Cure Depression Naturally: A 10-Step Program To Understand & Overcome Any Form Of Depression

Contents

What Is Depression? 1

Symptoms And Diagnosis 4

Physical Symptoms 8

Getting An Accurate Diagnosis 9

What Causes Depression 13

Assumption 1: The Body’s Chemicals And Hormones 15

Assumption 2: Genetics 16

Assumption 3: Outside Circumstances 18

Other Causes Of Depression 21

The Main Cause For Depression 22

Different Forms Of Depression 25

Postpartum Depression 26

Major Depressive Disorder 32

Atypical Depression 32

Psychotic Depression 33

Dysthymia 34

Manic Depression 35

Other Types Of Depression 36

How Depression Affects You & Those Around You 37

Loss Of Interest 38

Constant Sadness 41

Physical Manifestations 43

Effects At The Office 45

Other’s Emotions 46

Understanding These Emotions And Effects 49

Dealing With Guilt 51

Pinpointing Your Guilt 52

Dealing With Guilt 53

Other Ways To Deal With Guilt 54

Dealing With A Lack Of Self-Esteem 57

Recognize Your Own Thoughts 57

Dealing With It 58

Judging By Your Own Standards 60

Dealing With All Or Nothing Thinking 63

Does This Affect You 64

How To Get Past It 65

What To Do 67

Dealing With Hopeless Thinking 69

Does This Affect You 70

How To Get Past It 70

What To Do 72

Ask For Help 73

Dealing With Persistent Sadness 75

Does This Affect You 76

How To Get Past It 77

What To Do 78

Dealing With A Lack Of Interest 81

Learning New Thinking For New Behavior 87

Don’t Wait For Motivation 90

Negative Emotions 92

Lifestyle & Dietary Changes 97

The Antidepressant Lifestyle 100

Medications Explained In Plain English 130

Monoamine Oxidase Inhibitors (Maois) 132

Tricyclic Antidepressants (Tcas) 134

Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitors (Ssris) 135

Coping With Side Effects 137

10-Step Checklistto Overcoming Your Depression 139

1. Recognize That It’s An Illness. 139

2. Become Responsible About Addressing It And Treating It. 140

3. Recognize Your Own Particular Symptoms And Problems. 141

4. Make A Plan. 142

5. Go Through The Motions. 143

6. Be Patient. 144

7. Make A Lifetime Commitment. 145

8. Ask For Help. 146

9. Take Care Of Yourself In All Ways. 147

10. Don’t Give Up. 148

Chapter 1:

What Is Depression?

Depression has two very different meanings—depending on the context—and people mix them up all the time.

In casual, everyday conversation, depression serves as a good synonym for sadness. In this sense, it’s simply a mood state we all experience from time to time, typically after we’ve brushed up against one of life’s inevitable setbacks or disappointments. For example, I’ve heard people say they were depressed after watching their favorite team lose a big game, or even after ripping a hole in a good pair of blue jeans. Such depression doesn’t last for long, and it rarely affects our ability to function.

In a clinical context, however, the word has a radically different meaning. It refers to a profoundly debilitating form of mental illness. (The precise diagnostic label is major depressive disorder, but most clinicians simply call it depression for short.) It’s a syndrome that deprives people of their energy, sleep, concentration, joy, confidence, memory, sex drive—their ability to love and work and play. It can even rob them of their will to live. Over time, depression damages the brain and wreaks havoc on the body. It’s a treacherous illness—a shudder-inducing foe that no one in their right mind would ever take lightly, certainly not if they understood the disorder’s capacity to destroy life.

Unfortunately, despite an encouraging increase in public awareness in recent years, confusion about depression abounds. In short, people still confuse the two vastly different meanings of the word. That’s why so many believe the disorder is no big deal, that those cut down by the illness are just making mountains out of molehills. As one of my unenlightened students put it in class a few years ago, I’ve always assumed these people are just a bunch of slackers—whiners who simply need to suck it up and snap out of it.

Over the years, I’ve found that such harsh, critical judgments usually stem from ignorance. Fortunately, once people grasp the true nature of depression, they usually develop a strong sense of compassion for those who fall under the disorder’s tragic sway. The same basic principle also applies to one’s own experience of depression: Knowledge can serve as a powerful defense against the destructive impulse of self-blame.

So, although this is a book about strategies for treating depression, I think it’s useful to pause first to reflect on what the disorder is all about, and to address the most important questions people commonly raise. How is depression diagnosed? What are its telltale symptoms? What causes people to get depressed? Doesn’t stress play a big role? What about genetics? And is depression really just a matter of chemical imbalance? It is to these questions that we now turn.

SYMPTOMS AND DIAGNOSIS

Loss of interest.

Probably the most common symptom and the one that affects a patient of clinical depression the most is their loss of interest in everyday activities, friends, family, hobbies, and things they even once used to enjoy. This loss of interest is usually manifest in the following ways:

It affects all aspects of a person’s life; this makes it different than just general burnout that one might experience from being in a stressful career for a long time, or when someone simply gets tired of a hobby, relationship, and so on.

It affects things that a person typically would enjoy or has enjoyed in the past, including hobbies, religious pursuits, and even things such as exercise or sexual activity.

It affects one’s relationships even with those they are closest to; they have a hard time working up interest in their children’s activities, their family members, and so on.

Mood swings.

Everyone gets moody from time to time and may experience different moods depending on where they are and what they are doing; it’s common for many to feel a bit depressed on Sunday night as they realize that Monday is just around the corner, and this mood lightens sometime around Thursday night as the weekend gets closer. But for those who have clinical depression, mood swings are a persistent and chronic part of their everyday experience and rarely has anything to do with external circumstances. They may have a hard time getting out of bed one day and then feel a sudden burst of energy the next. Or the most trivial thing can trigger their anger or a sudden outburst, such as an innocent question from a child or a preempted television program.

Persistent