What is depression and anxiety and who does it
affect?
Depression affects more than 9% of the
population (20 million people) while anxiety affects roughly twice that
percentage, or more than 18% (40 million) of adults each year. Both Depression
and anxiety are generally broken into 3 levels of severity: mild, moderate and
severe.
Treatment: What can I do that will help me?
There are a number of options available for
treatment of depression and for anxiety. They include: psychotherapy (talk
therapy), which generally provides the greatest benefit. Antidepressant
medications have been shown to be effective in treating depression, and in some
cases are needed only for a short time, in other cases will be needed for the
rest of the individual’s life. A third treatment option is complementary
alternative medicine therapy (CAM-T). CAM therapies include relaxation,
meditation, hypnosis, herbal, aromatherapy, reiki, autogenic relaxation, and so
forth. The CAM therapies are generally less effective than psychotherapy, and
traditional medication therapy, but when combined with psychotherapy and
medication we get synergy (1+1+1=100; or more than the sum of the parts).
In truth each case of depression and or anxiety
is as unique as the fingerprint. For this reason there is no real “cookbook”
treatment that can be posted. The best plan of care is tailored to the
individual by a trained psychotherapist. Again generally speaking when we
combine medication therapy with psychotherapy we get real synergy (more than the
sum of the parts).
This said, there are some things that you can
do NOW, that will to some degree help NOW. These are things you can do that will
not interfere with medications, or anything you’re your psychotherapist is
working with you.
Nourishment
Take in adequate and nourishing meals. You
cannot go wrong eating an Asian model diet. An Asian model diet consists of
mostly vegetables, and fruit with just enough meat to add spice and protein. The
vegetables should preferably be either raw, or steamed with minimum fat. A good
way to remember how much fat is too much for vegetables is “remember if they
are shiny when wet, they contain too much fat”.
Avoid Negative Thinking
Negative thinking (I’ll never get better, or
I don’t deserve the good stuff) is something you cannot afford. The most
powerful part of your mind is the unconscious mind. Like an iceberg, which is
mostly under water with only a small portion sticking above the water; most of
the mind is unconscious with only a small part of the mind making up the
conscious mind.
The conscious mind is like a little child in
that it does not like to be “told” what to do or think, but is very much so
influenced by suggestion.
Negative thoughts like “I’ll never amount
to anything” suggest to the unconscious mind that it should set about making
this come true in your life.
On the other hand if you replace these negative
thoughts with positive thoughts like “in time I see myself growing as a
person, reaching my positive goals”. Then the unconscious mindsets about
looking for ways to make this prophesy come to pass, which leads us to
affirmations.
Power of positive self-affirmations
Affirmations are statements we say aloud. We
say them as if they have already happened. In doing so we actually program the
subconscious mind like a computer to make true that which you have told it to
become true.
Feel free to create your own affirmations or
use these:
“I feel vital, full of energy and vigor”
“I feel confident and content”
"I deserve the good stuff."
"I deserve happiness."
"I feel in control of my mood, it is
uplifting.”
"I find a sense of discovery in my daily
life routines."
"I deserve the love and respect of
others."
Stay away from Negative People
To a large degree we become like those we
associate with. If we hang out with pessimistic negative people we find our own
negative pessimistic thoughts being strengthen.
On the other hand if we spend time with people
who are positive and optimistic we will see our own positive beliefs and
feelings strengthen, growing and take form.
About the Author:
Donald W. Ahrens Jr, PMH-NP, A.R.N.P. is a
psychiatric Nurse Practitioner who provides full spectrum psychiatric service
(both psychotherapy and medication therapy) to the people of Wichita and the
surrounding metropolitan area.