Depression

[Badwuv]

Thanx Logic... good point.  How 'bout the fact that I had feveral seizures when I was a toddler and now I'm prone to high fevers even just from colds? ( my point being, medecine isn't magick, but it makes things a heck of a lot better sometimes)

[Mister Anjilek]

My take as a depression sufferer-

Depression is a catch 22 state. You feel down, so you dwell on it, which brings you lower, so you dwell some more.....etc. The purpose of modern medication is to take the edge of and provide clarity so you can see that you need to battle.

Most psychologist now subscribe to the cognitive behavioral therapy approach. In order to be successful at beating depression(and a slew of psychological disorders) a person needs to recognize their thought process and then learn to adjust it. I personally had a negative filter and a black and white filter. I had learned through years of conditioning that certain things were bad, and so any inkling of similarity to the event would trigger anxiety and depression. The black and white mentality made it so everything was win or lose. As an example, I was upset at my marriage for not being perfect(I wasn't winning). The thought that came with it was I was losing.

Upon seeing the reality of my thought processes, I was able to realize that negative emotions are actually a bored "fight or flight" response. We rarely have to run from a vicious animal, so we get scared/angry/defensive over mental stimuli.  As I began to change my thought process, the depression began to lift, quit quickly actually.

Now, I believe a NEG could in fact have influence over someone in the "catch 22" state. I also think energy depletion, and imbalance could add some serious amplification of the depression. However, I believe that depression, as with all emotions, are conscious based, and not the result of some planar intrusion.

PS While many people subscribe to the chemical imbalance theory, I tend to believe that diet awareness would solve alot of these issues, versus taking pills. People with Serotonin level issues, actually don't have issues with the levels of the chemical, but have issues with the ability of the neuro transmitters passing the serotonin.

PSS- I am not a doctor, but I did stay at a Holiday Inn last night. I actually have read tons of material on depression and only know what worked for me.

[karnautrahl]

Fever serves a purpose biologically, so does depression (to a LIMIT).
In both cases of course there could be many different causes or reasons behind either symptom.

For instance in my case-I have a history and so does my family of depression. I have begun to identify variations within depressive feelings now after having spent time trying various things.

Firstly there is shortlived depressive heavy headedness. Causes appear to be blood sugar, lack of available amino acids and some sleep deficit-any and all of these in combination are easy to solve now. The trick is self awareness and keeping track of basic needs. Also for me exercise is absolutely necessary. I need to work hard for a minimum of 1hr every 48hrs.  The science behind that is straightforward too.
Now this is all biological with only a small psychological component. But this is the stage I have got to now. Where simple self management and energy work also deals with the issues.

I also had for many years a deeper more pervasive daily underlying depression. Again this could be looked at biological just the same, however the truth was my life was genuinely a bit excrement. Mainly self inflicted with an added component of being conned a few times. Add in loneliness, wrong pathways taken, leaving home because of emotional parental issues and some other stuff too private to mention and there's a clear case of psychological triggers too. It's a bit chicken and egg-did the biology influence the psychology first or was it the other way around?
Doctors did try the pills thing. I did too with various stimulants.

Also there is one other thing that I have spoken to Bruce about and I don't mind sharing the broad detail of as I think there may be others that have had this issue and cannot bring themselves to discuss it in a wider audience.  Paraphilias. I have a number of these, none illegal or in themselves dangerous to others BUt some of them have a negative influence on me and one does not.

The ones that have a negative influence take the form of almost self persuasive second internal "voice" that takes a role during an act. Afterwards I don't feel so great about who I am and it takes rationalisation and other tricks to get back into level headedness.  This I'm prepared to discuss on a deeper level in private if it might help others.

I can sense the difference when I raise energy loads now. All this week since the workshop I've found the negative stuff has become less of a compulsive thing and more of a choice thing-less attractive. And my main interest which doesn't give me any issues is more fun.  Seems the negative sexual thing happens when one is in a lower vibe if you like and more vulnerable.

At this time I cannot comment on negs because I don't get into enough trance or visualisation to really sense them. But it's not to difficult to believe certain issues i've had etc either attracted them or were caused by them.

One thing I've learnt about myself is that there is definitly NO single one blanket cause for the symptom that could be called depression as this word itself does describe a whole spectrum of feelings, from a little low and blue (post workout, lack of sugar/sleep/protein/sex) to serious debilitating depression coupled often with other mental health problems.  So for others on this forum looking at this, it's often a multidimensionl/multicausal thing so I really strongly advise against any single line of thinking approach and look more towards multi disciplinary paths. Especially as you've got to take care of ALL your bodies and different approaches do just that.

The purpose of fever? Often the body needs to use the higher temperature to kill an invader that wouldn't survive quite so well at the higher internal temperature. Or internal chemistry has to move faster to cope with the fight. these are sort of my current theories, I haven't actually done any more homework on this so being wrong won't hurt (much) but I do know when I get a fever or a headache I try to stay in the pain for a while to give my body a chance to fight without suppressing it.  With headaches I usually give in in the end .

[You]

Who says I'm in touch with my body? Bearing pain has nothing to do with that, if anything, becoming out of touch with it would do it. If you can't take a headache without popping a pill, life's going to be hell for you unless you're born a pampered prince.