Often, folks suffering from depression will defend their illness or dis-ease as though it is a badge of courage. They assure you that they have every right to be depressed. Others will tell you how their doctor says they are clinically depressed or bi-polar, buying totally into what they believe the dis-ease is – giving up their power to overcome the illness. You can tell right off whether folks have bought into the dis-ease by the way they speak about it. Too often we hear folk say, My depression…, my heart disease…, my diabetes…, my eczema…. This often illustrates how we’ve made an illness part of our identity or taken ownership of it. That is not a healthy notion if you want to overcome a dis-ease.
LET ME MAKE IT CLEAR – I AM NOT A DOCTOR. I’M TALKING ABOUT DISEASE FROM A POINT OF PERSONAL RESPONSIBILITY – OR PERSONAL POWER.
Symbolically, depression is clinging to the past or past events that have traumatized the individual into varying degrees of inertia. Depression is often an identity crisis for the individual regarding who they believe they were, then, versus who they believe they are now. They haven’t been able to overcome the loss of identity. We often identify with the things we do, and the people and things we have in our lives. So losing a job, a limb, property, or loss of a family member, a divorce or break up, for example, are forms of losing who we were. We all go through these losses yet some of us are better at coping with loss than others.
What makes this important is depression often leads to other more serious dis-eases like diabetes, heart dis-ease, stroke, cancer and exacerbates Alzheimer’s, in addition to the fact that folks are entering the throes of depression at an ever increasing rate. Depression strikes 17 million Americans a year according to the National Institute Of Mental Health. And it’s thought that 80 to 90% of these cases can be treated successfully according to American Psychiatric Association, however two thirds of those suffering depression don’t receive assistance.
There’s so much talk today about the cost of healthcare but we haven’t taken a look at why healthcare is so costly. THE COST OF HEALTHCARE IN THE UNITED STATES IS SO HIGH BECAUSE MANY U.S. CITIZENS HAVE GIVEN UP THE PERSONAL POWER THEY HAVE OVER THEIR HEALTH TO A HEALTH CARE SYSTEM IN HIGH DEMAND DUE TO AMERICANS IRRESPONSIBILITY FOR TAKING CARE OF THEMSELVES. If you want to reduce the cost of healthcare, you have to take more personal responsibility for your health.
We have become so irresponsible regarding personal health, we even have our children on drugs regarding behavioral problems. Too often this has to do with the parents lack of parenting skills and teachers not having the time to deal with behavioral problems, using drugs to alter behavior in the short run. Once again, the child doesn’t learn the coping skills needed to deal with the adversities of life and we take the easy way out. When these kids become adults, they often are addicted to the prescriptions without having gotten the treatment to overcome the problem they were initially addressing – remaining irresponsible for their behavior.
The healthcare system has been too focused on drug use and not giving people the treatment and information they need, to reduce the need for drugs and treatment in the future. The more we have people addicted, the more we perpetuate the need for drugs and seeing doctors to get them, increasing the cost of healthcare. IS THIS REALLY HEALTHCARE? HOW DIFFERENT IS THIS FROM THE ILLEGAL DRUG BUSINESS? The more drug use, the higher the demand, the higher the price.
Depression can be understood by examining the beliefs regarding one’s identity before the trauma or past event(s), and the beliefs about identity subsequent to the event(s). There are conflicting and invalid beliefs that need to be extricated from the belief system giving more energy to one’s healthy personality. There are exercises to do to move one in a more productive mode of behavior, however the biggest job is in the examination of one’s belief about self, then and now.
Diet, exercise, dream suggestion, self discovery and self expression, along with belief examination are natural means of dealing with depression. Drugs can be an assistance, not a cure – especially with the side effects. Long term use often isn’t very healthy.
Depression often drains one of so much energy that one can’t move or becomes inert. That is the reason for using drugs in therapy – to lift one’s spirits enough enabling them to take action. Nevertheless, blind action without therapy can lead to even more trouble. That’s where the healthcare industry is in too many cases – DRUGS WITHOUT TREATMENT! Why? Convenience and greed.
Check this list of entries on `Depression’ in the Capt.s Search Box, which give a more detailed assessment of how to deal with depression.
I’ve used these same techniques to deal with my own depression 30 years ago – without revisiting it!
QUESTION EVERYTHING! THAT’S WHERE THE TRUTH RESIDES.
TheCapt/Sciontists Of Soundz 