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Using Depression To Grow
One can make any emotion into a creative force in their life. If your sadness reminds you that you are incomplete, it is good make use of your sadness to grow. Do you want to make this sadness into anger or into love and compassion? It is very easy when you are sad, to become compassionate. It is already a dissolving kind of energy you can use it for further dissolution which leads you to your ultimate wellbeing. But, when you get sad, if you are going to get irritable and angry, and think the whole world is wrong, you are a fool.
The unfortunate reality with people right now is that their humanity will function only when they are mauled by life. For most people, maturity will not happen without knowing sadness and pain. Otherwise they never understand what is happening with them and with anyone else around them.
In Yoga, depression is handled at the level of the body, mind and the energies. If the necessary balance and exuberance is brought about in the physical, mental and energy bodies, being blissful is very natural. In a blissful being, depression can never exist.
Q: Sadhguru, you say that being blissful is natural, but isnt depression also a natural emotion within a human being?
Helping A Suicidal Friend Or Relative
If you see any of the above warning signs:
- get professional help for the person
- let them know they’re not alone and that you care about them
- offer your support in finding other solutions to their problems
If you feel there is an immediate danger, stay with the person or have someone else stay with them, and remove all available means of committing suicide, such as medication.
Over-the-counter drugs such as painkillers can be just as dangerous as prescription medication.
Also, remove sharp objects and poisonous household chemicals such as bleach.
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Major Or Clinical Depression
Major depression is much less common than mild or moderate and is characterized by severe, relentless symptoms.
- Left untreated, major depressive disorder typically lasts for about six months.
- Some people experience just a single depressive episode in their lifetime, but major depression can be a recurring disorder.
Take Care Of Yourself
You can also improve symptoms of depression by taking care of yourself. This includes getting plenty of sleep, eating a healthy diet, avoiding negative people, and participating in enjoyable activities.
Sometimes depression doesnt respond to medication. Your healthcare provider may recommend other treatment options if your symptoms dont improve.
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The Source Of Depression
Depression is a kind of agony. If you have become agony and not ecstasy, it is because a large part of your life energy is happening compulsively, not consciously. It is happening as a reaction to external situations. Once you are happening compulsively, becoming depressed is very normal, because external situations are never a hundred percent in your control. There are so many things happening in the world if you react compulsively, getting lost and becoming miserable is natural. The more exposed you are to life, the more miserable you will become.
People can cause depression in their mood in so many ways. If you take away what they think is precious, they become depressed. The tragedy with a lot of people, especially in affluent societies, is that they have everything and yet they have nothing. Depression means that somewhere, a certain hopelessness has set in. If you go to some very poor village in India, they are really impoverished, but you will see joyful faces because they have hope that it is going to be better tomorrow. In affluent societies, that hope is gone. Depression has set in because everything that can be used externally has been fixed.
As we work on the outside, we must also fix the inside. Then the world would be beautiful. What we call as a spiritual process is just this not just fixing the objective aspect of your life but taking care of the subjectivity of who you are.
There’s No One Reason For Depression
Lots of things influence whether a person gets depressed. Some of it is biology things like our genes, brain chemistry, and hormones. Some is environment, including daylight and seasons, or social and family situations we face. And some is personality, like how we react to life events or the support systems we create for ourselves. All these things can help shape whether or not a person becomes depressed.
Genes
Research shows that depression runs in families. Some people inherit genes that contribute to depression. But not everyone who has a family member with depression will develop it too. And many people with no family history of depression still get depressed. So genes are one factor, but they aren’t the only reason for depression.
Brain Chemistry
Chemicals called neurotransmitters help send messages between nerve cells in the brain. Some neurotransmitters regulate mood. When a person is depressed, these neurotransmitters might be in low supply or not effective enough.
Genes and brain chemistry can be connected: Having the genes for depression may make a person more likely to have the neurotransmitter problem that is part of depression.
Stress, Health, and Hormones
Things like stress, using alcohol or drugs, and hormone changes also affect the brain’s delicate chemistry and mood.
Getting enough sleep and regular exercise often has a positive effect on neurotransmitter activity and mood.
Daylight and Seasons
Life Events
Family and Social Environment
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Does Depression Often Occur With Grief
Grief is a common, normal response to loss. Losses that may lead to grief include the death or separation of a loved one, loss of a job, death or loss of a beloved pet, or any number of other changes in life, such as divorce, becoming an “empty nester,” or retirement.
Anyone can experience grief and loss, but not everyone will experience clinical depression, which differs from grief in that depression involves a range of other symptoms such as feelings of low self-worth, negative thoughts about the future, and suicide, whereas grief involves feelings of emptiness, loss and longing for a loved one, with an intact capacity to feel pleasure. Each person is unique in how they cope with these feelings.
National Institute of Mental Health: “Causes of Depression” and “What is Depression?”
SAMSHA’s National Mental Health Information Center: “Mood Disorders.”
American Psychiatric Association. Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders: DSM-IV-TR, American Psychiatric Pub, 2000. “Practice Guideline for the Treatment of Patients With Major Depression,” 2000.
Fieve, R. Bipolar II, Rodale Books, 2006.
National Mental Health Association: “Depression: What You Need to Know.”
NAMI: “Depression Symptoms, Causes, and Diagnosis.”
Fochtmann, L. and Gelenberg, A. Guideline Watch: Practice Guideline for the Treatment of Patients With Major Depressive Disorder, 2nd Edition.
Focus, Winter 2005: vol 3: pp 34-42.
Helpguide.org.
How Common Is Depression
Major depression is one of the most common mental illnesses in the country. An estimated 17.3 million adults in the US reported having at least one major depressive episode over the course of a year, a 2017 report by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration shows.
Thats 7.1% of all adults ages 18 and older. Women have a higher prevalence of experiencing a major depressive episode than men .
Depression is especially crushing for the workforce: Its the number one leading cause of disability worldwide, according to the World Health Organization. The total economic burden of MDD is estimated to be $210.5 billion per year in the United States alonea figure that reflects costs associated with missed days, reduced productivity, treatment for depression, and suicide.
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Men Might Experience Symptoms That Are Related To:
- Sexual interest can be expressed in the form of reduced sexual desire or a lack thereof.
- Emotional well-being is characterized by feeling empty, sad or hopeless.
- A mood can be anger, aggression, irritability or restlessness.
- Behaviors such as losing interest in hobbies, feeling tired easily and thoughts of suicide, excessive drinking, drug use, or engaging in high-risk activity.
- Sleep patterns include insomnia, restlessness, excessive sleepiness and not sleeping through the night.
- Cognitive abilities include inability to focus, difficulty completing tasks and delayed responses during conversations.
- Physical well-being includes fatigue, headaches, stomach problems, and pains.
Children Might Experience Symptoms That Are Related To:
- Moods such as anger, irritability and crying
- Sleep patterns such as difficulty or excessive sleeping can be described as sleep disorders.
- Behaviors such as refusing to attend school, getting in trouble at school, or refusing to leave school, avoidance of friends and siblings, or thoughts about death or suicide
- Emotional well-being can be described as feeling of incompetence, despair, or emotional well-being. Feelings of incompetence , despair, or intense sadness
- Cognitive abilities such as difficulty concentrating, declining school performance, and changes in grades can all be attributed to cognitive limitations.
- Physical well-being includes loss of energy, digestive issues, changes in appetite and weight gain.
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Common Signs And Symptoms Of Depression
The particular symptoms of depression are usually varied and also the seriousness adjustments with time. As well as, according to experts depressive disorder is definitely a learned dysfunction, or even a result of life-threatening illnesses, or anxiety. Other leads to are specific conditions, drugs, medicines, booze, or perhaps emotional conditions. Women are noticed to try out depression symptoms over males and this will be due to hormones, period changes, maternity, miscarriage, pre-menopause, and also post-menopause.
Frequent signs are usually:
An unshakeable depression, nervousness, as well as useless.
Overwhelming hopelessness combined with gloomy feelings.
Extreme remorse, feelings of fretfulness, no impression.
Loss of energy, a reduction regarding metabolic rate, and activity amounts. Staying affected by regular exhaustion.
A impression involving fretfulness in addition to an ever-increasing lack of concentration along with indecisiveness.
Lack of sound sleep as well as growth and development of severe sleep loss.
Inexplicable weight-loss or putting on weight. Brought on by simply loss in appetite or even eating binges.
Brooding and taking once life inclinations.
Irritability, quick mood, as well as uneasiness.
Physical illnesses are similar to problems, digestive complaints, and also long-term pain regarding absolutely no distinct explanation.
Symptoms And Causes Of Depression
Symptoms of depression can be very different from person to person. However, as a general rule, if you are depressed you feel hopeless, sad and lacking interest in things that used to make you feel happy.
Depression symptoms are bad enough to interfere with work, social life and family life, and can persist for weeks or months.
Doctors describe depression in one of three ways, depending on how serious it is:
- mild depression it has some impact on daily life
- moderate depression it has a significant impact on your daily life
- severe depression this makes it nearly impossible to get through your life day to day
A few people with severe depression may have symptoms of psychotic depression.
Below is a list of depression symptoms it’s unlikely that one person would have all of them.
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Getting Help For Someone Who Is Depressed
Its important to intervene if you notice someone is depressed. The more time the person spends depressed, the harder it can be for them to get out of it. Luckily, there are ample resources available. If you or someone you know is depressed, start by talking to a physician, who will then perform an examination and possibly refer you to a psychiatrist or psychologist. The mental health professional will start by talking to you and asking various questions to determine how long the depression has been going on, the severity of the symptoms, and whether any medications are being taken that might be worsening the bad moods.
A mixture of antidepressant medication and behavioral therapy can help ease depression. Behavioral and cognitive therapies help you to recognize and alter negative self-talk that reinforces depressive thought patterns. Give our operators a call at today to learn more about recovering from depression and reclaiming your life.
Other Causes Of Depression
There are a number of things that can lead to developing depression.
- Stressful events big changes in your life, like bereavement, the end of a relationship or the loss of a job, can be difficult to deal with. When these things happen, it’s important to keep seeing friends and family instead of trying to deal with problems alone this increases your risk of developing depression.
- Giving birth pregnancy and birth can make some people vulnerable to depression. Postnatal depression can happen as the result of physical changes, hormonal changes, and the responsibility of taking care of a new baby.
- Loneliness your risk of depression gets higher if you aren’t in contact or spending time with family and friends.
- Personality some personality traits can put you at a higher risk of developing depression. These include low-self esteem or a habit of criticising yourself too much. These personality traits can come from your genes, which you get from your parents, or they can be as a result of experiences in your early life.
- Family history it’s more likely for someone to develop depression if a family member, like a sibling or parent, has experienced it before.
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Seek Support For Symptoms Of Depression
Depression is often not recognised and can go on for months or even years if left untreated. Its important to seek support as early as possible, as the sooner a person gets treatment, the sooner they can recover.
Untreated depression can have many negative effects on a persons life, including serious relationship and family problems, difficulty finding and holding down a job, and drug and alcohol problems.
There is no one proven way that people recover from depression. However, there is a range of effective treatments and health professionals who can help people on the road to recovery.
There are also many things that people with depression can do for themselves to help them recover and stay well. The important thing is to find the right treatment and the right health professional for a persons needs.
How To Overcome Depression
Physical activity is a very important part of maintaining the chemical balance in the system. Over the last few generations, our physical activity has decreased substantially. Therefore, maintaining the chemical balance in the system becomes difficult. Depression is just one manifestation of that. Some sit in a corner and sulk. Others, who are bipolar, can get violent. The common approach is to tranquilize them with chemicals, tablets or injections. This destroys the potential of the individual.
One of the simplest and best ways of establishing balance is lots of physical activity in a natural environment ideally from an early age. Another aspect is being consciously in touch with the five elements of nature earth, water, air, sunlight or fire, and space. One more factor is the type of food you eat over-processed food should be avoided. Yet another factor is the lack of emotional security that modern generations are suffering. They cannot really invest their emotions in anyone, because no one will be around for too long.
To sum it up, the rise of depression is mainly due to changing lifestyles. Too much eating, not enough activity, no exposure to nature, no contact with the five elements, no emotional security these are the main reasons why depression has become so widespread in the world today. If we take care of these aspects, we can considerably reduce the incidence and prevalence of depression and other mental disorders.
Editor’s Note:
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Causes And Risk Factors
While some illnesses have a specific medical cause, making treatment straightforward, depression is far more complicated. Certain medications, such as barbiturates, corticosteroids, benzodiazepines, opioid painkillers, and specific blood pressure medicine can trigger symptoms in some peopleas can hypothyroidism . But most commonly, depression is caused by a combination of biological, psychological, and social factors that can vary wildly from one person to another.
Despite what you may have seen in TV ads, read in newspaper articles, or maybe even heard from a doctor, depression is not just the result of a chemical imbalance in the brain, having too much or too little of any brain chemical that can be simply cured with medication. Biological factors can certainly play a role in depression, including inflammation, hormonal changes, immune system suppression, abnormal activity in certain parts of the brain, nutritional deficiencies, and shrinking brain cells. But psychological and social factorssuch as past trauma, substance abuse, loneliness, low self-esteem, and lifestyle choicescan also play an enormous part.
Family History & Genetics
A family history of depression is another significant risk factor. You are more likely to experience symptoms of depression if others in your family also have depression or another type of mood disorder. Estimates suggest that depression is approximately 40% determined by genetics.
Twin, adoption, and family studies have linked depression to genetics. While studies suggest that there is a strong genetic component, researchers are not yet certain about all the genetic risk factors for depression.
Researchers have found that having a parent and grandparent with depression doubles the risk of depression.
It is still unclear exactly which genes play a role in depression and other mood disorders, but researchers do know that there are many different genes that can play a role. By better understanding how they function, gene researchers hope to be able to create more effective treatments.
It is important to remember that no single cause of depression acts in isolation. Genetic factors may be a major risk factor, but scientists also believe that genes and the environment interact to control exactly how these genes are expressed.
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