Some people think that the world is a better place without them…
Think about famous artists who only receive respect for their work after they pass away.
Life can feel so hopeless and it can be hard to not see the world from a pessimistic standpoint based on our negative experiences and trauma that shape our perspective of our world. From this, we can start to gain negative beliefs that the world would be a better place without us and just feel like the world is such a terrible place to be.
Whether you’re someone who has had these types of thoughts or acted on them, the thought is a lot more common than you may expect. Most people have these thoughts here and there as conflict and different difficult life situations occur. They happen more frequently when people are constantly re-experiencing repressed traumas and emotions that hold them back from seeing the beauty that also exists in the world.
It’s the ultimate flight response, in terms of fight, flight, freeze, and fawn trauma responses.
To think it is one thing, to act on it is another. It means that a person is so overwhelmed with their circumstances and life situations and sees no value in themselves or life itself. People simply don’t want to be in pain anymore and want to be put out of their misery because they don’t have the awareness that it is more than possible to work through that pain and other emotions and memories that make you believe these negative things about yourself.
Since we are all survivors of trauma, these sorts of beliefs come from difficult experiences where we feel worthless and hopeless. Experiences where others have said directly to us or have implied it with hurtful actions and/or behaviours toward us, that we are not enough or that something is wrong with us. Or sometimes the painful experiences of loss, sickness, trauma, and other life events that happen to us or around us. It is often our inner child who doesn’t feel heard or understood because they weren’t given the support or the voice they needed. Sometimes it’s because we weren’t accepted for who we are and had to become a version of ourselves that our family or peers would like. Or we had to endure a career that didn’t bring us joy but left us feeling empty and unhappy. We internalize these experiences deeply, and it shapes our reality a lot more than we expect it to.
EMDR is a powerful tool that can help people work through what lies beneath depression and these beliefs about themselves. It helps clients uncover the trauma that holds them back in life and the different unintegrated emotions and memories they may have that keep them feeling stuck and depressed.
If you’re interested in diving deep into that trauma iceberg, I would love to help you heal from depression holistically.
Disclaimer: If you are experiencing suicidal thoughts with a plan/intent, please contact a suicide helpline or your local hospital.