Depression

Depression is a very loaded word - public awareness of it in the last decade has been raised by multi-million-dollar advertising campaigns which hopefully reduce stigma and encourage people to get help. The conventional help provided can often be boiled down to: ‘Oh, you’re depressed. That’s because you have a brain-chemistry imbalance, which you can fix by taking these pharmaceuticals.’ 

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The question ‘What’s causing the imbalance in brain chemistry?’, doesn’t seem to be addressed. In her book, “St John’s Wort: Nature’s Blues Buster” https://www.amazon.com.au/St-Johns-Wort-Natures-Buster/dp/0895298430, American psychiatrist, Hyla Cass, recommends that depressed people check if they have any one of three physiological conditions that can cause depression: Candida, hypoglycaemia and hypothyroidism. It’s worth noting that more than 25 years after the release of Dr Cass’s book, it’s now accepted that the gut (where Candida causes imbalance) plays a major role in producing important neurotransmitters like Serotonin.

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I’m not against the use of antidepressants where needed. Antidepressants could support a person while they adopt the lifestyle and inner changes they need to live a more healthy, meaningful, socially-connected (and thus progressively-less-depressed) life.

My first question of a client presenting with depression would be, “What are your individual symptoms?” I want to treat the person, not the condition. My next avenue of enquiry would be to explore what's making you depressed. Because whether recent or old, depression’s causes (eg trauma, neglect, grief, isolation) can be transformed into a catalyst for positive change; through good, holistic healing over time.

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Another potential cause for depression is sadness about the state of the world. In his 1897 book “Suicide”, pioneering French sociologist Emile Durkheim coined the term ‘anomie’ – loss of faith in the structure of society. In today’s world, it’s important to accept that clients’ existential terror (anxiety) and/or existential grief (depression) may not be the result of an imbalanced brain chemistry, but an imbalanced world! This is where transpersonal (meaning ‘transcending the ordinary sense of self’) counselling can be so valuable, because it can support clients to access inner resources that talk therapy can’t reach; resources that come from a more profound level of their existence, and can thus support a person through an existential crisis.

 

For an article about Durkheim’s ideas, as introduced above, see: https://www.thoughtco.com/study-of-suicide-by-emile-durkheim-3026758
 

In his book “Why Am I Still Depressed? Recognizing and Managing the Ups and Downs of Bipolar II and Soft Bipolar Disorder” https://www.amazon.com.au/Depressed-Recognizing-Managing-Bipolar-Disorder/dp/0071462376, Dr Jim Phelps says that numerous studies show that the most effective antidepressant of all, by far, is exercise. He says it needn’t be complicated: Go to your front door, walk away from home for 15 minutes, turn around, walk home. I love the simplicity of this approach and would at least talk it over with a client who has depression.

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Finally, my own personal recovery from mood highs and lows has been like putting together a ‘psychological-fitness’ tool kit. My tools include diet, nutritional supplements, individual therapy, exercise, self-care, spiritual practice and peer support groups. I'd be honoured to help you assemble, or add to, your own unique tool kit.