Many
people suffer the effects of depression privately and silently. I did for many years. I know now that my journey along the dark landscape of depression began in my tween years. By 23, I crashed, bewildered that I had "lost control". I had started a new, exciting career, was living in this awesome city (having moved from a small town), and all off a sudden I was unable to cope. All I wanted to do was hide under my covers and never get up or cry my eyes out till they were swollen shut. The world was all shades of grey and I walked through my life putting on a happy face which ultimately cost me the very energy I needed to get up every day. And I kept it to myself, fearing that I would be labeled "crazy", "unstable" and "too emotional". I feared losing my job , my credibility and even my friends.
I recall walking into St. Paul's Hospital after work on late fall night in 1988 and crying at the registration desk as I didn't even know how to tell the administrative staffer what I was feeling! Thus began my foray into Out Patient Psychiatry and the world of medications.
Even with the major strides in society today,
many people, including family members, friends, employers and employees
perceive depression as a stigma, that it means the depressed person is
unstable, imbalanced... mentally ill. I know that the common statement given by the
well intentioned to my clients who have come to me because of depression is
that “it’s all in your mind”. And it
is. I learned that first hand. However, it isn’t something you can
just talk yourself out of or decide to quit one day.
Depression
in and of itself is not an emotion. It
is a state of mind caused by a symptom of an emotion or emotions that affect the mind and body
negatively. It is sometimes described as
feeling sad, blue, unhappy, miserable, or down in the dumps. But we all feel that way at times in our
lives. It’s usually short lived. Depression that is NOT short lived and
continues over weeks, months or years can be debilitating.
Many
suffer from Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD). I was labeled with SAD in 1991. It hits around early fall. SAD is
more common in women than in men, often appearing in young adulthood. People who
live in northern latitudes, as we do, also have an increased risk of developing
SAD. Source:http://www.med.nyu.edu/content?ChunkIID=11583
Here are cited statistics
according to Health Canada and Statistics Canada:
·
Approximately 8% of adult Canadians will experience a major
depression at some point in their lives, and around 5% will in a given year.
Depression continues to be Canada's fastest-rising diagnosis. From 1994 to
2004, visits for depression made to office-based doctors almost doubled. In
2003, that meant 11.6 million visits to doctors across Canada about depression.
·
Rates of depression are especially high among Canadian youth.
A nationwide survey of Canadian youth by Statistics Canada found that 6.5%—more
than a quarter million youth and young adults between 15 and 24—met the
criteria for major depression in the past year. In a 2003 survey of BC teens,
about 8% of students felt seriously distressed emotions in the past month such
as ‘feeling so sad, discouraged, or hopeless that they wondered if it was all
worthwhile.' But all ages are affected.
·
Depression can affect children, seniors and adult men and
women of all socio-economic backgrounds," says Ed Rogers, President of the
Mood Disorders Association of BC. The stress of unemployment can make some
people more vulnerable to depression, yet many people with depression also have
prestigious and highly demanding careers, including former Ontario premier Bob
Rae.
·
Twice as many women as men are diagnosed with depression.
However, this may simply indicate that men are less comfortable seeking help or
do not get an accurate diagnosis since depression in men often manifests itself
as a substance use problem.
Symptoms of Depression
- feeling worthless, helpless or hopeless
- sleeping more or less than usual
- eating more or less than usual
- having difficulty concentrating or making
decisions
- loss of interest in taking part in activities
- decreased sex drive
- avoiding other people
- overwhelming feelings of sadness or grief
- overwhelmed when making simple decisions
- loss
of energy, feeling very tired
- thoughts of death or suicide
Sleep is critical to both mind and body and is one
of the major contributing factors of depression. It begins with the logical mind becoming
overwhelmed with processing too much information at one time. It is often when an accumulation of events
are happening at once. When life’s
circumstances inundate us, such as imminent unemployment coupled with financial
obligations such as mortgages, or when a relationship is unstable and there is
little or no emotional support, we begin to unravel. This is when the mind is in the anxiety mode.
When the mind is overwhelmed, it begins to shut down (depression) and that
affects the body. With symptoms of tiredness, digestion problems, etc. Typically, people who suffer depression may
also have sleep issues. That's because the mind, when anxiety driven with many
thoughts, does not shut down enough to rest in sleep. This is the time when the conscious
mind vents naturally. If this anxiety of
the mind continues (when you can’t shut down the mind at night or even waking with anxious
thoughts during the night), it then goes into retreat over time. Retreat = Depression. When working
with clients with depression, I ensure we deal with the issue of sleep. Once the mind vents, it resets to its natural
processing rhythm.
Hypnosis is a safe and effective technique to relax
the mind but to also regress to the event that caused the feelings associated
with depression. Symptoms can be
alleviated with hypnotic relaxation techniques but it is through hypnotic
regression to the cause that will reframe the event with which the original
feelings accumulated and make permanent changes.
I know it helps people to move from survival mode to thriving mode. It wasn't until 2006 when I was taking my Clinical Hypnotherapist training, that I began to examine 'my depression". And as much as it hurt to go into all the sadness that had accumulated over YEARS, I finally came to the place where I felt free. That I could trust my own mind to guide me positively. I was able to still the voice that said I wasn't worth much so why try to prove otherwise. That was 6 years and was also the last Effexor pill I popped.
If you or someone you know suffers from a depressed state of mind, pass on my name. Because I know how they feel and will do my best to help them be free...like me!
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