Long Term Depression

[captionpix width=”250″ align=”right” imgalt=”Long Term Depression” imgsrc=”http://www.abcsimpleas.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/oily-fish.jpg” captiontext=”Omega Fish Oils Fight Depression”]

Is Depression a sign of the times we live in, is there more of it now, or is it being diagnosed more easily due to better information?  Check out this YouTube clip of Kevin and Perry an extract from Harry Enfield’s show.

We all recognize the stance of an adolescent as slumped with head lowered and chin down and in yoga it can be addressed through through gentle exercise, like this yoga pose.

In the main there are three diagnosis for the condition:

Regular Depression

Can be treated with medication and is something that is often temporary and a patient can get past it, in a similar way to passing through a phase. 

Clinical Or Manic Depression

This is also known as Bipolar Syndrome which is decreed as a life-sentence, where sufferers are given to understand there is no cure.

Stephen Fry

I remember Stephen Fry’s BBC television documentary on the matter back in 2006. In case you didn’t see it, he ran the programme over two episodes as a sufferer himself.

He interviewed a handful of celebrity friends with a similar diagnosis to himself, among which were Carrie Fisher (who we are advised is now housebound), Robbie Williams battling the condition and comedian Tony Slattery who’s sadly been noticeably absent from the comedy circuit. 

The one thing that struck home was their seeming attachment to the condition, as each said how creative and intense the up-phase was in compensation for the darker mood-swings, in a Jackal and Hyde type of existence.

It Only Takes One

However there was a woman who stood out as one of a few non-celebrities interviewed, but her difference far outweighed celebrity. She told her story and how she’d been incarcerated in what had formerly been an asylum, now a day-care-centre.

We visited the building, with it’s chilling air of imprisonment as seen from the exterior view of high brick walls and tiny bar-grill style windows, but where she stood out as being the only interviewee who cleared herself of the condition.

The Alternative Way

How did she do it?  One of the major things she altered was her diet and to illustrate the point we accompanied heto a fish market where she talked about the benefits of Omega Oils found in certain fish.  It transpired that she’s a GP and post-diagnosis said she had to lie to get back into employment (in that role) once she became well again, but it turned into their gain because now she specialises The Practice Mental Health Expert.

Her message was encouraging as she asserted that most people suffer some form of mental health condition, during their lifetime, quite commonly post-natal depression is one such area and she works to educate people in challenging the stigma around the problem. For me she gave the programme a positive and uplifting edge. 

Stephen Fry’s Question

One question that Fry asked everyone, towards the end of each interview, if they had a choice would they keep the condition or be free of it, and with the exception of the Doctor each responded with a resounding NO. The reason they all gave was to do with the high of the mania around manic-depression.

If You’ve Been Diagnosed What Can You Do About It?

It’s important to understand that current scientific information is filtering through around the mind-body connection.  And what is becoming quite evident is that whatever we think penetrates and reverberates throughout our cellular system reflects our mindset and physiology including our mood.  

And from the Stephen Fry documentary, it’s clear that wanting to make the change and be free of depression is the first step to becoming free of it.

META-Medicine Has A Different Take On Bipolar

However, META-Medicine has a very interesting take on mental health issues and Bipolar in particular, because it looks for the UDIN that created the pattern in the first place, and works on addressing that and over time, sometimes up to 20-sessions (if a person takes anti-depressants) a person can become free of it.

This is better understood when you look at The Two Phases Of Disease, where you can see that a conflict shock starts the process, but then is re-triggered again and again and takes a person into mania, or depression, or neither. Neither is when both mania and depression are active at the same time and therefore cancel one another out.