Depression and Restoration

Depression and Restoration presents a structural account of depression as a collapse of coherence in the human system and restoration as the gradual re‑expansion of stability, meaning, and agency. The paper reframes depression as a protective response to overload rather than a defect of mood or character, describing how emotional narrowing, cognitive contraction, and withdrawal emerge when the system exceeds its capacity. Restoration is examined as the slow return of coherence through reduced load, renewed relational anchoring, and the rebuilding of narrative and functional continuity. The model offers a clear, non‑pathologizing framework for understanding collapse and recovery across psychological, relational, and existential domains.