The No-pills Depression Solution
By Dr. Val
The way out of depression is not pill-laden, unless the depression is so severe that a prescription is the only way to ensure the person will not commit suicide or homicide. The problem with taking medication for every little upset has to do with what the drugs do: sedate the feelings. To work through the feelings and come to grips with what is happening requires that one actually feels and releases the emotions. Some drugs are more suppressive than others, such as the benzodiazepine class, which subdue the emotions so greatly that progress is unable to be made until the patient is off the medication.
Some people have a lifelong clinical depression due to lack of certain brain chemistry, but most have what is called Situational Depression. Still others have cyclical depression that can be tied to seasons or due to Bipolar Disease. The most common type of depression is caused by...well...depressing situations. We all go through such times, when disappointment piles upon disappointment or sudden changes in our lives make us feel vulnerable. Don't be afraid to feel the difficult emotions, they serve the purpose of alerting us to the need for change. In fact, the healthiest way to weather situational depression is to feel it, examine it and work through it. There are plenty of psychologists out there who would love to have your business, as well there are millions of energy healers, hypnotherapists, NLP practitioners and mentors who are happy to help. There is big business in catering to people who are hurting from some situation such as sudden job loss, death of a loved one, devastating injury or illness or other experiences initiating depression.
The reason there are so many people out there available to help is because we all go through these times. We either learn how to deal with it ourselves or seek the help of others if we need it. The major clue as to actually needing professional help has to do with desiring to hurt self or others - that is the major warning flag that must be attended to. In extreme cases the person needs to be placed in a lock-down facility under a 72-hour hold, where they can be observed and medicated to prevent them from carrying out the harmful act.
Jokes about being homicidal rather than suicidal aside, society no longer allows the harming of another that has caused discomfort in someone. Sure, back in the old West or earlier times, one harmed another at risk of retaliation. Now we have police and courts to handle such problems. This change in human society is what has caused all of the labels of mental illness to be attached to certain states of emotional upheaval. So now we all just have to learn to deal with it in other ways. The bottom line is to seek help of some kind, whether it be a friend or family member, energy practitioner or professional therapist. Work through the depressive incident and realize that being depressed doesn't necessarily mean there is something wrong with you. It's a normal state we experience when life starts to pop some problems at us that cause us to be unhappy. We can change that. Find a healthy way to deal with it that works for you--that's HEALTHY, as in, not drugs, alcohol or hurting yourself or someone else. You are in charge of your life; if you don't like it, change it. If you don’t know how to do that, ask for help.
©2010 Dr. Valerie Olmsted All Rights Reserved Worldwide
