Depression (major depressive disorder) is a common and serious medical illness that negatively affects how one feels, the way one thinks, and how one acts. Fortunately, it is also treatable. Depression causes feelings of sadness and/or a loss of interest in activities once enjoyed. It can lead to a variety of emotional and physical problems and can decrease one’s ability to function at work and at home. One quote on the topic is “Don’t let life discourage you; everyone who got where he is had to begin where he was.” —Richard L. Evans, Hopefulness and faith are very important when dealing with depression. The hope that everything will get well and everything will eventually settle is a core belief that leads people to get out of depression. Now I will discuss two songs by artist Andy Eppler from his most recent album “Broke-Down Deluxe”, which also has a companion art book to help the listener have a fuller context on the work.
The song “My Final Hope” is a very good description of depression in which the writer reveals, “my heart is a ghost town”. Basically, the writer of the song himself has suffered from depression throughout his life. Mr. Eppler says that it’s tough to make his art when he is feeling depressed. Furthermore, in the song he sings that as trees need rain, similarly he needs friends who are caring and supportive.
“I’ve needed a friend like a young tree needs the rain
but everybody’s busy and I hate to complain”
In this song, the writer is telling the reader a way to come out of depression. That when one has supportive friends who understand the pain, it helps a lot. In these songs the writer is narrating his very personal life experience about a low point in his life story. The circumstances were overwhelmingly painful and “hope-stealing”. In his book he says that during that time he went to the dark place. He had given up. He had never really given up before. He was deeply depressed and suicidal. He was lucky that he had a friend who sat him down, listened to him, and reminded him of the truth. That friend saved Mr. Eppler’s life. The friend reminded Mr. Eppler of his place in this universe. He reminded him that he could always make new choices and get new results. It’s a very relatable and vulnerable part of the book. The message that Eppler writes to readers of his new art book that compliments the new album is the following:
“You, friend, are a shining light in the universe. You are a radiant crystallization of awareness that the universe produced in order to have experiences at a high and deep level. Your huge range of emotion and awareness is exactly why you are here. That is your gift from the universe; to feel profoundly. The rocks and the plants and the stars cannot feel and think like you can. Their experience is completely different. You are special in the cosmos and you are the cosmos. Your significance does not separate you or isolate you this time. In this, you are simultaneously unique and made out of everything else. To be sad is a strange flavor in the universe, a blessing that the rocks would savor, but to dwell in it constantly is to not accept your true destiny. Your destiny is to feel the range of possibilities and to have the power to choose. You have a birthright to joy. You have a birthright to love. They are available to you through choice and practice. How dare you threaten to end your experience when all of existence envies you and your incredible ability to taste emotion with such depth? Instead, release your painful expectations and allow yourself to taste new things again. You are able to choose.”
The most beautiful thing is that this song is so well written that when someone going through depression, listens to it they get a feeling of hope that “Yes, I can come out of depression and find new joy”.
The other song I’d like to discuss by Andy Eppler is “Nothing but the Rain”. This is basically an answer and continuation of the theme of the previous song “My Final Hope” because that song does end in a positive place but Eppler wanted to really lean in a life affirming direction thematically to balance out the collection. He just wanted to give the very simple sounding advice that came to him one afternoon in his garden. “On a nice day, I can only see the rain if I’m crying.” The writer further says that this song goes out to all people or is meant for all people who are feeling alone or depressed , or whose heart has been broken.
“This one goes out to all the lonely ones
The ones who feel it way down deep
I feel for all those orphaned hearts
The losers who thought they wanted to play for keeps”
Eppler goes on to use a really great poetic line that he can’t see anything but the rain when he is crying. This means that when he is depressed and he is feeling gloomy or sad he only tends to see things which make him more upset. It’s a vicious cycle that we see a lot in the therapy world. He cannot think about anything else but what he is focused on as if he is stuck. Furthermore, he says that he is blind to all the good things that he passes by which means that he is so much depressed and sad that he even does not notice the little positive things in life. The writer is hopeless that this storm of his will ever life finish. In the concluding paragraph of song the writer says that this all goes to those “tender feet in cold” or those young people who feel like they are getting old. The writer says that he can relate to how it feels to be emptied out by depression and sadness.
“This one goes out to all those tender feet in the cold
young ones waking up feeling like they’re getting old
I know how it feels to find that silent empty hole
In the place you thought you were safely hiding your soul”
A person can never come out of depression if they keep hiding between the difficulties. The best way to come out of depression is to face the difficulties. The message I got from these songs from “Broke-Down Deluxe” is that if we are unhappy, we can never be friendly; and if we are unfriendly, we can never be happy. Depression is among the most treatable of mental disorders. Between 80% and 90% percent of people with depression eventually respond well to treatment. Almost all patients gain some relief from their symptoms. From the above mentioned songs by Andy Eppler it is clear that YES by effort and willpower one can come out of depression. As the writer himself shares his experience of how he was helped by his friend to come out of depression he also helps us find some hope and feelings of not being so alone.