Holistic Depression Treatment

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Holistic Depression Treatment

Depression is one of the most common concerns in mental health today. While depression is the natural reaction to certain situations, such as the death of a loved one, it becomes problematic when it's the reaction to much more minor situations and when the condition dominates most of your conscious awareness.

In this article, we present a holistic healing approach to depression and provide a number of tips and suggested treatment for managing and preventing depression altogether. First, however, we need to define depression and explain a little bit about what triggers it in today's hectic lifestyles.

Definition of Depression

Depression: general emotional dejection and withdrawal; sadness, dullness or inactivity.

Depression is an emotional state of melancholy that allows the body, mind, and soul to heal and recuperate after a terrible loss of something important, either tangible or intangible. We often refer to depression as a feeling of sadness. Again, this is a normal, even necessary condition that results from the many experiences in human life. Depression becomes a problem, however, when the melancholy mood persists beyond a reasonable amount of time to provide necessary rest and healing, or when the symptoms of depression appear without any specific or obvious cause. Note that depression is often a reaction to anxiety. Therefore, these mental and emotional disorders often go hand in hand.

Based on this more traditional definition of depression, it is difficult to understand then, why the symptoms seem to appear out of "nowhere". Many times people experience the symptoms depression, but deny them by saying "but I don't have any reason to feel this way".

What Are the Causes of Depression?

We have to broaden the definition then in order to see how depression is the result of more subtle and less dramatic causes. In a nutshell, the chaotic busyness of today's modern life creates stress, and the brain interprets stress as the threat of danger and/or loss. In other words, stress is the major cause of depression.

Whether or not you have any so-called "valid reason" to feel depressed, the brain interprets your reaction to stress as a significant loss, and quite often, and the threat of pending danger. You may not consciously be aware for example, that deep down you are longing for peace, quiet, and solitude. But the pressures of your days with the endless demands of work, family, social obligations and other duties leave you feeling that there just aren't enough hours in a day. You are spread too thinly and you know you are stressed out. If you don't relieve this stress, over time, it wears you down and causes both anxiety and depression.

Subconsciously, stress creates the conditions in your mind of mourning, a longing for peace and order that is lacking in your life. By the time you realize you are depressed, your natural reserves of rebound energies are so depleted that you can not easily "just get over it". In fact, your physical chemistry is literally altered by the depression.

Symptoms of Depression

Depression often reveals itself as fatigue. Even when you have enough sleep, you desire to sleep more. Depression is an overall lethargic state of being.

Both anxiety and depression can cause insomnia, headache and other physical pain, lack of appetite, irritability, and an overall gloomy perception of the world. Clearly these symptoms all affect your quality of life.

Recognizing Symptoms of Depression

In either case, you simply can not talk yourself out of the symptoms. When depression or anxiety have taken over your whole being, you are truly disabled in your normal functioning. The first step in finding a cure then, is recognizing your symptoms and calling the kettle black, so to speak: recognize that what you are experiencing is real and identify it as anxiety and/or depression.

Depression is a serious mental health disorder and requires serious attention and deliberate intention to overcome. Fortunately, the medical community and most of society have finally come to admit the reality and the severity of depression, and as a result, there are many cures available to treat these disorders. In our world dominated by Western medicine, we hear a lot about pharmaceutical drugs that are designed to reorder your brain's chemistry to set it back on balance. But what if you want a more natural way to restore your mental health?

Holistic Depression Treatment

Fortunately there are many natural treatment for depression: In particular, these constitute two main categories that fall under a holistic (whole - mind and body) approach to healing: 1) lifestyle changes; and 2) natural herbs.

You may not be able to change your job, fix all your personal relationships, find a quick fix for your financial woes, or create more hours in your days (these are the major stressors in most people's lives). You can, however, make changes in your lifestyle that will help you better manage those problems. Exercise and diet, for example, have a tremendous affect on how you feel. Prioritize yourself so you do things regularly that you enjoy. This also has a powerful impact and can work to free you from the chains of depression.

By taking a holistic approach to remedying your depression, you can get at the source and thereby the cause of your depression. This doesn't mean medicine, whether natural or pharmaceutical, won't help - but medications, in all but the most severe cases, only address the underlying symptoms. It's a lifestyle change that will ultimately free you from the bonds of depression. That being said, you might also be interested in our articles on Herbs for Anxiety and Herbs for Depression.

Depression is a problem that seems to plague so many people. However, many methods people are using to combat depression are providing good results. - Update Published on February 28, 2012

Many times, patients are using these methods in combination with their prescribed anti-depressant medication to synthesize the results they are receiving.

Laughter is one thing that will make you feel better without your having to take strong chemical medications. The effects might not be immediate, but you will experience some changes over time. Though laughter might seem like some pie in the sky idea -- something so simple it cannot possibly work -- scientists have achieved significant results with humor therapy, and it is possible that you can too.

How Does Laughter Work to Combat Depression?

When you laugh a lot, you have higher self-esteem and you feel better. If you laugh all the time, you trick your body into thinking that you are happy on many psychological levels. Many scientists have proven that laughter is very healthy and that it is inextricably linked to happiness.

In fact, Dr. Robert Holden conducted an experiment wherein he combined positive thinking, laughter and regular exercise. The subjects were able to achieve states of happiness with this simple formula alone. For many, this news was very exciting.

What Laughter Level Can You Realistically Achieve? How Can You Laugh More?

Do you surround yourself with other people that laugh, or do you at least watch television programming or read books that give you the giggles? There are truly some great authors that write with the type of wit and humor that can never translate quite right onto the silver screen.

Some doctors recommend that you carry a notepad for a week and jot down every time you laugh in a given day. Once you have a chance to take a look at how much you laugh, you can determine how much more laughing you need to do.

If you do have a favorite show that you like or a comedian that always makes you laugh, then splurge and purchase a couple of videos that you know you will enjoy and laugh away. In the long run, these few videos will be much cheaper than purchasing tons of medication, and they will probably be much healthier for your liver.

Stop watching depressing TV Shows

Another proactive step that you can take is to stop watching TV shows about crime, and watching the news and documentaries constantly. However, you should watch one instance of your local news program daily so that you can make sure to keep yourself and family safe.

Most local news programs will cover national news stories of importance so that is really all you need. If you still do not feel informed enough, tune into one national/international news program a week, but you absolutely must start to limit these types of programs if you want to combat your depression using these natural, organic, healthy methods.

If you are a fan of crime shows, the next time you watch one, take the time to note how many depression medication commercials you see when you watch these shows. This should be a revelation for you and an indicator of what types of feelings that these shows encourage in viewers.

Act like a child

Some experts say that you should try to be like a child. Children love to have fun and they laugh constantly, and since they are not cognizant of the negative world, they rarely have any interest in their newspaper, international turmoil and other things that tend to make adults feel anxious. Of course, you cannot shut yourself off from society altogether, because you have to be informed, but there is such a thing as too much information.

True, genuine laughter can be like a vacation from the problems that plague you. It is something that transcends both culture and gender, something that makes you feel cool and accepted even when there is no one around.

Forcing Laughter

Do not force any laughter, because this is not healthy. There has to be something you can think of that makes you laugh, a TV show, a comedian, a live play, a person, something. Once you determine a few things that you find funny, then try to find more instances of that sort of comedy or that sort of book.

Forcing laughter is unhealthy, especially if you have a bad heart, so find some purely funny things to expose yourself to, so that natural laughter will follow. It may seem like there are not that many funny things out there, but you will be surprised what you find when you actually go out and actively seek comedy and humorous entertainment.

After you incorporate humor therapy into your battle against depression, take note of how different you feel after living like this for 6 months.

Combine humor therapy with some easy exercises like walking, dancing, swimming, or shopping 3 times a week for at least 30 minutes a session. Add regular prayer and communion with God or a positive affirmation session for 10 minutes a day every day, and you will be amazed at how different you will feel once you combine all of these things. You will have naturally stimulated your own endorphins over a period of 6 months, and will be able to reach levels of joy that you never thought possible.