Connecting mental illnesses to the mind/body connection

There is no question that sometimes an antidepressant is necessary when the grips of depression have you paralyzed. Relying on an antidepressant alone will only get you on an endless cycle of dependence on a pill to help you deal with life.

Depression is often the result of an inability to cope with an event or several events that happen in your life. Ignoring the cause of depression by just treating it with antidepressant medication is being in denial of your inner demons.

It does take courage to face these demons and although cognitive behavioral therapy can help, there is no guarantee that you will be successful. Some people can fight an inner demon for years sometimes suppressing it only to find that it returns in the form of chronic depression or anxiety.

Not to say that fighting depression or anxiety is hopeless because I firmly believe that you can overcome depression and anxiety.

I recently came across a blog written by a practicing Buddhist who is also a doctor. Dr. Alex Lickerman is also someone who suffers from mild PTSD (post traumatic stress disorder). His blog explores such ideas as the mind/body connection and how physical symptoms can be psychological in nature.

He has some ideas on how to help yourself with your depression and many of these ideas I have done myself. His theories on why we become depressed and his honesty about how difficult it truly is for doctors to properly diagnose and help their depressed patients is refreshing. As a Buddhist and a medical doctor he manages to balance medical science with Buddhism and explain it all in a voice that is encouraging yet honest.

It does take courage to face the cause behind your depression but unless you do the work, you are not going to see your depression go away.

If you are fighting the darkness of depression, these tips can help you to see the light.

Visualize

Visualization is a practice that involves seeing and believing that you have the strength to overcome whatever problem you are facing. Using visual aids such as a board that you personalize with positive affirmations, pleasing pictures or even simple words to remind you of how you see your life is another way to practice visualization.

Avoid major decisions when you are down

Sometimes this is not possible but many times it is. If you can recognize that you are not in your “normal” state of mind, cut yourself some slack and put off major life decisions. This will avoid you making further problems for yourself. Often when you are in the midst of depression, your mental attitude is not conducive to being able to think clearly.

Prioritize your problems

We can easily get overwhelmed by life especially when it feels like bad things keep happening. How bad are they really? Sometimes it is all about attitude but when there is too much for us to handle, we experience an emotional overload and shut down. We feel powerless to solve our problems because it feels like there are so many to deal with. Resolve to deal with one issue at a time. Realize that if you take it one baby step at a time, you can find solutions. Juggling all your problems at once isn’t working.

Stop and breathe- it will pass

Instead of succumbing to panic, stop, breathe and wait. Not only will everything seem to get clearer, but you will sometimes see that it isn’t as horrible as you imagined. Solutions may become more visible once you are able to calm yourself and think clearly.

Use distraction to heal your mind

Music, meditating, art, writing, or whatever soothes you will also distract your mind from the problems and stress that seem to be consuming your being. By taking a break from it all, you are rejuvenating yourself and the solutions to your problems may become clearer.

Face your fears

Acknowledge what is frightening to you and allow yourself to rationalize it. Imagine all the scenarios and remind yourself that no matter what- you can and will survive it. Maybe the outcome is not what you had imagined or hoped it would be but you can do it.

Write it down

Get out a piece of paper and write down everything. Spill your guts. Spell it all out on paper. Sometimes after doing this exercise you may see how silly some of your problems appear to be. Sometimes you can also recognize how you may be making your problems worse by your reactions to them!

Believe it or not, you will get through this. Try and think back to other periods of your life where you felt helpless and you were despondent. You made it through, didn’t you? You will get through this also. Accept that sometimes obstacles that happen in life bring changes that are good even though at the time they don’t feel that way.

Fear can make challenges scarier than they have to be. Fear can overcome you, paralyzing you to accepting change. Stress and disappointment can make you feel horrible about yourself, doubt your worth and make you feel hopeless.

There is always hope.

Believe it and it will be so!