Single Parenting and Depression

When you do not have a line of support it is all but natural that you would fall into depression. The situation gets extremely tough both emotionally and financially when you lose your spouse. And when you know that the responsibility of rearing the child, assuring him a good future along with meeting the expenses of the entire family, the single parent often suffer from bouts of high tension and depression.

How Does it Start?

Depression is a state that can befall anyone when you are emotionally not equipped to deal with crises. Still when you are assured that you have someone to fall back on, you can still fight it out. But in a difficult situation where you are left to fight it out alone; depression is not really easy to get out of. It is a sickness that needs to be identified first and then in order to get cured of it there is a requirement of an emotional support.

Analysing Depression

The first step is to identify and realise that you are into depression. While you are so engaged and engrossed in thinking about how to raise the child, and you are also constantly thinking of securing and arranging for the family income. You have difficulties and when you have no one to share or discuss it, you feel isolated and eventually depressed. Most of the times we do not require material support, all that we need is the assurance that we are not alone and there is some one to stand by in times of need. In a situation where you have lost your spouse, you are emotionally more vulnerable and even the littlest of difficulty shakes you up.

Causes of Depression

Apart from rearing the child and thinking about the income, the other common factors that add to the depression of a single parent are self dissatisfaction emanating from the idea that you are not doing justice to your innate abilities or talent as you are tied down to your family responsibilities. Then there can also be guilt just due to the opposite reason that is, when you feel that you should do justice to your talent and stay career focused.

The guilt follows from the fact that you realise that you are not doing enough to keep your child happy by staying with him during his growing up years. A single parent can also feel depressed with the everyday chores of the life, she or he might feel that shouldering all the responsibilities is too much on him or her and constantly misses the spouse that could have been a helping hand to him.

How Do you Deal with Depression?

In a depressed state it is extremely important that you find support. This can be a family member or a close friend in whose company you feel comfortable. A single parent finds it difficult to seek this support as they have this inbuilt belief that no one can take the position of the spouse. Here a little bit of understanding is required, it is not suggested that you begin to take the other person as a substitute for your spouse.

No one can take the position of someone you have lost. But try to feel comfortable in the company of a person who has always been close to you and seek his or her help when you know that you are finding it difficult to deal with the situation. You will be happy to find that the other person is also equally eager to help you out.

It is necessary to realise the importance of having an outlet. It is important to take correct decisions regarding the development and future of your child as well as your own career and employment choices and not to forget the need to secure the future and well being of your family. Depression can easily be fought out when you learn to focus on positive things. As you ponder over them you will naturally feel good and relaxed.