With Eastern medicine becoming more prevalent and Western medicine becoming more flexible, there are more options available for combating depression today than ever. And it’s a good thing there are. Approximately 25,000 people will be diagnosed with depressive illness this year alone, according to one source. For some, depression means an overwhelming feeling of sadness, loss of interest in day-to-day life, fatigue, crying, physical pain, and high-risk behavior. In more severe cases, it means physical immobilization, preoccupation with death, and attempts at suicide. In every case, it means getting less out of life than a person rightfully deserves.
Depression is a particularly difficult illness to pin down, since it is affected by a person’s entire past and present. Rarely is it as simple as a chemical imbalance that needs to be adjusted. It is not, explains one therapist, something that just attacks a person. There are things that happen in a person’s life up to the point of depression that weaken the foundation and make people more susceptible. The depressive state may build over the course of a person’s entire life, so a good therapist must look at that life — a person’s past, present, family, friends, work, likes, dislikes, needs, desires, dreams, and actions. The therapist and the depressed person must then work together to repair the foundation — the things that predisposed the person to depression in the first place — as well as to repair the depression itself.
Therapies that work with a person’s physical and energetic states should, of course, almost always include supportive talk therapy and help dealing with painful issues, old and new. This does not, however, need to involve countless re-experiencings of old hurts or circular rationalizations, but rather a simple coming to terms with things that are standing in the way of progress and mental health. It does not need to take forever. It may not take very long at all.
Good holistic therapists stress that one healing modality is rarely enough to treat serious depression. Since depression affects a person on so many levels — physical, mental, emotional, spiritual and energetic — the depressed person must be treated on more than one level. Effective therapists stress the importance of building a repertoire of treatments to treat every aspect of depression. Because every case is different, flexibility is key. "Depression means so many things. I really wish they had more than one word for it," one therapist remarked. Thankfully, the multiplicity of presentations can be treated by a great range of modalities.
Clinical Hypnosis
Depression involves a narrowing of the focus. As an optimist wears the proverbial rose-colored glasses, the depressive’s glasses are tinted with smoke. For example, a depressed person may wake up thinking, "Today is going to be bad." That person can have an average day, and before going to bed will remember the three worst things about that day, and call it a bad day. Adjustments in thought and perception must be made to break the habits of thinking, "It’s all bad."
Hypnosis is a different kind of narrowing of the focus. Clinical hypnosis takes place when a therapist communicates with the depressed client while the client is in a trance-like state. The therapist helps the client to relax and perhaps recall a comforting place or a positive memory. When the client is in this deeply relaxed state, it is easier to examine and work through the more painful issues that may have led to depression.
Hypnosis also helps the so-called "left and right brain" work together. It allows a therapist to suggest a means for a client to cope or improve, and to pair it with an image or scene that will help the suggestion "stick" better — to impact on a deeper level. (It’s as if a therapist were to induce salivation, for example, not by explaining it, but by helping a client develop an image of a favorite dinner, complete with memories of its smells and tastes.)
Clinical hypnosis is not the same as past-life regression or recovered memory. Rarely does someone discover a lost memory under clinical hypnosis. However, a person may make discoveries about the context and significance of existing memories. And even with the aid of hypnosis, memory can be fallible. Memories discovered during hypnosis are treated as emotional truth, but they should rarely be acted upon — no accusations should be made. Discoveries should be looked upon not for their literal meanings but for what they signify to the person who made them. Confrontations can be created in the therapeutic session if necessary.
Rebuilding Our Temples: Depression and the Body
A person’s physical and mental states are closely tied together, and can bring one another down. A mental imbalance can result in real physical symptoms, and vice versa. Depression has been linked to deficiencies in B vitamins (including folic acid, thiamine, and riboflavin), as well as deficiencies in iron and potassium, and abnormally high or low levels of calcium and magnesium.
Before a depressed person goes running to the health food store to load up on these vitamins and minerals, it may be a good idea to have some nutritional tests done. A blood or hair test can quickly reveal any nutrients that may be lacking or excessive. In some cases, unexplained depression may be due to food sensitivities.
Skipping meals or overeating can lead to energetic — and consequently mental — imbalances, as can eating the wrong kinds of food. Some therapists believe that a person suffering from mild depression may be eating too many foods that are processed, heavy, or artificial. A supervised moderation in diet and nutrition can often have dramatic results for people suffering from unexplained fatigue and heavy moods.
Ayurveda
The principles of ayurveda examine the balance of the governing properties of fire (pitta), water/earth (kapha) and air/ether (vata) elements in the body and their effects on mental state. Most people are dominated by one or two of these elements. A person’s dominant elements may sometimes tend toward excess. For example, a person whose constitution is primarily pitta, can, when balanced, be an organized leader and facilitator of change. When the fire element becomes excessive, however, it can mean irritability, explosive temper, aggressiveness and inflammatory health problems such as ulcers. Imbalances of vata can mean anxiety or insomnia, and imbalances of kapha, the heaviest of the three, can lead to lethargic, slow-moving, congested states. Winter depression is believed by some to be due to kapha imbalance caused by the solidifying of the earth and water in nature.
Foods are said to agitate certain elements (for instance, gas producing foods lead to vata imbalance; hot, spicy foods disturb pitta). So Ayurveda suggests that eating and lifestyle changes can have positive effects on the mental troubles that result from these imbalances.
Bioenergetic Analysis
Physical exercise, as has long been known, is also important to mental health. It stimulates endorphin production and facilitates deeper breathing, which is an important component of many anti-depressive therapies.
Bioenergetic analysis is one modality that specifically explores the relationship between physical and mental health. It examines our mental, emotional, and energetic states — and how they contribute to the long-term structuring of postures and tensions in the body. It aims to free the energy trapped in these tensions using exercises and therapy addressing core issues in an attempt to create lasting physical and personality structures that are solid yet flexible.
Bioenergetic Analysis was pioneered by one of Freud’s students, Wilhelm Reich, (who referred to it as character analysis) and further developed by Alexander Lowen, who coined the term "bioenergetics" and wrote about it in a number of books, including Depression and the Body and The Language of the Body.
It begins with movement. Movement increases respiration, which brings energy to the body. Suppression of movement or respiration cuts off feeling and emotion. A person who has been suppressing emotion, feeling, and movement for a long time, and has become depressed, has gradually been shutting down, entering a milder, more prolonged shock state.
To break someone out of this shock state, a bioenergetic therapist usually starts with an exercise to open breathing. A helpful exercise is the scissor kick. The client lies face-up on a mattress and is instructed to kick it — bringing the leg up and kicking straight down. After several repetitions of this, the client has no choice but to breathe from the diaphragm. Parts of the body which have been habitually tense — the back, the diaphragm, the pelvic area — may relax, or they may become more tense. In either case, tensions the body has been holding are brought into conscious awareness and can be dealt with.
After establishing more feeling and aliveness in the legs, the bioenergetic therapist may use a grounding exercise which involves a series of stretches that work to defeat chronic muscle-holding and loosen tensions. The resultant vibration in the tissues is the previously restricted energy starting to flow throughout the body.
When painful and uncomfortable feelings surface, either during or after physical exercise, they are dealt with in a caring and supportive way. The end result of bioenergetic therapy is a more solid foundation and a physical body that is supported by a grounded structure, not by habitual muscle tension. Movement, and consequently feelings, become less restricted and more relaxed.
Acupuncture
Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) holds that a depressed state can actually be caused by depleted kidney energy, liver chi stagnation or an emotion such as grief being held in an organ such as the lungs. Thus, a TCM practitioner looks at a depressed person’s entire history to determine which system is out of alignment.
Meridians are the channels of energy that flow through all of us — each of which relates to a different organ system and has exit points of increased electrical conductivity on the skin’s surface. Certain mental disturbances affect certain meridians more strongly than others, and working on the affected meridians can help to alleviate some mental conditions. For example, fear primarily acts on and is detectable in the kidney meridian; anger primarily acts on the liver meridian. A good acupuncture treatment can restore the flow of energy through these meridians, giving a depressed person the necessary fuel to address and work on disturbing issues.
New Ideas in Energy Healing
Thought Field Therapy (TFT) and Emotional Freedom Therapy (EFT) work with the same meridians as acupuncture, using a series of taps rather than acupuncture needles. A TFT or EFT therapist may ask a depressed client (or client with other mental difficulties, such as phobias) to briefly focus on an upsetting event or feeling, and while doing so, tap on a series of acupuncture points to calm the disturbance in the energy field brought on by the negative thought, in the hopes of bringing about permanent change in the energy flow.
Deep Down Inside: The Use of Flower Essences
Flower essences are another modality gaining popularity in the treatment of depression. One therapist admits that the work is mysterious, but says the results are clear and impressive.
Some therapists use flower essences for specific issues affecting the client’s depressive state. Different essences target different issues. For example, aspen works on apprehension and fear, gorse works on hopelessness and despair, and mustard works on "dark cloud" depression — a deep gloom.
Flower essences are designed to get into a person’s energy to align, settle, or adjust it and bring conflicts into the open. They are also said to help users internalize concepts or ideas, such as a positive sense of self or solid parental figures. Once such a change takes place, a person is free to experience pain and better equipped to deal with it. It is recommended that flower essences be administered under supervision by a qualified therapist.
Applied and Specialized Kinesiology
Applied and specialized kinesiology are relatively new methods of testing muscle tension as a form of biofeedback to examine and evaluate conscious and subconscious thoughts and feelings. Muscle testing can be used to find out if one is resonating with a certain belief or simply repeating it on a conscious level without internalizing it.
To muscle test, the kinesiologist puts pressure on a specific part of the body while it is held in a particular position. The quality of response to the pressure (ability to hold the position) determines whether or not there are conflicting neurological messages causing the muscle to test weak.
A muscle test, as performed by a specialized kinesiologist, does not measure the raw strength of a muscle but rather how the nervous system is controlling the muscle functions. Weak muscle testing can be evidence of blockages in blood or lymphatic flow, nervous tension, lowered organ function, meridian blockages, nutritional deficiencies or mental and emotional distress. Testing can be used continually throughout therapy to monitor progress.
Day-to-Day Maintenance
A good long-term mental health plan should include some type of exercise that helps to stabilize mental and physical energy and aids in facing day to day stressors. Exercises may be primarily mental — using guided imagery, for instance, or physical — dealing with energy and breathing, like yoga.
Yoga activates a person’s energy by working with the autonomic nervous system. It bridges the mind and the physical body, helping to regulate breathing, improving concentration and memory, and conditioning the mind to better handle stress.
Many therapists also refer people who do not receive a lot of physical contact, or have trouble with chronic pain, to a massage therapist, often with dramatic results.
What About Medication?
Although there is a biochemical difference between a depressed person and a normally functioning person, pills (which force a biochemical change to take place) are not necessarily required to change it. Our chemistry changes slightly with every experience (e.g., a meal, a conversation) and, in some cases, can be coaxed back to normal when our minds are not in constant conflict.
Every holistic practitioner has a different attitude toward medication. Some avoid both herbal and allopathic medication, some stick to herbs, and others will prescribe or recommend both when needed, with the philosophy that the boost of medication can be very useful in getting a depressed person "over the hump" and able to see and work through the toughest layers of a problem. Some individuals simply have biological, chemical predispositions to depression and need an extra push to overcome them. Most holistic practitioners do not believe medication needs to be permanent, in the large majority of cases.
Other Options
The treatment methods mentioned here are just a few of the many available. Other therapies worth exploring include aromatherapy, art therapy, biofeedback, dance and movement therapy, homeopathy, light therapy, qigong (breath and energy exercises based on TCM), and reiki. On a spiritual level, meditation, contemplation, and prayer can help bring a person back into spiritual alignment.
Again, it is important to remember that each depressed individual has an individual set of circumstances and problems and an individual chemistry. That is why so many treatment methods exist. Often, more than one is the key to a well-rounded and lasting recovery. Misgivings about a treatment can have meanings as diverse as the treatments themselves. Sometimes, they signal that a more appropriate treatment is out there. At other times, they are a mere symptom of the depression itself — a hurdle to overcome. But a little faith and the desire to get well can go a long way toward finding the right path for you or for those you love. Each of these methods has helped people see a glass half full again and a light at the end of the tunnel.
Resources
Therapists
Ellen Goode, C.A.D.C., I.C.S.T., C.M.T., 312-504-4106 or 847-640-7554, Bioenergetics and addictions counseling. Trained in massage therapy, cranio-sacral work, and ortho-bionomy. Offices in the city and suburbs.
Jerry P. Gore, M.D., Center for Holistic Medicine, 847-236-1701, Dr. Gore and his staff deal with a wide range of physical and mental difficulties using techniques such as nutritional analysis, acupuncture, chiropractic and Therapeutic Touch.
Aleta Edwards, Psy.D., 847-604-4626, Insight-oriented psychotherapy.
Ann Hammon, M.D., 773-296-2195, Psychotherapy, energy healing, holographic repatterning and flower essences.
Carol Low, Psy.D., Center for Conscious Living, 630-249-1983, Cognitive-Behavioral therapy, clinical hypnosis.
Nancy Soro, Ph.D., 847-234-2668, Psychotherapy.
Books
Eden, Donna with David Feinstein, Energy Medicine: Balance your Body’s Energies for Optimum Health, Joy and Vitality. New York, Penguin Putnam, 1998. Explains energy medicine and how to use it to improve every area of health. Detailed directions and drawings for exercises.
Lowen, Alexander, M.D. Depression and the Body: The Biological Basis of Faith and Reality. New York, Penguin/Arkana, 1972. This is the "Bible" of bioenergetics. Very insightful and informative.
Strohecker, James and Nancy Shaw, ed. Natural Healing for Depression: Solutions from the World’s Great Health Practitioners. New York Perigee/Berkeley/Penguin Putnam, 1999. An incredibly comprehensive resource, covering the topics mentioned here and many more. A must for anyone looking for a natural way out of depression.
Online Help
www.mentalhealth.com
www.depression.com
mentalhelp.net (or www.cmhc.com)
www.kinesiology.net: Explains specialized and applied kinesiology and offers resources
www.emofree.com: Emotional Freedom Therapy (EFT)
www.rapidrelief.com: Thought Field Therapy (TFT) and Emotional Freedom Therapy (EFT)