It’s just like the dreaded cancer! CANCER, being of the body n DEPRESSION being ‘CANCER OF THE MIND!!!!
And just as we’ve developed the extreme fear of the dreadful, life taking cancer, and, to any physical ailment we start thinking of it as cancer, so have we have started tagging one n all of the emotional phases/problems as ‘DEPRESSION’ and started to think that there’s no way out of this too, just as the physical Cancer!
I’ve asked this question of all who come to me for seeking treatment for Depression and today I ask the same of you too…!!!Now, without cheating or looking into the answer below, tell me ‘WHAT IS THE LITERAL MEANING OF THE TERM DEPRESSION?’
I’m sure most of you (and by that I mean 99%) would have answered giving various explanations to it as in, when one is feeling ‘depressed’ (for starters), when one is feeling very negative about life n all, when one doesn’t want to talk to anyone, is very angry, hateful, aggressive,is suicidal etc. etc. etc.
Guys! Hold on the reigns to your thoughts here! PAUSE A BIT!
All I asked was the LITERAL meaning of the term ‘DEPRESSION’!
This term has been so exploited medically that only a handful of you would’ve probably thought and answered of what Depression literally means.
Simply put, Depression is : ANYTHING WHICH IS BELOW THE NORMAL LEVEL IS SAID TO BE IN A DEPRESSED STATE. And ain’t it so?
But perhaps we’ve forgotten the simplicity of things and feel more satisfied being in the complexities around. Such a simple term twisted into meaning something so heavy n so burdensome!!!
Now, speaking ‘medically’, in terms of the condition, of someone having Depression…. anyone anytime in his/her life can have feelings lower than the normal… children, when taking their exams, a young mother having recently given birth after hours of labour, a woman working for her family endlessly, tirelessly n without getting a word of appreciation from anyone, a businessman having to face new challenges and hurdles in getting his business to run smoothly, parents of an only child who’s going to study abroad and so so many of the situations n challenges that life throws at each one of us everyday, each moment in our lives.
SO DOES THAT MEAN THAT EACH ONE OF US ALL HAVE ‘DEPRESSION’????
NO. PERIOD.
We might NOT BE FEELING TOO GOOD at times, as mentioned in the situations above n more, but that doesn’t mean that we start popping in pills thinking we have ‘Depression’. During all these times, it’s the FEELINGS that we have, that are supposed TO BE TAKEN INTO ACCOUNT and to be cared for. FEELINGS ARE TEMPORARY and if taken care of ‘rightfully’, they can be brought back to balance before they turn into permanent behaviour traits.
The MEDICINES taken for DEPRESSION do nothing to heal the emotions that cause the ‘Depressed state’ but only NUMB OUR SENSES for the time they are effective. The person under the influence of such medicines seems calm after taking them (till the time the medicines are effective) and then as the effect of these starts to wean off and the numbness starts to pull off too, and before the same ‘actions/reactions’ of the person begin to start, VOILA! it’s time for the next dose. And so the story goes…!!!! So ultimately this person going through a ‘rough phase’ emotionally is not being healed of his ‘imbalanced negative emotions’ , rather is just being put to sleep or number of having any feelings at all. On the outer he/she may look calmed down, but inwardly, the chaos continues n how!
Whereas, IF ONLY, WE TRIED TO UNDERSTAND WHY A PERSON WAS REACTING IN A CERTAIN WAY AND TRIED TO CLEAR UP THOSE REASONS, those reactions would be nipped in the bud before they formed a ‘negative behaviour trait’ to be termed as ‘Depression”.
BACH FLOWER REMEDIES DEAL with the EMOTIONS that lead to our actions/reactions. Thus, RATHER THAN NUMBING THE SENSES TO SUPPRESS THE ‘OUTBURSTS’ , THESE REMEDIES TAKE CARE OF THE FEELINGS AND THE EMOTIONS preventing the negative behaviour to settle in.
EACH REMEDY IN THIS BEAUTIFUL HEALING MODALITY CORRESPONDS TO THE VARIOUS EMOTIONS that one day might be brutally put together as someone having Depression.
There are REMEDIES corresponding to every human emotion,
for eg.,
FEAR
DISTRUST
HATRED
ANGER
HOPELESSNESS
NEGATIVE THOUGHTS
OVER-CARE and OVER-POSSESSIVENESS OF OTHERS
OVER-ENTHUSIASM LEADING TO DISAPPOINTMENTS
NOT BEING ABLE TO SAY ‘NO’,
PAST DISTURBING MEMORIES
INABILITY TO FOCUS
PROCRASTINATION
INTOLERANCE OF OTHERS’ ACTIONS n CONSTANT BLAMING
FEELINGS OF UN-APPRECIATEDNESS
LACK OF CONFIDENCE
and so on and so forth.
If only, each of these feelings and others, are taken care of as they are, without distorting them or terming them as ‘Depression’, we’d all be our HEALTHIER HAPPIER SELVES, WITHOUT any NEGATIVITY or MENTAL ILLNESSES, NOT REQUIRING ANY OF THE TECHNICAL TERMS as ‘DEPRESSION’ and so NOT-AT-ALL NEEDING ANY ARTIFICIAL CHEMICAL DRUGS TO SUPPORT SOMETHING AS NATURAL and as SIMPLE as our PURE BEAUTIFUL EMOTIONS and FEELINGS that we’re all eternally made up of!!!
WISHING EVERYONE A VERY HAPPY EMOTIONAL WELL-BEING…THE WAY TO A HAPPY HEALTHY LIFE!!!
