Depression

What is depression? Most people think about depression as being a major psychological problem, but while that may be true for some diagnostics, the fact is that we all get depressed sometimes. In fact, if we as humans did not have the capacity for being depressed, we would have no room for elation. Because life is a series of highs and lows, twists and turns, good days and not so good days.

Yes we all get depressed, and it doesn't necessarily mean that its always a negative occurrence. It could just as well be a signal to stop and reassess our lives and possibly take an important turn. Or perhaps even an important stop in a direction that is really hurting us.

Yet while we all get the blues from time to time, and this is quite normal, there is such a depression known as clinical depression. This is a depression which last longer than just a day or two. It lingers and incapacitates the suffer, and might not necessarily have anything which might have started it. In these cases the person cannot even put a reason on the reason that they are depressed.

This is a kind of depression that usually requires a trained counselor or psychologist to determine what the root of the cause may be. The reason is that depressions of this type are usually resultant of either a psychological problem, or a possible biological, ie; chemical imbalance. The only way to determine the cause is by seeing a professional and having the appropriate medical tests done to determine the exact cause.

However on a lesser scale most people suffer depression not from imbalance, but from wrong or negative thinking. The fact is we are what we think. What I mean is that our emotions follow our thinking. For instance if we think sad thoughts we get sad, if we think happy thoughts we get happy. If when you are watching a scary movie you will begin to think scary thoughts and therefore will feel fearful. That is why when you walk down a dark road and you are a little apprehensive, perhaps you saw a shadow, or heard a noise, and you immediately began to think thoughts that were scary. What happened? Well, your heart began to beat a little faster, you feet began to move a little faster, and before you knew it as far as you were concerned, there was someone after you!

This is what I call the power of the mind-emotion-will interlock, or "as a person thinks so they are!". Therefore if we have a negative self-image or think in a negative way, we are going to be feeling negative. If we are thinking angry thoughts we are going to be feeling angry. If we are thinking sad thoughts, then we are going to be sad.

Now this doesn't mean that it is wrong to be angry, or sad, again those are normal emotions. But when the thinking is prolonged over time it can lead to other problems. For instance speaking of a chemical imbalance. When you get angry your body goes through a lot of imbalance. For one the acid in your stomach really begins to churn when you get angry and this can cause stomach problems like ulcers and irritated stomach linings--hello Mallox!

When you are sad or have a negative self image you can have problems as well. Over time when you don't eat right, or you overeat, you can damage the delicate systems that regulate your body. If you sleep too much, and possibly over medicate (drugs or food), your body metabolism slows down causing you to gain weight or lose too much weight.

Either way any emotion prolonged over time can be a problem.

Ok, so what do you do? For one you have to be in tune with the way you think and how that affects the way you feel. You also have to understand that we are tri-part beings. We are body, soul and spirit. When we understand that all three intricately interweave each other. If our physical being is out of sorts it will effect our soul and spiritual well being.

I remember an acronym I saw once for checking ourselves out. Here it is.

H.A.L.T.

Its a good way to call a "halt" when you are feeling out of sorts.

Two letters are physical, one is for our emotions, the other relates to our spiritual state. Yet all can tie into one another.

H = Hungry. Remember the last time you were hungry? How did you feel? When I am hungry I get cranky, just like a baby. But there are other symptoms. You can feel depressed, tired. This of course comes from a lack of adequate nutrition.

A = Angry. Here is the anger again. Remember when you get angry you have a lot of physical things that take place. But here you are checking yourself to see if your anger is valid. When we do, we will see that times we get angry over things which are not worth getting angry over.

L = Lonely. This isn't being alone, its being lonely. There is a difference.

T = Tired. Hey when your sleepy, you get grouchy (angry?). Who doesn't. Yet remember that when you are depressed you tend sleep either too much or not at all. Tired can also mean physically tired. That can come from driving yourself too hard.

There you go. Elaborations of all these can be found in subsequent articles to come.

Got a comment or question, let me know.

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