Depression: The Best Western and Alternative Medicine Approach

If you are feeling depressed, we appreciate the mental, physical and psychic energy it takes just to get through your day. You are certainly not alone, and there is a lot that can be done to help...read on!

Depression can be a very difficult and debilitating illness to deal with. During stressful times, we rely heavily on our mind and emotions to pull us through. When it is our mind and emotions that are experiencing the imbalance, it can be easy to feel left without a leg to stand on. We will be talking here about how to find your footing and step forward into more joy, health and vitality.

With any illness, and particularly with depression, there are components of mind, body, emotions and spirit that have an influence on it.

Mind

Those "pesky voices" in your head really do make a difference in your mood. Sometimes these voices are your parents, siblings or teachers, and sometimes we are our own worst voices. "I'm not good enough" is a common refrain, and this constant never-ending loop in your brain can do quite a number on your psyche. The first step is to identify it, and then the next step is to replace it with an equally pesky voice that likes you and wants you to be happy. There are ways to do this that work well, though they take commitment to change a very well-ingrained bad habit.

Contrary to popular belief, stress is a relative matter. Those people who feel a sense of control or commitment in the face of life's difficulties tend to do much better overall. In addition, the more control you feel, the stronger your immune system will be which will help you to avoid the added stress of physical illness. Finding those areas of your life where you feel a sense of control or commitment can help you take a substantial step forward in elevating your mood.

Body

There are several physical causes for depression that need to be addressed. Vitamin deficiencies, particularly Vitamin D and the B vitamins but others as well, all have a significant effect on mood and if these are low, no amount of antidepressant is going to fix the problem. Positive thinking may not do it if chemical imbalances are the issue, so it is best to look at everything from this mind, body and spirit approach.

There is also a subset of the population that has a problem with clearing out the stress chemicals from their bodies, and it is often genetically passed down. Families with this problem may have more depression, bipolar disorder, violence, substance abuse, and ADD as each individual struggles to find their own way to deal with the excess stress chemicals running rampant in their body. If this genetic imbalance is part of the problem, it is easy to identify with testing and easy to treat as well - you just have to know to look for it.

Food insensitivities may also be playing a part in your mood. Many people feel better both physically and emotionally when these foods are taken out of the diet. The best way to figure this out is with an elimination diet, where you would remove the most common sources of food intolerance for a few weeks and then add them back in one at a time. We would suggest that you consult a Nutritionist to help you with this process since changing your diet incorrectly may not give you the answers you are seeking.

Sleep, nutrition, and exercise are all vitally important topics of discussion whenever someone is depressed. All of these have biochemical effects on your body, and if used right, they can literally increase the amount of feel-good chemicals floating around in your brain - well worth the effort to make good use of them.

There are herbal remedies that can make a difference as well, and these may be helpful to explore. However, this needs to be monitored by a qualified practitioner who is familiar with how these herbs interact with other medications you might be on.

In the same vein, there are many forms of antidepressant medication, and they all work slightly differently in your brain to give you the neurochemicals to improve mood. While we do use these medications when needed, we also realize how important it is to work with a holistic doctor who understands you in mind, body and spirit and who can use these medications in a way that is helpful and not harmful. There have been many celebrity deaths lately that highlight the importance of having respect for the dangers involved, particularly when you are on more than one medication at a time. A pill also won't make your abusive husband or your terrible job go away, and so it is vitally important to address these issues as well in order to find real and sustainable happiness.

Emotions

It doesn't always help to focus on the light if there is a big shadow that is weighing you down. One of our patients described it this way, "It's like I'm watching my baby getting violently snatched from my arms and taken away, and everyone's telling me to ignore it and act like it's a good day." That shadow needs safe space to be fully felt, honored, and then released - not endlessly hashed over so that you are feeling re-traumatized, but actually released. There are several ways to do this, from counseling, certain energy techniques, using creative methods of release, etc. - there is no one method that works for everyone, so all are worth trying to see if one or more will be the ticket to clearing this out.

We spend so much time and energy trying to take out the placebo effect in our research studies. The placebo effect is basically the person's positive beliefs about the effectiveness of a medication or treatment. If our positive emotions can have such a strong effect without any training in how to maximize its potential, imagine the healing power we could tap into if we were taught how to make use of this innate skill. We all have so much more healing potential within than we give ourselves credit for.

This idea of using positive emotions to boost health and well-being is not new, but it is now getting some well-deserved attention. There is a fair amount of research related to the power of our minds and attitudes to either improve or decrease health. There is a whole field of investigation into this, called Psychoneuroimmunology. This is actually the shortened moniker, as the original version was Psychoneuroimmunoendocrinology!

Spirit

There is no way to overestimate the importance of having a feeling of purpose in life. We define spirituality in terms of connections, and if you don't feel connected to yourself, to the people you love, to the people you don't love, to your community, to your environment and to something bigger than yourself (however you define that higher form of connection), it will be difficult to feel like you are connected to this world or to your life in general. This disconnection is what adds to the pull toward suicidality.

If you can find a way to die to what no longer fits for your life while preserving life itself, then you will be on your way to making your life happy, meaningful and long. Spirituality is so seldom discussed as a medical topic, but it is just as important as mind, body and emotions.

One last comment

There are plenty of studies showing that the most potent predictor of a long life is the person's optimism and sense of humor, and we met with two wonderful people recently who are the living embodiment of this concept. Will and Lois Clark have been married for 75 years-he is 103 and she is 100 years old. We were there to talk with them about their love story, and it was quite an honor to spend time with them. We could sense the happiness in that house the moment we crossed the threshold, and despite their advanced years, they were incredibly youthful both physically and emotionally. They were a beautiful example of how health and happiness go hand in hand. Very cool! We wish for you your own light heart as you go on your life's journey.