Dealing with depression

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By Elisabeth van der Have

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This is the time of the year people get more easily depressed due to weather, shorter days etc.

I want to look a little closer to what we call a depression, I will talk about the conventional methods of treating a depression but I would also want to show you this from a different angle as I am a homeopath.

First lets see what can cause a depression:

– environmental factors; this could mean the loss of someone who was dear to us, or the lack of a confiding relationship, or the loss of a job or just being in a situation that makes you unhappy.

– physical illness; cancer, heart disease etc. can be followed by depression. Also mood changes can occur after infectious mononucleosis or influenza or other viral illness.

– abuse of alcohol and/or drugs.

– going through puberty or menopause (hormonal disbalance)

– depression could be the presenting feature of cerebrovascular disease, neurological disorders such as for example multiple sclerosis and endocrine diseases as Cushing's, Addison's disease and hypothyroidism.

– mood changes are associated with drug therapy, for example anti hypertensive drugs and cortico steroids.

– personality; some people are predisposed to depression, this involves a negative attitude to oneself, the future and the outside world.

How do we recognize the signs?

What we will notice is that we lose pleasure in life, we lose interest in others and start blaming ourselves. We will feel hopeless, want to lock ourselves up and just cry all day. We could even start thinking about suicide. Physically we will see sleep disturbances, fatigue, headaches and other pains. Weight changes, constipation and loss of libido are also common symptoms.

Conventional treatment for depression would be in most cases an antidepressant drug, cognitive therapy or psychotherapy.

Anti depressives can be divided in three groups: SSRI's, (most common, Zoloft, Prozac, Celexa for example), TCA's (Remeron for example) and MAOI's (less common) I am not going any deeper on how these drugs work because that is not what this column is about and you could get all the information you want off the Internet or your doctor.

What could you do yourself?

Try to look at yourself honestly, are you in a situation that makes you unhappy? Are you in a situation you cannot be the one you really are?

Try to find a support group and talk about your emotions freely. Often I see that people do not have taken or have the time to grief after they lost someone dear, life just goes on and you have to carry on. Sooner or later this will take it's toll on your body. Try to be open with family and friends, do not hide your feelings but share them.

Try to stay actively involved in your job or even charity work, this will keep you in contact with people and the outside world.

Exercise daily (I just cannot say this enough), it increases the level of many neuro-hormones which bring a feeling of happiness and well-being.

Eat a well balanced and nutritious diet, stay way form all the added sugars and sodium and fat loaded processed food.

Learn some meditation, yoga or stress relieving exercises, this to learn you regaining control over your emotions.

Homeopathy offers good treatment possibilities for depression, which is a manifestation of the disbalance in your body that's going on.

Homeopathy does not treat the symptoms but tries to find the cause. This means the homeopath needs to know everything about the patient, physically, emotionally and mental.

I do believe sometimes we need an anti-depressive to cope with a certain situation but in the end we all have to go trough our emotions to grow and come out stronger. I do not believe that any anti depressive will solve the cause, and a lot of times it has side effects like weight gain and not being able to feel any emotions at all anymore.

Depression is a process, it is not just your body letting you down but its way to show you that something is not okay. So look at it and look at yourself, your life, your work, your relations.

Do you think it is caused by physical factors or are you not in balance? One way or the other do not try to solve this on your own but find someone professional to talk to.

Life is the most precious gift you can get so please take good care of it and enjoy it!

Elisabeth van der Have, owner of Curves, is a certified classical homeopath and holistic nutrional consultant.