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The National Institute of Mental Health reported that by the year 2020 depression will be the second most common health problem, after heart disease. What a eye opener!
Recently I had the pleasure of talking with a woman who has brought depression from darkness into the light and is working diligently to help reduce the cases of profound depression. She is Terrie M. Williams (picture above), mental health advocate, author and social worker. Williams is also President of her PR company, The Terrie Williams Agency, which is located in New York.
Terrie Williams has not been immune to depression. She lived with low grade depression for a long period of time. Everyday she would go out into the world with her game face on. In 2004 she was officially diagnosed with depression. The pretense had ended! The depression had become so severe that she couldn’t get out of bed and didn’t care if she got out of bed. It took all her energy just to get up. Her friends came to her aide because she wasn’t returning phone calls. The anxiety, depression and her thoughts of not seeing the light at the end of the tunnel was overpowering.
She started seeing a therapist. In the beginning she would cancel visits and not go on a regular basis. As time passed, she changed therapist and it was with a new therapist that she had a paradigm shift and knew she wanted to heal. She has been on track since then.
Williams decided to write her book, Healing Starts With Us, in response to the thousands of letters she received after an article about her experiences was published in Essence magazine. She said the book allowed her to give her story about depression a voice to let other African Americans know they were not alone and to put a name to the face of depression. She also the author of Black Pain.
A couple of weeks after our meeting, Terrie sent the following words which was titled “To Inspire”.
When you know that the life, strength and spirit of others depends on your life, your strength, your spirit, you have no right to be afraid—even if you are terribly afraid. ~Ousame Sembene~”God’s Bits of Woods”
Don’t turn away. Keep your gaze on the bandaged place. That’s where the light enters you. ~Rumi
Are you wearing your game face? You may have started the healing process. Write your comments below!
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