Having watched my father for years live under a cloud of depression the overriding sense I always had was that he was living in a tomb that separated him from the world. I couldn’t access him and he couldn’t access me. I used to climb onto his lap as a child scratching at his tomb in vain, trying desperately to find a way in. My father invariably sat quietly, vacant and painfully distant. As a child I didn’t understand, I only craved his love, but later I came to realise that it was all about connection. If only I could get my father to reach out to me. Of course, he couldn’t for that was the curse of his illness.

When I’m at my best I’m connected to my true self not obscured by ego or self doubt. I’m in touch with my instinct. I’m connected to the world around me, in touch with nature, grounded in reality and I am connected to people around me by an honest expression of myself to my loved ones. When I have these three connections then I am truly alive.

Almost anyone that is suffering from depression feels isolated and alone irrespective of the people they have around them. Many people that are depressed are in marriages or long term relationships. It’s the disconnection that causes psychological distress.

To me connection is the essence of life – connection to oneself, to others and to the world around us. It is a cruel irony that disconnection drags us into depression and once there it steals the ability to connect from us.

So that’s how I see it…Connection is the antidote to depression.