Ok, so I'm sure you've noticed by now that I'm a real believer in the importance of using 'talking therapies' and natural methods for overcoming depression.

This isn't because I'm some barefoot, Eastern-New-Age believing hippy type. No, it's because they worked for me. After fighting with increasingly debilitating bouts of depression for 22 years, I thought that finding emotional and mental health within the space of a year just through talking and changing my mindset, and though changing what I ate was amazing. Spectacularly successful.

So I thought I'd quickly chat about one of the most effective and well-established talking therapy available, Cognitive Behavioural Therapy – or CTB.

CBT is based on the idea that the way we think, and what we think about creates, or at the very least alters, our mood.

Have you ever felt perfectly content and happy then thought about something sad that made you feel unhappy or disturbed? Well for someone who struggles with depression those unhappy thoughts can spiral out of control and drag them down from unhappiness into desperation.

On the other hand, have you ever felt a bit down, but then started concentrating on something pleasant fun, or remembered a fun event that made you smile and start to feel better?

Well there you can see already how much our thoughts – what's going on in our imaginations – can have a pretty profound influence on our moods.

The thing about CBT is that it doesn't only assist the depressed person through dealing with the feelings they have, such as feelings of hopelessness, sadness, grief or anger. It also works by helping the person find ways to actually change the way they think about life and what's happening to them. So they start to recognise the pessimistic thought patterns, unrealistic expectations, critical self-talk and so on that not only bring on depression, but often makes it worse and makes it stay around for longer.

CBT is all about helping a depressed person work out how to have a healthier way of thinking about the world and about themselves. For someone who's struggling with incredibly low self-esteem or chaotic thinking (as I did), this can be the key to getting out of the rut that depression keeps you in.

If you want to try CBT, make sure that you search for a qualified, certified and experienced therapist. If you're already under treatment from your doctor, he or she may be able to recommend someone to you.

Wishing you health, wealth and true happiness.


Lorraine

 
 

What? What d'you mean they don't work​? Millions and millions of people have found relief from taking antidepressants over the past years. So what's this headline about?

Well, recent research from the University of Hull in northern England has shown that many of the most popular anti-depressants are no more effective than placebo tablets (such as sugar pills), and the news is sending shock waves throughout the medical profession and amongst those who are struggling with depression in their lives.

In this article, that appeared recently in the hugely respected newspaper The Independent, the health editor Jeremy Laurance states;

“They are among the biggest-selling drugs of all time, the "happiness pills" that supposedly lift the moods of those who suffer depression and are taken by millions of people in the UK every year.

But one of the largest studies of modern antidepressant drugs has found that they have no clinically significant effect. In other words, they don't work.
The finding will send shock waves through the medical profession and patients and raises serious questions about the regulation of the multinational pharmaceutical industry, which was accused yesterday of withholding data on the drugs.

It also came as Alan Johnson, the Health Secretary, announced that 3,600 therapists are to be trained during the next three years to provide nationwide access through the GP service to "talking treatments" for depression, instead of drugs, in a £170m scheme. The popularity of the new generation of antidepressants, which include the best known brands Prozac and Seroxat, soared after they were launched in the late 1980s, heavily promoted by drug companies as safer and leading to fewer side-effects than the older tricyclic antidepressants.”

It's always good to hear both sides of a story so, in the interests of presenting a balanced view, the companies that make antidepressants have made vigorous comebacks to the findings of the research, as we can see in this BBC News report here;

“...the makers of Prozac and Seroxat, two of the commonest anti-depressants, said they disagreed with the findings.

A spokesman for GlaxoSmithKline, which makes Seroxat, said the study only looked at a "small subset of the total data available".

And Eli Lilly, which makes Prozac, said that "extensive scientific and medical experience has demonstrated it is an effective anti-depressant.”

My personal experience is that anti-depressants (once they've been correctly prescribed of course), can have a dramatic effect on mood and emotional stability. But then I've also seen them wreak havoc on the lives of people who found themselves spiralling even deeper into depression and chaotic thinking. I think it's almost impossible to explain how or why the exact same tablet can have completely different effects on two people.

Anyway, I think these findings confirm something that I've thought for a long, long time now – that for most people it's a much better idea to try to overcome depression through the use of therapy, coaching, psychiatry and other such 'talking' disciplines.

It seems I'm not alone in thinking this.

Wishing you health, wealth and true happiness.

Lorraine

 
 

I always used to feel 'weak' for experiencing depression.  I felt I should have been 'strong enough' to cope with all the difficulties life had thrown at me. Yes, yes, I know - that's ridiculous. But there was always such pressure to carry on within a short space of time, as though nothing had happened. It all left me feelin so weary...

How many people do you know who are expected by their bosses to return to work within 3 days after burying a loved one, or after returning home from hospital?

In our society today many people still feel that anyone over the age of 12 should be able to 'pull themselves together' in a pretty short space of time, even in the face of the dire life circumstances. But many times that's simply not possible to do.  We can never know in advance how or why depression strikes a person.

Or can we? 

This great article that I found at John McManamy's excellent site talks about Nature or Nurture - Outside Depression Causes  and looks at some of the many reasons why depression occurs.  The article's a bit elderly - it was written way back in 2004 - but as far as I'm concerned every word still rings true.

"We know that depression is a physical phenomenon. Thanks to modern imaging, we can see it actually taking place, like a tiny squid secreting dark ink in the left prefrontal regions of the brain. We also know that genes are a factor in both depression and bipolar disorder, that in twins there is a co-occurrence that cannot be explained away by chance, and that these conditions often have interlocking family histories spanning several generations.

But life, let alone depression and bipolar disorder, is never that simple.

According to the Surgeon General, stressful life events loom large in depression. Thirty to 40 percent of those undergoing divorce report a significant increase in symptoms of depression and anxiety. Single mothers face twice the risk of depression as do married mothers. Victims of domestic violence must often bear their considerable emotional burdens while battling incapacitating depression. At least 10 to 20 percent of widows and widowers develop clinical depression during the first year of bereavement. In the words of the Surgeon General: "The compelling impact of past parental neglect, physical and sexual abuse, and other forms of maltreatment on both adult emotional well-being and brain function is now firmly established for depression."

In other words, stress incidence in life can often bring on depression, as much as the chemical imbalances that doctors are forever attempting to drug out of existence.

If you're going through a rough patch in life, and I know many of you are, do these three things.  I understand that you feel you don't have much energy - I get that completely, believe me.  But this list is only 3 items long...  not some great and grand action plan.

1. Do what you have to to take care of your body; sleep more, comfort eat less, exercise more.

2. Ask for help; from your mum, your dad, your brother, your close friend,  a sympathetic doctor or some other health professional.  When I finally got round to doing this (after years of struggling on my own mind), things came together in my life within a matter of months...

3. Be gentle with yourself; remember, modern living takes its toll on the human body and the human mind. 

Wishing you health, wealth and happiness.

Lorraine