Depression as a Messenger: Decoding the Deeper Purpose, Meaning and Healing Potentials

Depression can be a challenging, incredibly painful experience, but it can also pave the path to change and transformation. Experiences of numbness, despair, emptiness, fatigue, loss of meaning and all the things that get labeled as depression are emotional and physiological responses from the body. The question that has always been quite interesting to me is: what is my body trying to tell me through depression? What is the message behind these signals?

“Depression makes holes in our theories and assumptions, but even this painful process can be honored as a necessary and valuable source of healing” -Thomas Moore (psychologist)

So in this episode we explore depression as complex trauma processing, nervous system overwhelm, a values crisis, a signal of physiological illness, basic needs not being met, a response to toxic culture and society, and a spiritual awakening.

“What I do trust is that our bodies are wise. And that depression is both an emotional and physiological response to things that our bodies are experiencing. And our bodies aren’t operating in a vacuum. Our bodies are more than our brain chemistry and more than our personality that our bodies are responding to the world around us. And so the question that has always been quite interesting to me, Particularly when it comes to depression is what is my body trying to tell me. What is the message behind these signals?””

— Jazmine Russell, Depth Work Podcast Episode 55

What You’ll learn in this episode:

Is there value in the experience of depression?
What are some of the messages depression may hold for us?
Does our reductionistic way of viewing depression as something to be eliminated limit our healing capacity?
What changes in our lives or society could depression stir up if we can be in the experience?

“When you regard the soul with an open mind, you begin to find the messages that lie within the illness. The corrections that can be found in remorse and other uncomfortable feelings. And the necessary changes requested by depression and anxiety.”

— Thomas Moore, Care of the Soul

DEPTH Work - A Holistic Mental Health Podcast

This is a space for those who love to dive into the underbelly, to revel in the mystery, question assumptions about what is normal, play in the both/and, and honor the wide range of human emotions.

As a complex trauma survivor, holistic counsellor and co-founder of a mental health institute, I learned that there is immense wisdom in our pain and what we call crazy is just what we are yet not willing to understand and explore. Let’s dive in!

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