Many people don’t see any good side about depression. Depression, no doubt is a terrible experience that should be dealt with. However, there are certain benefits that depression surprisingly provides and people rarely see them. In this article, we’ll be looking at how depression as an ailment can be of help.

Depression is a Common Human Experience
Depression refers to a state of mind characterized by severe melancholy and despondency which may lead to self-inflicted injuries or suicide. Every one of us has gone through phases in our lives where we’ve had to deal with gross unhappiness and depression. Whether it’s a parent dying in a car crash or getting dumped by your lover or feeling like you are not good enough, depression has visited every one of us one way or the other, no matter how little.

Some people only need to binge-watch episodes of ‘Friends’ and they will be fine while others have to book an appointment with a therapist. Depression is an unavoidable part of being human. In many cases, people facing depression prefer to handle it in isolation. They rarely talk to anyone about what they are going through as they are not usually inclined to do so. They feel like no one else would understand it and this is exactly why they remain solitary and forlorn. This is why René Girard said, “Everyone thinks that he alone is condemned to hell and that’s what makes it hell.”

The worst result of depression over the years is suicide. Many people think so hard and realize the best thing they can do for themselves is to end their lives. Suicide has been shown to have contributed to more deaths than war and murder combined and the majority of those who commit suicide do so as a result of depression.

Getting to see the flip side of depression requires one to step out of the closet and acknowledge our emotional state instead of suppressing it. Doing this will help us come to terms with our struggles in a different way and introduce us to benefits we never knew existed. Knowledge of these benefits will further help us to deal with subsequent struggles and draw strengths from our weaknesses.

Benefits of Depression
1. Depression Can Enhance Your Sense of Judgement
While it is true that depression reduces our liveliness and plunges us into an abyss of toxic inactivity, studies have shown that depression can actually improve our sense of judgment, especially in a social setting. In a particular study, researchers found out that people are more likely to err in their social judgments when they are happy. Studies from the same team showed that depression greatly reduced biases that get in the way of making the correct judgments. The human mind wants typically to believe that people’s actions are a reflection of who they are. A mind pervaded with sadness considers the fact that there’s more to people than their behaviors and actions.

2. Depression Helps Us to Make Keen Observations
Certain situations require people to be keenly observant. For example, when you want to evaluate a person’s disposition. This could be a human resource manager trying to evaluate a job applicant or a parent trying to figure out which of the kids is telling the truth about a broken item. A melancholic mood serves to help us assess these situations with more scrutiny and perusal. These days, many behaviors can be misleading, some people even lead fake and deceptive lives. Depression helps us see right through it and repel deception in ways that our normal minds don’t.

3. Depression Engenders Empathy
Being depressed is a condition that attracts empathy from people. Based on research, the interconnection between depression and empathy is quite complicated. Many studies have shown that depression damages our ability to empathize with other people’s plights. One of those studies revealed that depressed people have an over the top reaction towards other people’s struggles and this leads to withdrawal and sometimes blaming themselves for other people’s pain.

However, depression creates an empathy that helps people to relate to other people’s struggles in a way that they wouldn’t in their normal state of mind. Seeing their loved ones or people generally go through those same struggles enlivens their empathy, which strengthens their relationship with people. Professionals such as therapists or coaches know this well and take advantage of their struggles to relate to their patients or subordinates as the case may be.

4. Depression Helps Us to Cope with Challenges
Human beings are driven by the desire to make something good out of themselves and lead a happy life. However, the truth is life doesn’t always go our way, one minute can be all joyful and another minute a crushing tragedy. So, obsession with happiness doesn’t always help but realizing and acknowledging that life will not always be rosy will help us deal with life’s ordeals and challenges better. The belief that we should only be happy and expect the best can plunge us into unimaginable depths of helplessness when life happens while a sane realization that there will be rough times will help us stand when evil strikes.

5. Depression Promotes Resilience and Fortitude
As mentioned in the previous point, a depressed mind isn’t given to unrealistic expectations of happiness and can deal with adversity better than someone with a utopian view about life. Depression seems to be a state of mind that weakens and gets rid of the ability to try again and stay motivated. However, according to research, many people pointed to depression as a stepping stone for their resilience.

People must begin to view depression as a way to learn and garner perseverance and strength. It helps us to learn that if we’ve beaten adversity once, not only can we beat it again, we also increase our growth as humans. For instance, a person who has suffered depression for a good number of years will see his life change when he acknowledges the strength he has found in the face of adversity and this will propel his confidence in facing other challenges.

6. Depression Can Aid Concentration in a Crucial Way
One of the ways to identify depression is when an individual retreats into isolation. While we usually see this sign as a troubling symptom, it can help concentrate our minds on activities like coursework help that are of utmost priority. Avoiding social situations and pleasurable activities leave more time to spend on more urgent tasks. This explains why people find it easier to concentrate on urgent tasks when they are sad and unhappy. Concentration is not only heightened but depression eliminates the possibility of being distracted from such tasks by pleasurable activities around.

Conclusion
Depression is not and will never be an advisable state to persist in. However, the truth is depression is one thing that is common to humans and over the years, human beings have only encountered the damaging effects. However, we need to embrace this state of mind and explore its benefits that will, in turn, make us better individuals. So, this does not in any way suggest comfort in depression; it rather proposes that instead of allowing it to consume us or spend most of our time trying to cure it, we can build from it and make it a stepping stone to becoming better versions of ourselves.

Alice Jones
Guest Blogger
Dragon Intuitive

Alice Jones is a writer and journalist. She is from San Francisco, CA. She graduated from the University of San Francisco and got a Master’s degree. Alice has a special interest in such topics as business, lifehacks and freelance.