Your own anti-depressant response
Part 2
Homeopathy: ‘first, do no harm' in practice
In our book Going Mad?,
published in 2001 by Gill and McMillan, we covered the role of
homeopathy extensively, in all forms of mental distress. We have found
that in depression some of the remedies can have the most profound
effects, at the very deepest of levels.
In our experience, Ignatia facilitates the healing of the broken heart, Stramonium in some cases of sexual abuse and physical violence, and Aconite where fear of death is paramount. For the purposes of this chapter we discussed the homeopathic treatment of depression with Declan Hammond,
a director and co-founder of the Irish School of Homoeopathy in Dublin.
His two cases below illustrate the effect the remedies Arsenicum Album and Aurum Metallicum can have on depression. He has also contributed to chapter 12, recommending remedies which are relevant to the suicidal state.
The
homeopathic approach recognises that all symptoms of ill health,
whether physical, emotional, mental or spiritual, are merely
expressions of an underlying cause — an imbalance in the patient's
energy. We all have an in-built mechanism for healing, which when
blocked or imbalanced gives rise to what we call disease. This
imbalance can be triggered by many common factors — genetic,
upbringing, social status, trauma etc., but our reaction to these is
uniquely personal. No two individuals will suffer from depression in
exactly the same way, nor present with exactly the same symptoms.
To a homeopath, these symptoms are the mechanisms a patient has
developed for survival and need to be handled with great care.
Suppression of these mechanisms chemically or behaviourally can be
extremely damaging and leave a patient at great risk of developing more
serious symptoms and ultimately prolonging their suffering.
Rather
than controlling or indeed suppressing these symptoms with powerful,
mind-altering drugs, the homeopath will prescribe safe, natural
remedies. These are individually selected and dispensed in minute
doses, to stimulate the patient's energies and thereby rectify the
underlying imbalance. The homeopathically prescribed remedy stimulates
the energy, then the body/mind wisdom, the inbuilt healing mechanism
takes over and continues the healing process.
By treating the
underlying source of depression in this way, patients experience a
return to health in a gentle gradual manner, without the potential
complications or dangers of conventional medication. Emerging from
their healing journey energetically stronger and more resilient, they
will be more robust on all levels and better able to manage oncoming
life setbacks.
Case 1: Anna,
a single woman in her late 60s, presented for treatment with a
diagnosis of depression and anxiety. She was suffering from chronic
insomnia; terrifying panic attacks; intense restlessness; a compulsive
need for order and cleanliness; constant diarrhoea with abdominal
cramps; trembling with weakness in her limbs and heart palpitations.
She was taking five different prescribed medications to treat anxiety,
depression, irritable bowel syndrome, blood pressure and insomnia and
had been drinking up to a half bottle of whiskey every night to get to
sleep.
She is retired from
professional life and had been the sole carer of her aged mother, a
long-time sufferer of Alzheimer's. While under Anna's care, her mother
had a serious fall, was taken into hospital and will remain there for
the foreseeable future. Anna had a mini-breakdown at that time and all
her symptoms started soon after.
Anna was treated homoeopathically with the remedy Arsenicum album,
a remedy often required by people experiencing intense anxiety, arising
from a deep sense of insecurity and inability to adapt to life's
changing circumstances.
The
treatment lasted six months, at the end of which Anna had come off all
her conventional medication. Her blood pressure and bowel function were
normal; she slept ‘like a baby', was free of panic attacks, and only
drank socially. Most important for her was a newfound zest for life.
Instead of feeling depressed about her own and her mother's
circumstances, she now sees her life in terms of opportunity and is
excited about what the future holds for her.
Case 2: Barry,
56, was CEO of a large publishing company. He described himself as ‘a
born leader' and was at the top of his profession for the last decade.
Despite all the evident signs of success (top of the range car,
expensive clothes and exclusive address), he was deeply depressed and
suicidal. His life was not worth living and the only thing that had
kept him from suicide was the deep sense of responsibility he felt for
the family he would leave behind.
He
worked from an early age, had always been driven to succeed in his
career, to work hard, to achieve the highest goals. But having
achieving all that he had striven for, he found it meaningless.
Suffering from regular angina attacks, with elevated cholesterol levels
and dangerously high blood pressure, Barry despaired of ever getting
well and felt that a heart attack was imminent. He had not told his
family or friends about his condition. This was his responsibility
alone. The fact that he was so ill had proven to him that he was really
a failure in his life. He was responsible for taking care of his family
and employees, was consumed with worry and guilt about what would
happen to them when he was gone and constantly berated himself for not
having been strong enough to shoulder it all.
Barry's homeopathic treatment was daily doses of the remedy Aurum metallicum,
metallic gold, renowned for its ability to bring people out of deep,
hopeless, often suicidal depression and a treatment for a wide range of
serious heart disorders. Patients needing this remedy often experience
life as an unbearable burden that they alone must carry.
During
his treatment, Barry recognised that his depression stemmed back to the
death of his mother while he was in his teens. Instead of grieving, he
had thrown himself into his work and buried all the pain of her loss.
Over the year he was treated homoeopathically, he went through an
intense period of grief and shared this with his wife and close
friends. When he came through this he decided to take early retirement
from his job. Much to his amazement his family were delighted at this.
An incredible weight had lifted from Barry's shoulders and he felt that
his life had just begun. To his cardiologist's amazement, Barry's heart
and circulation symptoms had disappeared and his medication was
discontinued.
A
first consultation with a professional homeopath will last about an
hour. During this time a detailed case taking will include details of
all current body/mind symptoms, as well as general questions about the
patient's personality, temperament, dreams, personal and family medical
histories. Lifestyle, diet, stress levels and causative factors will
also be touched upon.
Typically
one remedy will be chosen to cover all of the above and patients will
be seen at regular intervals to monitor treatment and results.
Frequency of consultations and length of treatment will vary according
to individual needs and circumstances. The results of homeopathic
treatment are surprisingly rapid and can also be very profound. A
patient can expect to experience not only an amelioration of presenting
symptoms and a return to health but also greatly increased energy and a
heightened sense of life purpose.
Acupuncture: energy of the East
Not long after he returned from a residency in China, Declan Phelan,
who focused his practice on the area of psychological medicine, brought
us up to date on the uses of acupuncture in the area of depression.
Acupuncture operates on the principle that if a state of imbalance has
arisen within the body's flow of energy, the ‘chi', which is
disseminated throughout via twelve meridians or channels, it will be
blocked or weakened. Since this affects all the levels of our being —
mind, body and spirit — the imbalance is widespread. The way is opened
for physical disease to gain a foothold once the body's immune
resistance is thrown off, and mental and emotional turbulence is the
form of expression in other cases of imbalance, with depression,
anxiety, irritability, mood swings, insomnia, mental confusion, memory
deficits and concentration difficulties.
These
energetic highways can be stimulated by very fine acupuncture needles
at predetermined points in ways which have beneficial effects on
depression and anxiety:
- by
blocking the regions of the emotional brain that are responsible for
the experience of pain and anxiety, lessening such feelings.
- by stimulating the secretion of endorphins, the feel-good substances which have actions like morphine or heroin.
- by
balancing the two branches of the autonomic nervous system, increasing
the para-sympathetic side which is the physiological brake and
decreasing the activity of the sympathetic side, the accelerator.
Energetic
stagnation can be caused by injury, trauma, lifestyle, drugs, alcohol,
stress, shock, fear, loss, alienation, bullying, work-related
difficulties, and environmental factors (such as toxic chemicals, heavy
metals, etc.), to name but a few. In traditional Chinese medicine,
opposing forces, such as heaven and earth, darkness and light, hot and
cold, weakness and strength, activity and rest, influence balance. They
are called yin and yang. With our lifestyles today it is sometimes easy
to allow one to dominate the other.
In
western physiology, emotional and mental processes are attributed to
the brain. In Chinese medicine, these processes are interlinked with
the functioning of internal organs. The relation between each organ and
a particular emotion is mutual: the state of the organ will affect the
emotion and the emotion will affect the organ. Thus the heart relates
to joy, the liver to anger or irritation, the lungs to sadness and
worry, the spleen to pensiveness, and the kidneys to fear, shock,
willpower and the will to survive.
These emotions usually only become a cause of imbalance when they are excessive or prolonged.
Fear and its effects on the kidneys: Living
in fear for a prolonged time will cause the kidney energy, the
powerhouse of our being, to become weak and damaged. Fear of financial
problems, of family breakdown, of abandonment can manifest in the form
of lower back pain, corresponding to the physical location of the
kidneys. The kidneys control the knees, ankles and feet, and problems
in these areas are frequently found in those who are afraid of moving
forward in life.
Chronic
bladder problems usually indicate insecurities, and can often be seen
in young children suffering from bedwetting. Controlling worrying or
catastrophic thoughts takes much effort, and can be exhausting. Those
whose kidney energy is stimulated through acupuncture will notice a
reduction in such racing thoughts without having to fight so hard to
achieve it. Insomnia becomes less of a problem as the burden on the
mind to be constantly vigilant lessens.
Joy and happiness and their effects on the heart: Joy
can become a cause of blocked energy when it is excessive, as it is in
those persons who are in a state of continuous mental stimulation or
excitement (however pleasurable). In other words, a life of hard
playing. This leads to excessive stimulation of the heart, which can
injure it. Deficiency of heart-felt joy can also become a cause of
disease, with mental restlessness, depression, anxiety and insomnia.
Since the mind in Chinese medicine has its home in the heart, then
healing the heart will have an overall effect on our mental and
emotional well-being. The most efficient re-balancing therefore for our
heart is love, beginning with loving from within. Acupuncture
stimulation of the relevant meridians can start that process, by
opening the flow of energy in its direction. If it has proven supremely
difficult to override your mind's ‘logical' suggestions to loathe
yourself, then you may persuade it to relinquish its hold if you use
acupuncture to ‘send' the energy there instead.
Anger and its effect on the liver:
Anger, taken in the broad sense, includes other emotional states such
as resentment, repressed anger, irritability, frustration, rage,
indignation, animosity and bitterness. Long-term depression is often
due to resentment or repressed anger. This may show as sadness and
grief but anger is often their travelling companion, since it is part
of the range of emotions we experience when we encounter loss. When a
person cannot allow themselves to feel angry, either because they are
afraid of it or feel it is inappropriate, it can result in depression
and other symptoms: outbursts, impatience, restlessness, insomnia,
violent dreams, agitation, headaches, blurred vision, and tightness of
the chest. The liver is in charge of the direction of life. If the
liver is healthy a person will be fearless and decisive. In a state of
blockage we may act like a loose cannon ball, not knowing which
direction to take.
Acupuncture can work hand in hand with psychotherapy, counselling, homeopathy, bodywork and other holistic practices.
Yoga: integrated action against depression
Our advice on this discipline came from Ciara Cronin,
who sees beyond the use of yoga for fitness and exercise, and was able
to inform us of its many values in the healing of depression.
Yogic
philosophy interprets states of depression holistically, ‘as a kind of
psychic constipation blocking our energy flow, manifesting as our
inability to be present for the experience of life, and at its root,
signalling a difficulty with being itself.' Patanjali, one of the
fathers of the yoga tradition, describes the four pathological states
that accompany the obstacles to inner awareness — depression, anxiety,
trembling in the limbs and unsteady breath. He believed that in a
variety of practical ways yoga can help someone suffering from
depression to return to their true self; by caring for themselves,
through the physical practice of the yoga postures, through the use of
certain prescribed breathing techniques, and through the healing
practice of relaxation and meditation.
The postures: The physical practice of the postures, or asanas,
is often the first avenue of treatment of depression through yoga. Due
to their mental preoccupation, coupled with not enough physical
exercise, depressed people have become detached from their bodies.
Their energy resides in the upper energy centres and never grounds
through the core and legs. Healthy people by contrast are balanced
energetically, the energy flowing through the entire body.
Yoga
postures, breathing and the use of sound, by the repetition of certain
chants, is a powerful recipe for positively altering the body's
biochemical and hormonal balance, since all affect the body through
energetic means, which bypass the mind. By increasing the amount of
oxygen in the bloodstream, and by causing the master glands of the
brain, the pituitary, pineal and hypothalamus, to release hormones,
alertness and concentration levels are boosted. The stimulation and
relaxation of the endocrine glands of the body, where our hormones are
produced, which occurs during yoga positively affects mood and
thinking, directly altering a person's perception of reality.
The
balance of stimulation and relaxation achieved through yoga practice
stimulates the pituitary gland to release endorphins, while the
peripheral glandular system produces adrenaline and noradrenaline, the
hormones which help us to meet challenges and which stimulate brain
activity. The blood levels of cortisol, the hormone of defeat, drops,
and oxygen consumption increases, reducing the muscle tension and
easing the anxiety which often accompanies depression. Following a
two-hour yoga class the alpha waves (relaxation) and theta waves
(unconscious memory, dreams and emotions) can increase in the brain by
up to 40 per cent, with the stress hormone cortisol significantly
dropping.
Yoga postures for
a depressed person can be tailored to their individual needs depending
on the stage they are in, and a good match arrived at between the
troublesome symptoms and the treatment programme. One-to-one classes
can be arranged initially, where your teacher is tuned in to your
specific needs. Depression can be broadly characterised into two
energetic states: excessive tiredness, lifelessness, apathy, intense
introversion, and inferiority or, by contrast, agitation and anxiety,
with high levels of muscular tension due to unreleased emotion.
A
vigorous programme of postures, focusing on backbends and sun
salutations, will keep the person externally focused, while avoiding
forward bends and postures that promote too much introspection. At
other stages, once some energy has returned to the system, and they are
not so tormented by their thoughts, there may be benefits to holding
the introspective postures to explore, experience and clear the
underlying feelings and perhaps gain insight into the cause of their
depressed state. Inverted postures are particularly useful as they
alter the flow of blood, lymphatic drainage and cranial sacral fluid.
This increases the availability of oxygen and glucose in the brain
required for the creation of the feel-good neurotransmitters of
norepinephrine, dopamine and serotonin.
Other
specific variations can be added, such as keeping the eyes open in
those whose habit is to dwell in their destructive inner world too
much, or postures encouraging abdominal deep breathing if they are
shallow breathers, which many depressed people are. There are specific
postures which invigorate and give a feeling of hope by opening the
chest, such as backbends, if closure of the heart energy centre is a
factor. Others promote relaxation rather than stimulation if anxiety is
more of a feature, such as seated forward bends which can be helpful in
calming an agitated mind. Standing poses help ground energy, elevate
mood and build confidence.
Practicing
the postures in different sequences can make a difference in particular
forms of depression. Chronic depression sufferers benefit from
beginning their practice with quiet chest opening postures and
progressing to more active, energising poses. Someone suffering from an
anxiety-based depression may start with a series of active poses to
release excess energy, then follow them with some calming, restorative
poses.
The
only-way-out-is-through philosophy espoused by some schools of yoga
sees the yoga mat as an appropriate place to explore the darker
feelings that characterise depression. Students are encouraged to move
slowly, deliberately holding postures while staying present to the
emotions that may arise, and by doing so anchoring the mind in bodily
sensation. With the body no longer sidelined, a deep relearning
happens, and a profound level of healing can occur. All the practices
in yoga are simply tools to strip away the layers of armouring that
keep us feeling separate from ourselves and others. In this way, a
witness consciousness is cultivated so a deeper acceptance of reality
can take place.
Breathing practices: Breath
is often described in yogic tradition as the bridge between the body
and mind. These practices can have a powerful effect on a depressed
person — elevating mood and consciousness by directly increasing the
flow of prana, or life force, through the entire system. By
consciously controlling the breath, the amount of prana in the body may
be channelled, either energising or calming the system, depending on
the practice. The internal state of a person can be revealed by close
observation of their breath. Upper-chest breathing of shallow, short
breaths into the tops of the lungs characterises people who are out of
their body and in their head. This type of breathing can become a
vicious cycle, further locking tension into the body rather than
allowing it to release. Many depressed patients actually immobilise
their diaphragm, unconsciously trying to control powerful feelings of
fear, resentment or sexuality.
Simply
teaching a depressed person how to breath evenly and deeply can have a
profound effect on their mental state. Deep diaphragmmatic breathing
fully exposes the blood in the capillaries to air, and circulates the
oxygenated blood to the lower parts of the lungs. Deeper breathing
brings a more grounded feeling of being in touch with the body and its
feelings. With the breath more grounded in the body and the diaphragm
relaxed, the body often begins to allow repressed feelings to emerge.
Feelings of anger, fear, resentment, grief may surface and need to be
held, integrated and processed either on the yoga mat or with a
properly trained psychotherapist.
Specific
pranayama techniques may also be taught to depressed students. As
depression is seen as a state of imbalance, many yoga teachers
recommend alternate-nostril breathing, to balance the right and left
hemispheres of the brain and increase the flow of oxygen to the brain.
Right-nostril breathing has a stimulating effect, good for sluggishness
and lethargy, while left-nostril breathing has a calming effect on
restlessness and anxiety.
Meditation practices: A
valuable aspect to the practice of yoga in its fullest form will take
in practices to still the mind. Mindfulness meditation is a way of
cultivating awareness by slowing and quieting the active mind. By
meditating on the experience of the breath, the sensations or feelings
in the body, and by simply passively watching thoughts pass through the
mind without judging or engaging with them, witness consciousness is
cultivated. From this position a person may become aware of patterns of
behaviour or thought. Simply observing the never-ending traffic flowing
past our inner screen can teach us how fleeting each experience in life
is, whether it's internal or external, and how irrelevant many of our
thoughts are. Acceptance of their transient nature can help us to
accept painful experiences, knowing they cannot be prevented and will
soon end, while not becoming over-identified with them.
Meditation
practices can also be varied as the predominant symptom requires.
Depression impairs our ability to focus, and the practice of
one-pointed awareness, an open-eyed concentration on an object can be
taught, can help centre and calm the mind, giving it a break from
having the problem as centre stage. Sufferers of post-traumatic stress
syndrome, who may experience overwhelming images and flashbacks of
abuse that they may not be ready to integrate, may benefit from the
less introspective practices to cultivate meditative states, such as
the postures or the use of sound in chanting. These stimulate the
occipital cortex of the brain while deactivating the prefrontal cortex,
thereby tempering distressing images.
Regular practice: A
crucial prerequisite for successful treatment of depression through
yoga is by having a regular practice, which will give more profound
results. It can be difficult to motivate a depressed person to do
anything, to avoid increasing their sense of failure if they fail to
live up to the demands of a daily practice. But if through the gentle
guidance of an understanding teacher they can feel safe and empowered,
and it is hoped that the results incrementally grow and the tangible
benefits will promote the desire to engage more and more with their
yoga practice.
Bodywork: Rolfing
If
depression is allowed to persist over extended periods of time, with
energy levels already low, and therefore little movement occurring,
this powerful emotion becomes woven into the bodily structure as a
self-protective holding pattern which consumes energy. Wilhelm Reich,
the radical German psychoanalyst, referrred to this as character
armour. Since energy is already in short supply, the body starts to
shut down and the connection to the world dims. Deeper still, it
becomes incorporated even into cellular life, affecting its basic
functions such as immunity, reducing the killer-cell (T-cell) response
by up to 50 per cent. Other systems are affected, too, such as the
cardiovascular, endocrine, and locomotor.
With
this awareness in mind we have worked over the years with a variety of
body-workers from different disciplines. Rolfing has been the one which
we have found to be the most effective. We discussed the value of this
technique in depression with Gillian Duffin, a Rolfing therapist.
Whenever
negative emotions are expressed, they are accompanied by a simultaneous
shortening of flexor muscles. A chronically flexed body has to expend a
lot of energy just to hold itself up, continuously adding energy to
that body to keep it going, leading to chronic fatigue, a common
feature of depression. Like a crooked building that puts stress
unevenly throughout the structure, poor alignment increases stress in
all body parts, especially through the joints. The breath also suffers
and the delivery of our life-force to the being is diminished. Feelings
of physical imbalance may not be perceivable to most of us: we do not
connect our backache to the underlying support that the feet and legs
give to the back.
Just as
laughter releases tension and opens up the body, short- or long-term
feelings of depression are visible as a closing in or down of the body
— the slumped shoulders, head down-turned, with the vision of our
horizon lowered. Where the depressed look with their vision is where
they go in their feelings … down. The body and mind can therefore be
looked at as different expressions of the same thing, two sides of the
same coin, and inseparable. A person's performance is enhanced when
their physical structure improves, changing towards a more
orderly and energy-efficient arrangement of the whole body. As the body
begins to feel more balanced and secure, this is reflected in the
individual's personality and sense of well-being.
To realign
the body, Ida Rolf designed the ten-session process which she termed
structural integration. It involves the application of specific
pressure to the connective tissue and the muscles held within its web,
releasing the energetic holding patterns.
Psychotherapy and emotional expression
Depression
involves a relationship between the rational and the emotional minds.
The painful emotions felt in depression are registered in the emotional
mind, but are not always relayed and made conscious in the rational
mind, making way for interpretation and the possibility of integration.
We therefore often remain unaware, sometimes for life, of what the
initial impact was — neglect, abandonment, physical violence, sexual
abuse — but fully aware of its effect, depression and other symptoms of
distress. You know you feel depressed, you just don't know why.
Talking
out one's distressing emotions with someone, psychotherapist or not, is
critical to finally putting your emotions in word-form, the language
which your rational mind understands. Finally being able to put words
on feelings which have been crippling your life, realising what the
full story is, and being able now to make sense of what has been going
on, is a liberation. It can begin the process of releasing the energy
of deep-seated depressing emotions which have held you hostage
sometimes for years. The chapter on psychotherapy elaborates how that process works.
The
track record of organisations such as Recovery, Grow, Alcoholics
Anonymous and Narcotics Anonymous is beyond dispute. They are
accessible, user-friendly, and most importantly accepting and
supportive. Fellow travellers, they understand your story well, and you
will not feel alone for long.
The journey to the self: your Yellow Brick Road
The modern fable of The Wizard of Oz centres
on the human struggle for empowerment and personal liberation. Dorothy,
the orphan, comes to know her innate courage and power through a series
of challenges strewn in her path, and with the help of various
fellow-travellers. Swept up by a cyclone on a farm in Kansas, she loses
consciousness, and finds herself alone, lost and frightened in a
strange far-away land called Oz. She is told by the inhabitants that
the Wizard will magically solve all her woes and send her back home to
Kansas.
She sets out on the
hero's journey to find this guru, only to discover after many trials
and tribulations, that he is in fact an illusion. On the point of
despair, she has an important realisation, which comes in the form of
the good witch of the north. She is told that she had the power to go
home all along, but didn't know it. All she had to do is to click the
heels of her ruby slippers and chant the mantra ‘there's no place like
home, there's no place like home'. Within seconds Dorothy wakes up in
her bed, with the same foster parents with whom she had been so
disenchanted in the beginning of the story, only now she embraces them
whole-heartedly.
The
parallels with the journey through depression are obvious. Alone and
rudderless, the depression experience distances you from all sense of
power. In such a frightened and vulnerable state you look to others for
a solution, placing the locus of control outside you, in experts of
various forms, seeking their magic. The journey to discovering that
they have none is a huge learning curve, painful and rocky. The final
realisation can come only from your inner voice, but only if you're
listening. At that moment it can be both a shock and a joy to find that
you had the power within you all along. Once you know that, you're in
the home stretch. To your immense relief, home — your entire being,
mind, body and spirit — is a thoroughly acceptable place which you can
happily live in.
Not unlike
Dorothy, the adult character in Mary Oliver's poem ‘The Journey'
finally became aware that they were drowning in their lives, that
responsibility for change rested with them alone, and so they decided
‘one day' to end the suffering, by empowering themselves to change.
With many obstacles on the path, they knew it was not going to be easy.
However, the very act of initiating some avenue of movement connected
them to their own inner voice which gave them the confidence to keep
going in the direction of liberation and healing.
Neither
had to leave home, but simply to cease listening to the advice of
others, and instead take their cue from their own intuition, and sense
of spirit.
The Journey
One day you finally knew
what you had to do, and began,
though the voices around you
kept shouting
their bad advice —
though the whole house
began to tremble
and you felt the old tug
at your ankles.
‘Mend my life!'
each voice cried.
But you didn't stop.
You knew what you had to do,
though the wind pried
with its stiff fingers
at the very foundations,
though their melancholy
was terrible.
It was already late
enough, and a wild night,
and the road full of fallen
branches and stones.
But little by little,
as you left their voices behind,
the stars began to burn
through the sheets of clouds,
and there was a new voice
which you slowly
recognised as your own,
that kept you company
as you strode deeper and deeper
into the world,
determined to do
the only thing you could do —
determined to save
the only life you could save.
