Archive for depression
Do We Really Know What Depression Is?
Posted by: | CommentsBefore addressing mindfulness meditation for depression, let’s take a look at the meaning of depression. What is it really? Maybe you have not considered this, depression has become medicalized, and a concept. So when we ask ” am I depressed? ” what do we really mean and how do we know that we are? Are we depressed as a concept? Isn’t there real “feeling” going on, not just thoughts? Is there a living, breathing “process” happening? If there is something called depression that could really be defined–wouldn’t it have to be a living process, since we are living beings? There can be no one-size-fits-all definition, although defining it this way, is the tendency for most of us, whether it a doctor, a psychologist, a physiatrist, or a lay person..
So…what might depression as a process look like? Is it possible that the reason(s) for the depression does not really have to be to our detriment, and if only we would allow the process, it is actually for our good? Let’s use the words “depressive process” so as to begin to see it more as a dynamic process instead of a static list of symptoms. Consider the true undefinability of depression. If you have symptoms a, b, and d you are depressed, BUT if you have symptoms a, b, and c, you have something else wrong with you, and don’t worry we (the professional and authority), will come up with a name by next week. Because when we have a name, then we can find a drug to fix it, and the beat goes on!
There is help for depression, but in our normal silver bullet approach, it will not go to the crux of the problem. Mindfulness techniques are really an unsung hero in this regard. Lots of research has been done on it and this is really good and worth checking out. For me, as I am experiencing it, mindfulness meditation does not deal directly with a concept (diagnosis) called depression. Something much deeper is happening. (Incidentally, this is how it works for any issue in our lives.) I am addressing depression by writing this, not just to publish on my blog; as it turns out, it has become an inquiry that I seem to be doing here as I write this and “feeling” you who may read it. Maybe you wish to follow along with me in this post and the next.
As much as I would like to never feel depressed, I am more interested in going deeper and not just understanding this as a concept, as an idea or to seek some pat answer, but to understand it at another level where I no longer need answers. Sometimes I “taste” this, or I would not be writing about it.
The surface mind wants an answer, the deep mind and heart has something much more profound and real to give us and to help us release the unconscious pain that is there. I see the depressive process as Nature or God if you wish, taking us deep to allow that to happen. If we think something is terribly wrong then the process will go in the wrong direction. (Of course if you are suicidal or something like that, you need to get help, as you surely cannot wait for the meditation to work for you. BUT you can still meditate and work with it on a deeper level.)
Unless you think I am someone who has gone mad, this is what Psychologist Robert Sardello has said, “The depressive process is the very process by which we digest the meaning of events at a level deeper than words, letting things “get to us” and change us. It is the process of deepening.” This can sound like another concept, and in a way, it is.
So, I personally, don’t ask am I depressed any more. I have an opened question now. My quest is not to get final answers, but to explore, and to allow what just may have no answer to emerge from within. I know this is possible because I am, although to a very small extent, living it now. You have, in a way, lived some of this yourself. Haven’t you grappled with a problem and then just given up only to have the answer or the clarity you needed just come to you out of the blue sky?
As I have said elsewhere, I see the light at the end of tunnel for the first time in many years. I only share below what I have used myself. I hope you come back for my next post. Some friends have wondered whether it is a good idea for me to share my deepest feelings on the internet- such as my poetry- which I intend to do in the future. I feel I should since perhaps it may touch you or someone else. This post is not too personal, but it is a beginning and it feels right.
How to Treat Depression – My Biggest Help
Posted by: | CommentsWhen I started this blog, I was once more in my life slightly depressed to majorly depressed at many times. You can read back and see what was going on. I was the caregiver for my sweet mother and it was not easy. Later when she passed, well, the grief just seemed to dig me further into what I call “depression”.
How to treat depression has been a focus for a long time. I might have called unhappiness or traumatic symptoms or grief. But depression was definitely part of it. I am not talking about being clinically depressed. Although I wondered at times, but I truly felt as if I were dying. I found out that clinical depression means you are not taking care of yourself, not eating right, not resting etc. etc. That was never the case. Very trusted professionals and therapists have confirmed that mine is was not a clinical depression.
I have decided to share about my struggle with depression and my years of spending large amounts of money and time to get help without going the medication route. Although I have practiced some type of meditation for at least 35 years or more and I know it has all helped, even before the last years of caring for my Mother, where it was a majorly stressful situation, I still always battled with the question: ” Am I depressed ? ”
Now I have comprehended, that I didn’t understand it in the way I needed to, nor was I practicing meditation in the way that would finally dig me out of the hole. I have begun to see the light at the end of tunnel, with some very wonderful surprises along the way. More on this later.
I realized that 35 years of learning, studying, trying many modalities, therapy, bodywork, meditation has helped bring me to this point. It has all helped, but it wasn’t until recently that a light went off in my head about why mindfulness training and meditation has begun to make the difference. I have decided to write about it. In a way it is a daunting task, because I don’t want to overwhelm the reader with a lot of data, yet I want to present the viewpoints and the insights I have had that have brought me to this conclusion. Of course, besides the major changes in my behavior and my feeling states. For example, food cravings seem to have dropped away on their own! A very natural change, no forcing, manipulation or any thing of the kind. Just Nature working in me.
It doesn’t matter what your faith is. I doesn’t matter if you have none. We can all agree that there is love in the world and loving kindness, inspite of all the atrocities we may be subjected to by the bias news. Just this little bit can keep us going.
Probably the most difficult thing for me has been and still is allowing myself to not always think I have to have answers and allowing what is called the “don’t know mind”. This is a whole other subject. Well, this was going to be a short post and then I decided to revisit it. And this is what happened 
Please feel free to comment, if it is a real comment, I will approve it and even respond.
Please subscribe and come back soon. I am working on a short ebook which I will make available for just a few dollars. But I will also keep posting.
Meantime, if you are depressed, don’t give up and check out Shinzen Young.
Shinzen Young Mindfulness Meditation CD’s will take you deeper and give you much more than stress relief. It is his style of mindfulness that has helped me more than anything else with depression =>
I recommend all of his “stuff” but I am very partial to the Break Through Pain Series which is how I was introduced to Shinzen style mindfulness practice. I will share what happened on the nextpost and link it here after I do
Shinzen also offers Teleconference Mindfulness Training retreats! I feel like I have died and gone to heaven to have this available. Once you listen to the free interviews you will understand why I feel so strongly about it. There is help and it lies within us, in our own hearts and minds.
