There are two ways you will react to this article – either you will be taken aback or you will feel elated.
”Mood” is defined as
a temporary state of mind or feeling.
Depression is typically a mood when it is temporary. The word is used all too easily and
frequently these days, to the extent that even when a person is feeling bad or
sad about something, he says he is depressed.
It is a state of mind that can affect a person’s thoughts, behavior and
sense of well being. It is characterized
by loss of interest in day to day activities, inability to concentrate,
problems with recall and making decisions.
The way he feels could be sad, anxious, empty, helpless, useless,
worthless, restless or hopeless. There
could be a loss of appetite or indulgence by over-eating. Fatigue, insomnia, aches, pains, low energy,
digestive and metabolic issues could also be present.
When it manifests
for a brief period of time due to loss
of a near or dear one, grief, dramatic change of environment, separattion,
etc., it is general depression, where the person usually comes out of it. However, MDD or Major Depressive Disorder also
known as Clinical Depression occurs, it could very well be a psychiatric
syndrome. It is characterized by an all
pervasive persistently low mood concomitant with low self-esteem, complete lack
of interest in normally enjoyable activities and virtually no confidence or
assertiveness in behavior.
If you read about
depression online, you will find that for almost half a century, depression has been attributed to a chemical
imbalance in the brain. This arises from the finding that mood-related chemicals
such as serotonin, norepinephrine and dopamine are low in the brain during
major depressive episodes. A new
study by the Canadian-based Centre for
Addiction and Mental Health showed that in major depression MAO-A was
significantly higher in every brain region. These brain chemicals (probably
more than just two or three) in turn affect the messenger chemicals dirupting
internal communication and affecting mood.
It has also been found that low moods result in sluggish production of
new neurons, which in turn affects neural pathways.
I wonder if we are
not putting the cart before the horse.
Isn’t it a bit like saying that physical beings like us have created
consciousness? What is more probable is
that consciousness is responsible for the fact that we exist as mind and body,
not the other way around. To explain
this analogy, whereas there is no doubt that injecting or ingesting certain
chemicals can alter our emotional state, to say that brain chemicals are
responsible for our emotional state needs to be re-evaluated. It is far more likely that our emotional
state leads to the increase or decrease of certain brain chemicals, isn’t it?
In other words,
popular belief is that brain chemicals are the cause and depression is the
effect. Logically, shouldn’t it be the
other way around that depression is the cause and brain chemicals are the
effect?
Yoga looks at
depression holistically by cconsidering the mind, body and energies at
play. It believes that where there is
balance in the three, the being is blissful and in a state of bliss, depression
cannot exist.
Let us look at depression
from another simplistic viewpoint. A
state of depressionn is triggered by something which happened which we did not
want to happen or did not happen our way. Alternatively, something we wish that happens
did not happen or did not happen in the manner we expected it to happen. In
other words, something or some person or some event fell short of
expectations. It boils down to the fact
that we are unable to accept and digest something. When
this non-acceptance is turned outward it is anger and when it turned at oneself
it is depression. I know this sounds
very superficial for what is the subject matter of deep research, yet don’t you
agree?
Let us summarize. Depression
is not caused by chemicals in the brain, but rather causes chemicals in the
brain. It is an imbalance in the mind-body-energy system caused by
non-acceptance of something that happens.
Sympathy cannot help nor cure someone who feels helpless and
powerless. On the contrary, it could
worsen the situation. So what will help?
“Love is the great miracle cure. Loving
ourselves works miracles in our lives.”― Louise Hay
Needless to add that
if one were to go looking externally for love, once again it would lead to
expectations, which in turn can lead to disappointments. It is not about seeking love without – it is
about seeking love within. The greatest
love is to learn to love, accept and approve of ourselves. And this is in our hands and it can be done. MDDs may require psychiatric help at the same
time, but this is definitely something that needs to be pursued to ensure that
the situation is resolved and balance is restored in mind-body-energy.
Additional pills and
chemicals will of course rectify the brain chemical imbalance and restore
normalcy but will not cure or resolve the original problem. Thus, the most important factor and most
likely solution which one can implement for oneself is to learn to love, accept
and approve of oneself fully and unconditionally.
The amazing and
tireless Louise Hay states unequivocally that deeply loving and accepting
yourself opens doors that you never thought possible. In an article on
her website, she expounds – ”I have
found that there is only one thing that heals every problem, and that is: to
love yourself. When people start to love themselves more each day, it’s amazing
how their lives get better. They feel better. They get the jobs they want. They
have the money they need. Their relationships either improve, or the negative
ones dissolve and new ones begin.
Loving
yourself is a wonderful adventure; it’s like learning to fly. Imagine if we all
had the power to fly at will?”
Unfortunately, just
reading the article without implementing it will not get you the results. And often, the biggest challenge that we
face, especially in such situations is that we tend to resist doing just the
thing that we need to do. At such times,
we have to look at practical techniques to bypass such resistance which is not
in your best interests, Nirmiti Nidra is a handy tool to access the
subconscious and overcome the barriers caused by internal resistance.
“You have the power to heal your life, and
you need to know that. We think so often that we are helpless, but we're not.
We always have the power of our minds…Claim and consciously use your power.” ― Louise L. Hay
No comments:
Post a Comment