Lifestyle Choices

Many drugs have a depressant effect on the mind and body. Others have a stimulant effect, lack of which makes you feel depressed when you stop taking the drug.

Alcohol

Although alcohol relaxes the muscles, reduces anxiety and often removes social inhibitions, it can be a stimulant or a depressant—it tends to accentuate an existing mood. Sad people often become morose, especially when drinking alone. Whatever your mood at the time of drinking, afterwards, during the hangover, you may have a headache, feel lethargic and in low spirits.

Both alcoholism and depression are often mechanisms for avoiding feelings. Some genetic studies suggest that depression and alcoholism tend to go together in families, but that more men become alcoholic while more women become depressed. Depressives and alcoholics are the most likely to attempt or commit suicide. People who can cope while drinking regularly may get depressed when they stop drinking. (more…)

Talking to a third party — a friend, a relative, a priest—canprovide both a relief of tension and a new perspective; speaking your thoughts often clarifies them. It can be a relief to share your problem with another person who is warm and understanding. Even if he or she doesn’t understand, perhaps the dialogue makes you angry enough to break a few depressive cobwebs, or a completely erroneous suggestion may set you thinking on a different course. The very act of talking about troubles sometimes provides an answer as well as a relief of tension. In other words, the more important aspect of talking to somebody is what you give out and not what you get back. You are breaking through the depressive shut-down of communication. (more…)

The brain consists of about ten thousand million neurones, ornerve cells, each cell having the capacity to conduct a tinyelectric charge to others, via seven or eight thousand interconnections. The tail of each cell spreads into thousands offibres, each ending with a swelling called a terminal button.The electric charge passes from the head of the cell to the tail,and ends in the thousands of terminal buttons. Between theterminal buttons of one cell and the head of the next cell aremicroscopic gaps called synapses. The electric current can not jump the synapse, but instead causes a change in the chemicals within the synapse, this change then causing a current to start in the head of the next cell. These chemicals are called neurotransmitters because they effectively transmit electrical charge from one neurone to the next. A few neurotransmitters have been isolated. They are divided into two groups, called the monoamines and the catecholamines. (more…)

Also known as “minor tranquillizers”, anti-anxiety drugs should not generally be used for depression. The exception is to provide a temporary relief from overriding anxiety accompanying depression. Unfortunately, they are enormously over-prescribed in Europe and America and often wrongly prescribed for depression. Below are examples of such drugs.

Since these drugs can cause depression and are addictive, it is best to stop taking them as soon as you can, after due consultation with your doctor. If you are anxious as well as depressed, you can always take an anti-depressant that also has a sedative action (see opposite). When coming off the drug, it is best to stop it gradually over a period of about two weeks, as there is likely to be a rebound effect. You may prefer to wait until a period of greater security in your life and you may need the support of your doctor or friends.

If you are bored or unhappy at work, or the pressure feels too great, consider changing jobs. You do not have to do the job that you are doing. You can speak to your boss or supervisor about changing departments at the place where you work, or you can leave altogether. This may be difficult when you are depressed, and there may be considerable pressure on you to maintain a steady income. However, even if you decide not to change jobs, the knowledge that you can will take some of the pressure off. The thought that this is your lot, that your fate is to work like this till retirement, is a thought of your own making. If you don’t want to change jobs, consider: (more…)

There are hundreds of different therapies for depression, and what you decide is right for you depends as much on who you are and your own preferences as it does on how bad your depression is or what caused it. Just as there are many causes, there are also many types of treatment which are not necessarily contradictory. One sort of cause does not mean that a certain treatment is necessarily required. For instance, a depression may have been precipitated by a marital separation, but if it is severe enough to cause strong physical symptoms, initially it may be best treated physically.

On looking through the possible causes charts, you may have picked out some causes that perhaps seem relevant to you and some that really strike a chord. Perhaps you find that your early family situation provided you with very little emotional support and a poor opinion of yourself— it is possible to explore these avenues with in-depth psychotherapy , which may be useful: but you may, on the other hand, decide that this is not right for you and that you would prefer to focus more on changing your lifestyle and environment. A purist may say, “But then you are not really getting down to the nitty-gritty, the real cause“. This does not necessarily matter for two reasons: first of all, this “real” cause may be one of many, and it may not be the most important one. Secondly, it is sometimes possible to change your feelings about yourself without analyzing them, as long as you have the strength and determination to make your present environment and experiences of life different and positive. (more…)

The first step in managing stress is to recognize the causes and to be aware of the symptoms.

You need to recognize the situations in your life that are the stressors. Try to identify the things that make you feel “stressed-out.” Everything from minor irritations, such as traffic jams, to major life changes such as births, deaths, or job loss can be stressors. Or a stress overload of just too many demands on your time can make you feel that you are no longer in control. You may feel so overwhelmed that you become depressed.

Make yourself aware of how your body feels when you are under stress. Are the muscles beginning to tighten? Are you gritting your teeth, gripping the steering wheel tightly, drumming your fingers, patting your foot, or hunching your shoulders? Can you feel your heart beating faster, your breathing rate becoming faster and more shallow? Are you perspiring, shaking, or getting a headache? (more…)

If there was a significant life event, or even one that seemed insignificant, that occurred before, at or around the same time as the beginning of your depression, it may be helpful to look at the following questions and suggestions.

• How do you really feel about it? After diagnosing the life event as a possible cause of your depression, go back to the event and ask yourself how you really feel about it. If the answer is “depressed”, do not accept that, but find the feeling before the depression — even if that feeling was only transient. If you can’t find the feeling after reading what you have read in this book so far, make a guess as to what the feeling could be.

Then ask yourself what it is that does not allow you to feel that kind of feeling. For instance, as a mother, you may have felt moments of anger with the children which you quickly shut off and tried to ignore. You may find that you have a belief, even though you may never have thought about it in these terms, that a “good mother” should always think well of her children and should always feel love and gratitude. Or perhaps you find a general injunction that anger is wrong. (more…)

Although physical diseases can cause or mimic depression, they are a comparatively rare cause. Most of the specific illnesses mentioned here are uncommon and, with the possible exception of hypothyroidism, they start with depression in only a relatively small number of cases.

Several hormones have an effect on mood. As well as the female sexual hormones, hormones from the pituitary gland, adrenal glands, thyroid glands, parathyroid glands and pancreas may all affect energy and mood. However, such effects occur only when there is a significant disease in therelevant gland, which is fairly rare, and in which case there are usually also physical symptoms. (more…)

The pre-menstrual syndrome is a group of symptoms which occur regularly before menstruation and during early menstruation. After menstruation you are, by strict definition, entirely free from symptoms.

The symptoms are variable, ranging from migraine, backache, joint pains, asthma, tension, irritability, pimples and blotchy skin to swollen breasts, swollen ankles, bloatedness and tiredness. If the symptoms include the triad of tiredness, depression and irritability, this is called pre-menstrual tension. To find out whether you are susceptible to pre-menstrual depression or tension, it is useful to record accurately the timing of symptoms in relation to the menstrual cycle. This means using a diary or a chart every day for several months, and recording the presence or absence of symptoms and the presence or absence of menstruation. Only if there is a regular correlation and if the symptom disappears after menstruation, can you be sure of the diagnosis. (more…)

Mood is affected by many kinds of outer influence. Mostpeople are affected by the weather, by dampness dampeningthe spirit, by dreary grey days which correspond with dreary grey moods, and by sunshine which nurtures good feeling.

NEGATIVE IONS

Just before a thunderstorm the weather is usually sultry and heavy, which makes you feel h eavy and look forward to thethunder breaking. After the storm, the air feels fresh and youfeel better. Putting aside the symbolic imagery, some of the effect on mood may be due to the balance of negatively and positively charged particles in the atmosphere. Basically, negative ions make you feel positive and positive ions make you feel negative. An electrical storm produces a lot of negative ions as does the breaking of the water on the sea shore. An electronic ionizer creates a similar effect. (more…)

We are built of what we eat and the balance of our diet can affect both our physical and mental well-being. Many dietary imbalances may cause some depression of mood.

BLOOD SUGAR

If you take in too few calories, as you may during a fast or aperiod of dieting, you may feel tired, lethargic and low. This is because your level of blood sugar has decreased — energy, well-being and clear thinking require an adequate level of sugar in the blood so that the brain, muscles and other organs can help themselves to as much immediate energy as they require from moment to moment. The brain and nerves are completely dependent on blood sugar since they cannot get energy from other foods in the blood, such as protein. (more…)

This is a complicated subject because mild depression can make you fat, severe depression can make you thin, while being thin or fat can make you depressed.

Occasionally, weight gain can be due to a particular medical problem (see, for example, Hypothyroidism, opposite), which also causes a depression. (more…)

Any severe illness and some medical measures, such as operations, radiotherapy and the use of some drugs, may deplete energy and therefore mimic depression. At the same time the prospect of long-term illness or of facing life with debility creates all kinds of feelings which may be repressed.

Losing the function of part of your body, being permanently debilitated, losing part of your body through amputation, or knowing you are going to die naturally cause grief. An initial numbness or disbelief about your condition may sometimes amount to a complete denial of the facts. Sometimes people who are told they have cancer manage to block the fact so effectively that they have no memory of knowing or of ever being told. More often the fact is known but there is remarkably little worry, or an unrealistic optimism. Some degree of denial may continue for a long time. (more…)

When you have dealt with some of the doubts that stoppedyour feeling, you may find that you can allow the feeling to “live” within you without repression. Often, however, it is helpful to find a way of expressing the feeling. You do not necessarily need to know what the feeling is in advance. If you are mindful of the possibility of the feeling arising and free to let it arise if it will, you will find that some of the following activities can create an opening for the rediscovery of the feeling you stopped. If you don’t feel anything, don’t worry,the exercise itself is helpful. Try one of the following suggestions, depending on the nature of the feeling.

1 Difficulty in expressing anger:

• Take part in an aggressive sport like squash or football.
• Hit a punch-ball, imagining each blow is directed at the person or the situation (if that is easier) that makes you angry. Use all your force and with each blow, grunt. After some practice, try hitting and grunting with your mouth wide open and then increase the volume of sound till you are yelling at the top of your voice. All this can be done equally well hitting a cushion, a pillow or a bed. As you get more into it, tryputting words to each blow, for example, “I’m sick of dirty nappies!” or “I’ll smash your face in!”.

(more…)

It is easy to become accustomed to a certain way of living, so much so that sometimes you forget that you actually do havethe freedom to change it. You don’t have to eat three meals a day, watch television in the evenings or stay all day at home with the children. You don’t have to live with your mother- in-law, your parents or even your spouse. It is your life and you have the freedom to choose how you want to live. This may seem obvious, but it is sometimes difficult to act on your freedom because:

• You are too depressed to act. Sometimes it is a good idea to wait for the slightest upswing in your mood and then act, make yourself act.

(more…)

A psychotherapist who had been depressed many years before told me that after weeks of lying in bed feeling hopeless, the first change came when he got up, changed his sheets, cleaned his room and opened the windows in order to let the air and sun in.

Whether or not the state of your room, your home or your work-place was significant in depressing you, changing yourenvironment can be very helpful because: (more…)

Habits can provide comfort, security for children, an efficient way of coping with things that are repeatedly necessary, and/or a dulling restriction of spontaneity. If you are stuck in a routine and feel mildly depressed (down to light grey), you can improve things. Here are some possibilities:

• Food Spice it up, experiment, change your diet, change the times you eat, go out for a meal.
• 
• Drink If you do not drink much alcohol, have a few drinks. Go out for an evening with friends and drink a bit too much. If you drink a lot regularly, try cutting down or stopping, or changing the timing.

(more…)

Dietary Recommendations: Fat

Total fat in the diet should be limited to 30 percent or less of the total calories consumed.

Saturated fat in the diet should be limited to 10 percent or less of total calories consumed.

Polyunsaturated and monounsaturated fats should be substituted for saturated fat in the diet.

Dietary cholesterol should be limited to 250 to 300 milligrams per day. (more…)

The number of calories needed per day depends upon the body’s metabolic rate (MR), which, in turn, depends upon such factors as age, sex, size, muscle mass, glandular function, emotional state, climate, and exercise.

Your basal metabolic rate (BMR) is the basis for your caloric needs. The higher the BMR, the more calories you burn at rest. Your MR is a combination of your BMR and calories expended in normal daily activities. The MR is usually higher in males, young people, large people, lean and muscular people, and in nervous people; in cold and hot weather; and during exercise. (more…)