Disease

Depression is the most prevalent disease of our time. Under the guise of informing the public, both the medical profession and the media are constantly “warning” us of the dangers and probabilities of the disease most likely to terminate us. News about a lack of sufficient influenza vaccine is enough to get our collective blood pressure soaring.

Bad news is chronic and it affects us all. Do I have a magic pill that will make all the bad go away? No. But, there are ways to help us stay out of depression.

Live One Day At a Time

The Bible admonishes us to live each day to the fullest as there’s enough evil in one day to handle! Don’t look back on past hurts, nor fret about tomorrow. Live today as if it is the only day you have. Make each day so full of the present that yesterday and its problems are completely shut out and tomorrow is unattainable! Choose to focus all your thoughts and energy on what is at hand, and do everything to the best of your ability.

Watch Your Tongue!

The Law of Permanence

Suicide is always a permanent solution to a temporary problem. Always. Even if it doesn’t look or feel temporary, it is. Also, you don’t get to come back. You don’t get to see how many people attend your funeral. It’s permanent.

The Law of Hope

There is always hope, if you are alive. You just have to look for it.

The Law of Seriousness

Always, always take any threat, mention, or even veiled comment about suicide very seriously. Even if you really think it’s just drama or manipulation. Why? Because if you are wrong, the margin for error is zero.

The Law of Warning Signs

Here’s just a partial list of warning signs that someone is contemplating suicide:

threats or talk of suicide or wishing to be dead
changes in mood, energy, enthusiasm
appearance of depression, moodiness, withdrawal
increasing isolation
cutting or otherwise injuring themselves
abusing drugs/alcohol
giving away possessions
saying goodbye to friends and family
recent loss or disappointment (job loss, relationship breakup, etc.)
family history of suicide
recent suicides of friends, family, or role models/heroes/idols
previous suicide attempts

The Law of Romeo & Juliet

Depression can have many, many faces. If you are not aware of your feelings and emotions on a daily basis then it can creep up on you and cause misery in your life when you least expect it.

We get sad when we fail in our exams, when we’re rejected by the person we love, or when someone very close to us passes away. Depression, however, could be more fatal than just plain sadness. It could cause life-long consequences that could ruin your self-esteem, your health, and your well-being.

Here are some excellent tips for conquering depression and to help you get the most enjoyment out of your daily activities.

1. Be Certain of Your Future Goals

If you have no goals then the future will seem uncertain. This will create anxiety and just add to the problem. Having goals gives you something to look forward to in life. They drive us on and create a desire for life. Keep your focus on your goals.

2. Keep a Journal.

The Law of Blue

Just sort of feeling blue, kinda out of it, gets confused with being depressed. We all get the blues from time to time, and they pass.

The Law of Sad

Feeling sad, while not pleasant, makes sense in the context of the situation.

The Law of Clinical

True clinical depression is not just feeling blue or sad. It’s both a biological and psychological struggle that’s often best treated with a combination of medication and counseling.

The Law of Boot Straps

When you are depressed, some well-meaning people will tell you to just "pull yourself up by your own bootstraps." The problem is when you are clinically depressed, you don’t have bootstraps.

The Law of Music, Part 1

Music can either lift you up or keep you down. Listening to certain kinds of music while depressed is like pouring gasoline on a fire and then wondering why it gets worse.

The Law of Music, Part 2

Make your own list of uplifting, positive, energizing music.

The Law of Coping

You need to have a variety of tools in your tool bag to effectively cope with depression. Here’s a few suggested tools:

Suresh was a worried person when he came to me . "Sir what if I don’t get placement ? I feel that I will fail in the coming exam. I don’t know how my family will face this!" It seemed to me he was imagining all problems and getting very much worried!! This is the case of many of us; we keep worrying about events that have only remote possibility to happen. Once a friend of mine put on footwear and later knew that a dog may have bitten it the day before. The moment he knew it he began to worry; what if my leg had an unseen wound and the dog was a mad dog? Added to this was the doubt what will happen if he takes a vaccination and there is a reaction to it? Finally he had to consult many doctors to convince that he was worrying for nothing!! In this short article I try to give five methods to avoid unnecessary worries.

1. Be in the present:

When a thought train begins or when you find that a thought train carries you away, intentionally come back to the present and look at a tree or beautiful or interesting scene in the present and think about it.

On September 1st, the efficacy and safety of vagus nerve stimulation for depresssion was published in the prestigious peer reviewed journal of Biological Psychiatry.

The data from the pivotal clinical trial of vagus nerve stimulation and depression was been on published September 1st, in the prestigious peer-reviewed journal of Biological Psychiatry. There were three articles published in Biological Psychiatry about VNS Therapy and depression. The articles confirm the association of VNS Therapy with significant antidepressant benefits that are sustained and/or growing over one year for patients with chronic or recurrent treatment-resistant depression. Secondly, the long-term safety of the procedure was confirmed.

“The response and remission and sustained long-term benefits realized by the patients treated with adjunctive VNS Therapy is remarkable, given that participants in the trials were some of the most treatment-resistant, depressed patients ever studied, with at least half having been hospitalized for the disease at least once,” commented Dr. A. John Rush, MD, Professor and Vice Chairman for Research, Department of Psychiatry, Betty Jo Hay Chair in Mental Health, Rosewood Corporation Chair in Biomedical Science, University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, TX. “The VNS studies presented in these publications provide substantial evidence of a growing benefit of VNS Therapy over time when other treatments have not worked or have stopped working. This is particularly encouraging given the nature of treatment-resistant depression, a devastating and difficult to treat condition.”

Being lonely is a normal part of our everyday lives… We get sad when we fail in our exams, when we’re rejected by the person we love, or when someone very close to us passes away.

Depression, however, could be more fatal than just plain loneliness and sadness, it could render life-long consequences that could ruin your self-esteem, health and well-being.

Here are some superb tips to conquer the melancholy mood and get the most bliss out of your daily activities.

(1) Get Enough Light and Sunshine

Lack of exposure to sunlight is responsible for the secretion of the hormone melatonin, which could trigger a dispirited mood and a lethargic condition.

Melatonin is only produced in the dark… It lowers the overall body temperature and makes you feel sluggish, if you are always cooped up in your room (with the curtains closed), it would be difficult to restrain yourself from staying in bed.

This is the reason why many people are suffering from depression much more often in winter than in the other seasons… It’s because the nights are longer.

The September 1, 2005 issue of Biological Psychiatry confirmed the efficacy and safety of vagus nerve stimulation for chronic or recurrent treatment-resistant depression. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration issued its final approval of vagus nerve stimulation as a treatment for depression.

The data from the pivotal clinical trial of vagus nerve stimulation and depression was been on published September 1st, in the prestigious peer-reviewed journal of Biological Psychiatry. There were three articles published in Biological Psychiatryabout VNS Therapy and depression. The articles confirm the association of VNS Therapy with significant antidepressant benefits that are sustained and/or growing over one year for patients with chronic or recurrent treatment-resistant depression. Secondly, the long-term safety of the procedure was confirmed.

“The response and remission and sustained long-term benefits realized by the patients treated with adjunctive VNS Therapy is remarkable, given that participants in the trials were some of the most treatment-resistant, depressed patients ever studied, with at least half having been hospitalized for the disease at least once,” commented Dr. A. John Rush, MD, Professor and Vice Chairman for Research, Department of Psychiatry, Betty Jo Hay Chair in Mental Health, Rosewood Corporation Chair in Biomedical Science, University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, TX. “The VNS studies presented in these publications provide substantial evidence of a growing benefit of VNS Therapy over time when other treatments have not worked or have stopped working. This is particularly encouraging given the nature of treatment-resistant depression, a devastating and difficult to treat condition.”

Psychological well-being is something that we all have a right to. However, for a variety of reasons to do with upbringing, life experiences, physiology, environment and so on? we often find ourselves with a mind-state other than what we desire. Depression, anxiety, and stress seem to be the major obstacles to just feeling good ? judging by the number of visits to doctors for help with these problems.

It doesn’t really matter what the label is for your particular problem, if you follow the seven steps diligently, there will be an improvement in your general feeling of well being.

The Seven Steps are:

1. Acceptance
2. Releasing guilt
3. Expressing Appreciation
4. Physical exercise
5. Creative activity
6. Right livelihood
7. Meditation

They need to be taken in sequence. Total mastery is not required, but the time to move on is when you feel, or get a sense, that some movement has taken place within your mind. Psychological shifts are felt with a lightness, better sleep, smiling, singing, noticing beauty around you, wanting to do something different, spring cleaning?

Acceptance:

Depression is a mental state marked by melancholy, pessimism or dejection. Depression can also be defined as a psychotic condition characterized by stuporous withdrawal from reality and intense guilt feelings.

Depression is characterized by the following:

Loss of confidence in oneself

Undue pessimism

A feeling of constant helplessness

Uncalled for or unexplainable mood changes-i.e an abrupt switch from happiness when nothing has happened to warrant it.

Rudeness or aggression that is without apparent cause or which is occasioned by some trivial incident.

An unreasonable demand for perfectionism, not only in oneself but also in one’s loved ones, friends, business associates and even from things or situation.

Habitual underachievement especially if one is adequately equipped to do the work one is called upon to perform.

The inability to accept responsibility, often manifested by a recurrent loss of employment or unemployment.

Phobias

Unreasonable feelings of persecution

Self destructive acts

Sexual deviation

Sudden and dramatic change in sleeping habits

Physical ailments and complaints for which there are no organic causes.