel that they can get rid of depression by keeping busy and focusing on all the positive aspects of their life. And for some people, writing a journal or blogging about their feelings makes it easier to cope with feelings of hopelessness and depression. Writing is a sort of catharsis because:

• It allows you to express what you feel in words: If there’s no one to talk to or if you feel that no one would understand, you can always take to putting down your feelings on pen and paper, or if it’s your blog, on keyboard and screen. Expressing your feelings and emotions in any kind of way is a catharsis, a cleansing of your mind and soul. You feel much better after you’ve poured out all that’s on your mind. And when you take to doing this regularly, it becomes a coping mechanism that helps keep depression at bay.

• It allows you to connect to others with similar problems: When you express your feelings on your blog, it helps you reach out and connect to others with similar issues and problems. Sharing your pain with them and helping them in return makes you feel much better in due course. There are also times when you feel that your problems are insignificant when compared to that of others, so you automatically start looking at the positive aspects of your life and chase away the blues.

• It brings comfort and support: An outpouring of feelings and emotions is bound to bring in support and comfort from many quarters. People who are regular visitors to your blog and those who have just stopped by offer sympathy and encouragement that work wonders in getting you back on track.

• It keeps your mind occupied: And finally, your blog keeps you occupied and prevents your mind from focusing on the negative aspects of life that are the cause for your depression. As you get better, you move to writing about other things, mostly about how you’re trying to overcome your problems and how much progress you’ve made. You’re doing something worthwhile, and this sense of achievement goes a long way in beating depression and keeping it away forever.

By-line:

This guest post is contributed by Abby Nelson, she writes on the topic of Masters in Counseling     She welcomes your comments at her email id: abby.85nelson<@>gmail<.>com.