CHRONIC DEPRESSION
Depression is a crippling illness that is very resistant to healing. It is not just in the mind, but is experienced throughout the body. It robs us of life and inspiration and can be extremely debilitating. Depression has surged to epidemic proportions lately caused by economic and political uncertainty. It has also mushroomed as inactivity, obesity and pharmaceutical use has increased over the past few decades.
At any one time it is estimated that more than 300 million people worldwide suffer from clinical depression, 4% of the world's population, according to the World Health Organization in 2015. It is the leading global disability. The US population suffers the most from depression followed by other countries Colombia, Ukraine, the Netherlands and France. The least "depressed" countries are Japan, Nigeria and China. The order is interestingly similar to the order of incidence of obesity. The US is the only temperate climate country within the top 5 most obese. China and Japan are at the other end of the obesity scale. For more information regarding obesity please click on the button below for my recent BALANCE NEWS article.
Chronic depression is rising. From 2005-15, cases of depressive illness increased by nearly a fifth. People born after 1945 are 10 times more likely to have depression than those older.
Western medicine treats depression primarily with drugs, although 50 years ago the major approach was through psychotherapy. More recently drugs are overwhelming preferred by practitioners probably because long term talk therapy is much more expensive. In general, mental health treatment is very difficult to obtain for most in the US. You easily find practitioners today who charge $200 per session. While the help provided is significant, it certainly puts mental health support out of the range of most people.
At any one time it is estimated that more than 300 million people worldwide suffer from clinical depression, 4% of the world's population, according to the World Health Organization in 2015. It is the leading global disability. The US population suffers the most from depression followed by other countries Colombia, Ukraine, the Netherlands and France. The least "depressed" countries are Japan, Nigeria and China. The order is interestingly similar to the order of incidence of obesity. The US is the only temperate climate country within the top 5 most obese. China and Japan are at the other end of the obesity scale. For more information regarding obesity please click on the button below for my recent BALANCE NEWS article.
Chronic depression is rising. From 2005-15, cases of depressive illness increased by nearly a fifth. People born after 1945 are 10 times more likely to have depression than those older.
Western medicine treats depression primarily with drugs, although 50 years ago the major approach was through psychotherapy. More recently drugs are overwhelming preferred by practitioners probably because long term talk therapy is much more expensive. In general, mental health treatment is very difficult to obtain for most in the US. You easily find practitioners today who charge $200 per session. While the help provided is significant, it certainly puts mental health support out of the range of most people.
Checklist of what to do if you suffer from major depression:
If you suffer from major depression, it is often very difficult to take action. Sometimes you have to force yourself to do the things you need to do. A common symptom is severe resistance. Persevere anyway and try these things:
- Drink more water.
- Find out if any of the drugs or supplements you take have depression as a possible side effect. If so, consult your doctor to have your medications changed.
- Begin a physical routine. It isn't important what kinds of things you do. What matters is being consistent no matter what.
- Learn a simple breathing exercise and use it when you feel down.
- Seek out support from your health care providers, your friends, family and community. Depression is not something to be ashamed of. It is extremely common. If you talk with people about it you can find out novel ways in which they were helped.
Depression is often defined as anger turned inward. You can add depth to that meaning by thinking of it sometimes as anger toward another that for some reason one cannot express directly so it is turned upon ourself as a way to survive.
Some baisc information:
Characteristics: Many experience depression as an overwhelming feeling of heavy weight that compresses all our physical and emotional processes. It becomes hard to do anything. Life is colorless. Hopelessness becomes overwhelming. Physically, the immobility that depression causes makes us stiffen up so severely that our health is impacted. Our breathing is affected as well because the rib cage compresses inward, resulting in shallow breathing. Depression is often mixed in with other health problems: long term illness caused by things like stroke, Alzheimer's, Parkinson's Disease, chronic anxiety or other health challenges.
Symptoms of major depression:
Bipolar Disorder is not depression: Bipolarity used to be called "manic/depression". One half of the cycle is clearly depression but treatment for bipolarity can be quite different than treatment for depression alone and the 2 disorders should not be confused.
The differences between depression, fear and anxiety. These feelings are similar yet quite different in how they affect us. Fear can become a dominant feeling for us as we age and its power can alter our quality of life substantially. Anxiety is rife these days. Stress is at a high level for everyone. Depression has become epidemic. I wrote an article on how to tell the difference between these 3 and how to simply and effectively mitigate their effects on us. Click here to read: Fear, Anxiety, Depression.
How depression affects balance: The principle symptom of depression is immobility. We stop wanting to move. This affects balance primarily because when we are immobile, our body tightens, we lose strength and flexibility and coordination and that significantly affects balance and makes it more likely that we will fall.
What causes depression?
Whatever the cause, and there are many, depression is above all an illness. It often reappears as we become overstressed. I think of depression as a chemical unbalance of sorts. It affects us deeply and unfortunately it often defies relief. There are some specific causes. Among them:
Symptoms of major depression:
- Feelings of worthlessness, guilt.
- Withdrawal from normal activities.
- Chronic negativism, feeling irritable.
- Feeling numb or like nothing matters.
- Strong resistance against participation.
- Feeling unusually confused, forgetful, on edge, angry, upset, worried or scared. Trouble concentrating or making decisions.
- Overwhelming feelings of sadness or hopelessness.
- Either sleeping too much or insomnia.
- Use of alcohol or drugs to feel better.
- Thoughts of, or attempts at, suicide.
- Uncontrolled crying.
- Weight loss or gain.
- Decreased energy.
Bipolar Disorder is not depression: Bipolarity used to be called "manic/depression". One half of the cycle is clearly depression but treatment for bipolarity can be quite different than treatment for depression alone and the 2 disorders should not be confused.
The differences between depression, fear and anxiety. These feelings are similar yet quite different in how they affect us. Fear can become a dominant feeling for us as we age and its power can alter our quality of life substantially. Anxiety is rife these days. Stress is at a high level for everyone. Depression has become epidemic. I wrote an article on how to tell the difference between these 3 and how to simply and effectively mitigate their effects on us. Click here to read: Fear, Anxiety, Depression.
How depression affects balance: The principle symptom of depression is immobility. We stop wanting to move. This affects balance primarily because when we are immobile, our body tightens, we lose strength and flexibility and coordination and that significantly affects balance and makes it more likely that we will fall.
What causes depression?
Whatever the cause, and there are many, depression is above all an illness. It often reappears as we become overstressed. I think of depression as a chemical unbalance of sorts. It affects us deeply and unfortunately it often defies relief. There are some specific causes. Among them:
- Negative thoughts. Anger directed inward. Messages like: "No-one understands me", " I am unloveable", “I'm a failure”, "Life is just downhill". Harmful messages we may have heard from others (perhaps from our childhood) come back to haunt us. We suppress ourselves. We dwell on these feelings.
- Prescription and over the counter medicines can cause depression as a side effect. See a list of very commonly prescribed drugs later on in this article for more information.
- Marijuana and alcohol cause depression especially when overused. This is very concerning since both are used extensively to deal with stress.
- Dehydration can mask as depression.
According to research, every exercise class you add to your schedule for the week reduces the risk of developing depression by 50%. The benefit persists regardless of how many classes you take. So you continue to reduce risk of depression by 50% if you take 5 a week and add a 6th!
Substitute any activity for "exercise classes".
Any mix of activities.
Solutions:
- Drink water. The first thing you should do when you feel down is to drink water. Dehydration can mask as depression.
- Move. Stand up. Take a walk. Move your body in some way. It is the single best way to get past the overwhelming self suppression that depression causes. When you are depressed, it is often really hard to do this. We feel an immense pressure to keep ourselves pushed down and immobile. We resist the solutions, often strongly. Because of this we have to use mind over matter and move anyway.
- Breathing exercises are probably more effective for dealing with chronic depression than anything else. But again, unfortunately people who are depressed will resist this advice. My suggestion is that you try in spite of not wanting to. See How to Breathe for some specific techniques.
- Yoga has proven ability to restore mental as well as physical well being. Seated yoga classes are available for those older or less active. Most Far Eastern physical systems have a benefit beyond the obvious physical ones of introducing calm and perspective in the mind. Other excellent choices are Tai Chi and Qi Gong.
- Mindfullness Meditation is a terrific skill to develop that helps in many different kinds of life challenges including depression, anxiety and chronic pain relief.
- Cognitive talk therapy can at the very least illuminate personal issues at the root of depression. The recent development of a technique known as "tapping" or EFT (Emotional Freedom Techniques) is particularly effective working with impenetrable issues like PTSD and chronic depression. Here is a link to this interesting approach: EFT Significantly Lowers Cortisol.
- Improve your diet. An anti-inflammatory diet is recommended. Click here to read how to reduce inflammation.
- The herb St John's Wort may reduce symptoms.
- Help someone else. Get your mind off of your own problems by helping someone in need.
- Get out in nature. Taking a walk is always a wonderful idea.
- Antidepressants can work to reduce your uncomfortable feelings and they have saved many from despair. However, antidepressants often have onerous side effects which should be weighed against relief. I believe techniques without side effects should be tried before prescribing drugs. Unfortunately in the United States antidepressants are prescribed very frequently.
Antidepressants have side effects. The following reflect published research as well as personal experience of myself and others.
Antidepressants or anti-anxiety drugs have been prescribed for me several times during times of intense anxiety. I have never found one that helped me but that is not in and of itself why I am suspicious of these pharmaceuticals. Antidepressant and anti-anxiety drugs are often extremely addictive. So much so that stopping even after very short term use requires staggered withdrawal.
Potential side effects of many antidepressants and anti-anxiety drugs include but are not limited to:
I have never taken any of this drugs for more than a month and in general found them to be very problematic. However, there are others who do not experience these side effects and receive significant relief.
Potential side effects of many antidepressants and anti-anxiety drugs include but are not limited to:
- Decreased sexual feeling.
- Excessive night sweats.
- Difficulty sleeping.
- Drug dependency.
- Weight gain.
- Significant increase in anxiety level.
- Feeling so unstable that multiple falls occur.
- Suicidal thoughts. Antidepressants have been in the news in the past several years as celebrities known to take them have committed suicide including Kate Spade, Robin Williams and Anthony Bourdain.
I have never taken any of this drugs for more than a month and in general found them to be very problematic. However, there are others who do not experience these side effects and receive significant relief.
Depression is also a side effect of many other commonly taken drugs.
Pharmaceuticals that list depression as a side effect:
- Benzodiazepines, drugs to treat anxiety, insomnia, muscle relaxants including Ativan, Halcion, Librium, Valium, Xanax.
- Beta-blockers, used in the treatment of heart problems.
- Calcium-channel blockers used to treat high blood pressure.
- Corticosteroids used to treat inflammation, rheumatoid arthritis, lupus and gout including cortisone and prednisone.
- Opiods including codeine, morphine, Demerol, Percodan, OxyContin.
- Statins including Mevacor, Zocor, Pravachol, Lescol, Lipitor.
- Proton pump inhibitors and H2 blockers for gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD) including over the counter Prilosec and Zantac.
- Anticholinergic drugs used for GI disorders including Bentyl which is widely used to tread irritable bowel syndrome.
- Anticonvulsants.
- Stimulents including Ritalin.
- Parkinson's drugs including Atamet, Sinemet and Stalevo.
- Zovirax used to treat shingles and herpes.
- Interferon alfa used to treat cancer and hepatitis B and C.
- Estrogen treatment for menopause and osteoporosis.
- Norplant birth control.
- Barbiturates phenobarbital and secobarbital.
- Fluoroquinolone antibiotics Cipro and Floxin.
- Baldness drug Propecia (finasteride).
More articles of interest on this and similar subjects. Click on the highlighted links.
10 Types of Medications That Can Make You Feel Depressed: An excellent article from AARP which describes many of the above drugs, why they cause depression with recommendations for safer alternatives. This is a good subject to discuss with your doctor. Do not discontinue medications on your own. Speak with your doctor about side effects you are experiencing or concerned about to determine what is best for you.
Depression and suicide risk are side effects of more than 200 common drugs: An article published by online site Vox on June 15, 2018 (coincidentally the same date that I published this article).
Fear, Anxiety, Depression: The differences between these 3 feelings in symptoms and treatments.
Panic Attacks: A comprehensive examination of what panic attacks are and what to do to keep them from happening.
How to Breathe: Breathing exercises explained.
Inflammation: A guide to what increases/decreases the level of inflammation in the body including a description of the differences between antioxidants and anti-inflammatories and how the former can exacerbate the conditions that bring about some forms of cancer.
Astaire & Rogers: A moving dance sequence from Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers focuses on the subject of depression and attempted suicide. The stunning Let's Face the Music and Dance from 1936's Follow the Fleet is one of the most affecting and beautiful dances I have ever seen. Watch this fabulous 6 minute dance and take your mind to a different time with ironically many similar stresses.
Depression and suicide risk are side effects of more than 200 common drugs: An article published by online site Vox on June 15, 2018 (coincidentally the same date that I published this article).
Fear, Anxiety, Depression: The differences between these 3 feelings in symptoms and treatments.
Panic Attacks: A comprehensive examination of what panic attacks are and what to do to keep them from happening.
How to Breathe: Breathing exercises explained.
Inflammation: A guide to what increases/decreases the level of inflammation in the body including a description of the differences between antioxidants and anti-inflammatories and how the former can exacerbate the conditions that bring about some forms of cancer.
Astaire & Rogers: A moving dance sequence from Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers focuses on the subject of depression and attempted suicide. The stunning Let's Face the Music and Dance from 1936's Follow the Fleet is one of the most affecting and beautiful dances I have ever seen. Watch this fabulous 6 minute dance and take your mind to a different time with ironically many similar stresses.
Published September 13, 2019