Battling Depression

By Nancy Hine

These days hardly a week seems to go by without my hearing some news item relating to depression. You would have to have your head buried in the sand not to be aware that diagnosis is increasing, that prescription of antidepressants has reached an all time high and that the effectiveness of antidepressants is being challenged.

So how does all this affect you if you are depressed? Despite NICE guidelines recommending counselling rather than antidepressants for mild to moderate depression, you are still likely to find your GP offering you antidepressants. If your doctor is enlightened enough to refer you for counselling you are likely to face a wait of several weeks, or perhaps even months, for an initial assessment and then sometimes a further wait of weeks to start your therapy. The counselling itself is then likely to be limited to six to twelve weeks, although the Department of Health’s own report in 2001 stating that ‘often 16 sessions or more may be required for symptomatic relief and longer therapies may be required to achieve lasting change in social and personality functioning’.

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By Joanne King

One common myth about aging that many people believe is that as you grow older, you have a significantly greater risk of suffering from depression. That is simply not true, just because you are aging, does not mean you have to suffer from depression as well. All of us have to face difficult situations as we age, the loss of loved ones, the inability to do the things we once could, health issues, etc., but there are ways of dealing with all of these problems without letting yourself succumb to depression.

Current depression studies indicate that out of all adults who are at least sixty-five years young, only about fifteen percent show any symptoms that could be associated with depression. Since many of the symptoms that accompany depression can limit one’s ability to perform even daily care tasks, factor that in with the similar problems that come with aging, and many of those adults end up needing help in caring for themselves. So, if you are a senior citizen, it is important that you find ways to deal with your depression before it impacts your life, especially if you value your independence.

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By Dorothy M. Neddermeyer, PhD

What is the cause of depression? Traditional Western Medicine, which includes Traditional Western Psychiatry, posits depression is the result of a chemical imbalance. Scientific studies claim to show that such an imbalance does in fact exist—but these studies are only performed on people who are being treated for depression. The question is, which came first the imbalance or the depression?

Traditional Holistic Healing a.k.a. Transformational or Metaphysical Healing knows that depression is anger turned inward. If you are a student of any spiritual tradition you understand that virtually everything in the world of form is the unfolding of spiritual reality—that all things are arising spontaneously within the field of infinite potentiality. Thus, the cause of the chemical imbalance is not the cause of clinical depression but the symptoms of it. The ‘cause’ or mechanism that lies behind the phenomena of depression lies within the limits of personal consciousness itself.

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By Jarred Dee

One in five Americans suffer from depression in their lifetime. It affects more than 17 million Americans each year. According to a statistic from the National Institute of Health, the estimated cost of depression to the U.S. is between 33 and 44 billion dollars a year. Depression is linked to the more than 30,000 suicides a year. (Ainsworth 3-5) The depression being discussed is not merely a day of feeling blue but a clinical diagnosis, also known as Major Depressive Disorder, or MDD (Clinical Practice Guidelines).

The statistic of one in five Americans would include at least one of my family members, probably two. My family has had 4 members who have battled clinical depression, including myself. Depression is a bigger problem than most Americans realize and it demands immediate attention. Although the new technology of antidepressant medications can be effective, negative side effects and healthy alternatives should make antidepressant medications your last resort.

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