Understanding Depression: When Depression Interferes With Leadership
Depression is often discussed in terms of sadness, hopelessness or loss of interest. But there is another question worth asking: What happens when depression begins to interfere with a person's ability to lead themselves and express who they are?
Created for Dominion
The foundation of From Depression to Expression begins with the way human beings were created.
“Then God said, ‘Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.’”
Genesis 1:26 NKJV
Genesis 1:26 presents human beings as created in God's image and given dominion. Dominion, in this program, is not simply about having authority over something or someone. It is also about how a person engages life—how they think, feel, make decisions, use their abilities, relate to others and participate in the world around them.
This brings us to leadership.
Leadership Begins With Self
Leadership is usually associated with leading other people. But before a person can meaningfully lead others, there is the question of how they lead themselves.
Self-leadership is expressed in everyday life. It is seen in how we interpret what happens to us, how we respond to circumstances, how we make decisions, how we use our abilities and how we continue to participate even when life becomes difficult.
When these areas are affected, the issue is not simply that someone is having a bad day. Something may be interfering with the person's ability to function and express themselves as they normally would.
So, What Is Depression?
Depression is a mental-health condition that can affect mood, thinking, energy, concentration, motivation, relationships and everyday functioning. It is more than ordinary sadness and can affect how a person experiences and responds to everyday life.
A person experiencing depression may struggle with hopelessness, low self-worth, tiredness, loss of interest, difficulty concentrating or difficulty making decisions. These experiences can affect work, school, relationships and participation in activities.
For more information: World Health Organization and National Institute of Mental Health .
When Depression Interferes With Leadership
If depression affects the way a person thinks, feels and functions, it can also interfere with the way that person leads themselves.
A person may find it harder to make decisions. Motivation may decrease. Things that once mattered may no longer seem meaningful. Relationships may become difficult to maintain, and withdrawing from other people may begin to feel easier than participating.
This is where depression can become particularly significant in the context of leadership. The person may still have abilities, ideas, personality, experience and potential, but their ability to access and express those things may become restricted.
The restriction of expression does not necessarily mean the disappearance of what is within the person.
What Happens to the Meaning We Give Our Experiences?
One of the deeper issues is not only what happens to us, but what we begin to believe those experiences mean about us.
A painful experience can begin as an event and gradually become an identity statement. A person may fail at something and begin to think, “I am a failure.” They may experience rejection and begin to believe, “Nobody wants me.” They may struggle for a long period and eventually conclude, “I have nothing to offer.”
The experience is real. The pain is real. But the conclusion drawn from the experience can begin to influence how the person sees themselves and what they expect from life.
That expectation can then influence behaviour. If I believe I have nothing to offer, why would I attempt something meaningful? If I believe nobody wants me, why would I reach out? If I believe I cannot succeed, why would I try again?
This is one way an experience can begin to interfere with self-leadership.
When Life Starts Looking Half Empty
Depression can make what is missing feel larger than what remains.
The person may see failure more easily than progress, weakness more than ability, rejection more than connection, and loss more than possibility. What remains may still be present, but it becomes harder to see, value or engage with.
The result can be a gradual change in participation. A person may stop pursuing opportunities, stop expressing ideas, stop connecting with people or stop believing that their contribution matters.
The question then becomes deeper than, “Why don't I feel better?” It becomes, “What has happened to the way I am experiencing and expressing myself?”
Where Does SHAPE Come In?
In From Depression to Expression, we use the word SHAPE to describe important dimensions through which a person experiences and expresses themselves.
S — Spiritual: the spiritual dimension of who I am.
H — Heart: my emotional and inner-life dimension.
A — Abilities: what I am capable of doing and developing.
P — Personality: the way I naturally engage and express myself.
E — Experience: what I have lived, learned and encountered.
These dimensions do not exist separately from everyday life. They interact with the way a person sees themselves, relates to others and responds to circumstances.
Depression can interfere with how these dimensions are experienced and expressed. Someone may still possess an ability but struggle to use it. They may still have value but feel worthless. They may still have purpose but struggle to imagine a meaningful future.
This distinction matters because what a person currently feels able to express is not necessarily the full measure of what exists within them.
From Depression to Expression
This is the heart of the journey.
The purpose is not to tell a person that depression is simply a lack of faith, weakness or laziness. Depression can be a serious mental-health condition, and professional assessment and treatment may be necessary.
The coaching question is about something else: understanding what depression may be interfering with and exploring what can be restored so that the person can increasingly participate in life and express who they are.
What has depression interfered with in my ability to express who I am?
And then comes the next question:
What needs to be restored so that my SHAPE can increasingly be expressed?
From Interference to Expression
The journey from depression to expression is therefore not simply a journey from feeling bad to feeling good. It is a journey of understanding what has been affected, recognizing what remains, and exploring what needs to be restored.
As self-leadership is strengthened, a person can begin to participate again. As participation increases, expression can begin to return. And as expression becomes possible, the person can increasingly engage with the life they were created to live.
This brings us back to dominion—not as control over other people, but as purposeful engagement with life.
Think About Your Own Experience
What has depression interfered with in your ability to lead yourself?
What experience have you allowed to become a definition of who you are?
What part of your SHAPE has become less expressive?
What ability do you still possess even though you currently struggle to express it?
What would restored expression look like in your life?
Continue the Journey
The next article explores what happens when depression begins to change the way a person experiences and expresses their identity.
Next: How Depression Changes the Expression of Who I Am
Explore the complete program: From Depression to Expression
Important: This coaching content is educational and does not replace professional mental-health assessment or treatment. If depression is persistent, severe, or accompanied by thoughts of self-harm or suicide, seek professional or emergency support immediately.
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