A Holistic Approach to Depression
http://www.healityourself.com/articlelive/articles/43/1/A-Holistic-Approach-to-Depression/Page1.html
By Steven H Horne
Published on November 11, 2008
Depression isn't bad. In fact, it serves a useful purpose in our life when we understand what it depression is really trying to tell us. Like any other condition, it goes away when we deal with its underlying causes, which include liver problems, constipation, chemical toxicity, suppressed anger and a loss of personal boundaries. Here are some holistic ways of dealing with depression by removing its root causes.
Depression, Like Pain, Serves a Useful Purpose
A couple of years ago I hauled a bunch of trash to the dump, then returned with a load of compost. In the process, I dislocated my lumbar vertebrae. As my body tried to compensate for the injury, I developed painful spasms in the hip muscles.
For most people, the solution would have been to pop painkillers, but I knew better. Painkillers would have done nothing to correct the real problem, and by masking the pain, would have allowed me to overexert myself and further injure the damaged area.
So, instead of taking painkillers, I got a massage, made a couple of visits to the chiropractor, put some antispasmodics over the affected areas, and doctored myself with some heavy doses of the muscle relaxants lobelia and kava kava. In a short time I was fine.
Pain may be annoying, but it serves a useful purpose. It keeps us from further stressing damaged tissues by making us avoid using them until they have a chance to heal. Depression can do a similar thing for us emotionally.
One of the pitfalls of the whole positive mental attitude dogma, that is so prevalent in modern society, is the tendency it has to make people feel like they should be “up” all the time. There’s an attitude that if you’re depressed, something is “wrong” with you. If you had a positive attitude, you’d never feel unhappy, sad, depressed, etc. However, the truth is, we’re all going to feel that way from time to time.
So, there is nothing wrong with feeling depressed once in a while. It’s normal and natural under certain circumstances. For example, it’s normal to feel depressed when you lose someone close to you through death, divorce or separation. It’s also normal to feel depressed when you’re under a lot of financial pressures, such as a heavy debt load or bankruptcy. Having to go to court over anything can be depressing.
In short, depression is often a natural response to life’s difficulties, just like pain is a natural response to injury. Both serve a purpose.
Pain gets us to “lay off” an injured body part to give it time to heal. Depression causes us to “pull away” from the normal pressures of life and take time to introspect. It is actually a form of healing, because it can get us to stop the rat race of our lives long enough to look inside and see what is happening in our emotions, and why.
For instance, several months before my 50th birthday I was feeling a little depressed (mid-life crisis, I think). But, rather than feeling guilty about it, I took a few days off to figure out what was bothering me. As a result I was able to get in touch with some important feelings and make some changes in my life, which resulted in a renewed sense of vigor and personal productivity. The problem is that most people can’t (or won’t) make time for this process.
On the next page of this article I discuss some of the chemical causes of depression.
For most people, the solution would have been to pop painkillers, but I knew better. Painkillers would have done nothing to correct the real problem, and by masking the pain, would have allowed me to overexert myself and further injure the damaged area.
So, instead of taking painkillers, I got a massage, made a couple of visits to the chiropractor, put some antispasmodics over the affected areas, and doctored myself with some heavy doses of the muscle relaxants lobelia and kava kava. In a short time I was fine.
Pain may be annoying, but it serves a useful purpose. It keeps us from further stressing damaged tissues by making us avoid using them until they have a chance to heal. Depression can do a similar thing for us emotionally.
One of the pitfalls of the whole positive mental attitude dogma, that is so prevalent in modern society, is the tendency it has to make people feel like they should be “up” all the time. There’s an attitude that if you’re depressed, something is “wrong” with you. If you had a positive attitude, you’d never feel unhappy, sad, depressed, etc. However, the truth is, we’re all going to feel that way from time to time.
So, there is nothing wrong with feeling depressed once in a while. It’s normal and natural under certain circumstances. For example, it’s normal to feel depressed when you lose someone close to you through death, divorce or separation. It’s also normal to feel depressed when you’re under a lot of financial pressures, such as a heavy debt load or bankruptcy. Having to go to court over anything can be depressing.
In short, depression is often a natural response to life’s difficulties, just like pain is a natural response to injury. Both serve a purpose.
Pain gets us to “lay off” an injured body part to give it time to heal. Depression causes us to “pull away” from the normal pressures of life and take time to introspect. It is actually a form of healing, because it can get us to stop the rat race of our lives long enough to look inside and see what is happening in our emotions, and why.
For instance, several months before my 50th birthday I was feeling a little depressed (mid-life crisis, I think). But, rather than feeling guilty about it, I took a few days off to figure out what was bothering me. As a result I was able to get in touch with some important feelings and make some changes in my life, which resulted in a renewed sense of vigor and personal productivity. The problem is that most people can’t (or won’t) make time for this process.
On the next page of this article I discuss some of the chemical causes of depression.
Chemical Causes of Depression
Sometimes we feel depressed when there doesn’t appear to be any outside reason for it. We just feel down. Modern medicine would tell us that this is a deficiency of certain neurotransmitters, serotonin or perhaps dopamine. So, their answer is to try and increase levels of these neuotransmitters with drugs. We can do the same thing with supplements, which is a lot safer.
For instance, 5-HTP directly increases levels of serotonin and dopamine. Yet, I view this approach as a band-aid. Low serotonin and dopamine are symptoms, not causes. To fix the causes, we need to look deeper.
If you study traditional Western medicine, you’ll find that melancholia (the traditional term for depression) was thought to be an excess of “black bile.” When the liver is toxic, the bile is very dark and often colors the stool black. (Some of you may have noted the dark smelly stools you’ve passed at the beginning of a cleanse. That’s the liver dumping toxins or “black bile.”) So, in modern herbal lingo, we would say toxins, instead of black bile, but the concept is the same.
In the 1980s, I read Dr. Rudolph Ballentine’s book, Diet and Nutrition: A Holistic Approach
. Dr. Ballentine explains that the liver takes the burden of filtering the blood and removing any toxins that might damage the system, including pesticides, food additives, drugs, environmental pollutants, xenoestrogens and so forth. When the liver is functioning poorly, it can’t do this and the excessive wastes circulating in our body give us an overall sense of heaviness and achiness. This can create feelings of apathy, lethargy and often depression. He then states, In fact, it has been suggested by some authors that the primary cause of most depression is liver dysfunction.
I’ve personally experienced the feelings of heaviness, lethargy and depression that accompany a congested and overburdened liver. For example, several years ago I broke my leg. After my leg started to heal, there were several occasions when I felt extremely depressed, even though I was on the mend. I finally realized it had nothing to do with my attitude. I was experiencing a detox reaction to the painkillers and drugs I’d been given in the hospital.
When I did some liver detoxing therapy, the depression and heaviness immediately lifted. In a similar manner, I’ve experienced an instant clearing of the mind and lightening feeling when I’ve done a colon cleanse or have had a colonic.
So, I believe that a major reason many people are chronically depressed is because their system is burdened down with chemicals. If you’ve seen the documentary, Super Size Me
, about the guy who ate three meals a day at McDonalds for a month as an experiment, you may recall that one of the problems he started to experience was lethargy and depression. The appearance of these symptoms coincided with abnormal changes in liver function. (If you haven’t seen the movie, rent it and watch it.)
NSP introduced its Chinese herbal line about one year after I read about the depression/liver connection in Diet and Nutrition. I could immediately see why Mood Elevator (originally called AD-C) worked. It was designed to relieve feelings of heaviness and sagging chi or energy. It works by helping to normalize colon and liver function.
In recent years, Dr. Hugo Rodier, MD, has introduced me to the gut brain concept, which helps further explain why traditional medicine was right. It seems there are more serotonin receptors in the intestines than in the brain. So, when we’re “full of it,” of course, we feel depressed.
St. John’s wort is often recommended for depression, and herbalist Matthew Wood feels discusses that it is an important remedy for the nerves feeding the digestive system. This may be part of the reason it works. However, I don’t find St. John’s wort near as effective for most cases of depression as Chinese Mood Elevator.
There are many other herbs that are beneficial for combating depression. For instance, I find black cohosh effective for depression associated with periods, the aftermath of childbirth or menopause. It is also helpful for depression where a person feels trapped and wrestling with darkness. They have a sensation of a dark cloud hanging over them or feel entangled in some way that they cannot escape.
There are numerous other herbs that can help depression depending on the cause. Depression can be associated with low thyroid, in which case Liquid Dulse, kelp and other iodine-rich seaweeds may be helpful. Thyroid Support or Iodoral are even better choices.
Depression can be associated with low levels of reproductive hormones, too. This can also be associated with low levels of cholesterol, which is needed to make reproductive hormones. Damiana is a good antidepressant for reproductive hormone related depression. Ginseng and other reproductive tonics may also be helpful.
For depression associated with sadness or grief lemon balm may be a useful herb. David Winston makes a formula called Grief Relief, which may be helpful. It contains an herb called mimosa, which is a mood elevator in traditional Chinese medicine.
For instance, 5-HTP directly increases levels of serotonin and dopamine. Yet, I view this approach as a band-aid. Low serotonin and dopamine are symptoms, not causes. To fix the causes, we need to look deeper.
If you study traditional Western medicine, you’ll find that melancholia (the traditional term for depression) was thought to be an excess of “black bile.” When the liver is toxic, the bile is very dark and often colors the stool black. (Some of you may have noted the dark smelly stools you’ve passed at the beginning of a cleanse. That’s the liver dumping toxins or “black bile.”) So, in modern herbal lingo, we would say toxins, instead of black bile, but the concept is the same.
In the 1980s, I read Dr. Rudolph Ballentine’s book, Diet and Nutrition: A Holistic Approach
. Dr. Ballentine explains that the liver takes the burden of filtering the blood and removing any toxins that might damage the system, including pesticides, food additives, drugs, environmental pollutants, xenoestrogens and so forth. When the liver is functioning poorly, it can’t do this and the excessive wastes circulating in our body give us an overall sense of heaviness and achiness. This can create feelings of apathy, lethargy and often depression. He then states, In fact, it has been suggested by some authors that the primary cause of most depression is liver dysfunction.I’ve personally experienced the feelings of heaviness, lethargy and depression that accompany a congested and overburdened liver. For example, several years ago I broke my leg. After my leg started to heal, there were several occasions when I felt extremely depressed, even though I was on the mend. I finally realized it had nothing to do with my attitude. I was experiencing a detox reaction to the painkillers and drugs I’d been given in the hospital.
When I did some liver detoxing therapy, the depression and heaviness immediately lifted. In a similar manner, I’ve experienced an instant clearing of the mind and lightening feeling when I’ve done a colon cleanse or have had a colonic.
So, I believe that a major reason many people are chronically depressed is because their system is burdened down with chemicals. If you’ve seen the documentary, Super Size Me
, about the guy who ate three meals a day at McDonalds for a month as an experiment, you may recall that one of the problems he started to experience was lethargy and depression. The appearance of these symptoms coincided with abnormal changes in liver function. (If you haven’t seen the movie, rent it and watch it.) NSP introduced its Chinese herbal line about one year after I read about the depression/liver connection in Diet and Nutrition. I could immediately see why Mood Elevator (originally called AD-C) worked. It was designed to relieve feelings of heaviness and sagging chi or energy. It works by helping to normalize colon and liver function.
In recent years, Dr. Hugo Rodier, MD, has introduced me to the gut brain concept, which helps further explain why traditional medicine was right. It seems there are more serotonin receptors in the intestines than in the brain. So, when we’re “full of it,” of course, we feel depressed.
St. John’s wort is often recommended for depression, and herbalist Matthew Wood feels discusses that it is an important remedy for the nerves feeding the digestive system. This may be part of the reason it works. However, I don’t find St. John’s wort near as effective for most cases of depression as Chinese Mood Elevator.
There are many other herbs that are beneficial for combating depression. For instance, I find black cohosh effective for depression associated with periods, the aftermath of childbirth or menopause. It is also helpful for depression where a person feels trapped and wrestling with darkness. They have a sensation of a dark cloud hanging over them or feel entangled in some way that they cannot escape.
There are numerous other herbs that can help depression depending on the cause. Depression can be associated with low thyroid, in which case Liquid Dulse, kelp and other iodine-rich seaweeds may be helpful. Thyroid Support or Iodoral are even better choices.
Depression can be associated with low levels of reproductive hormones, too. This can also be associated with low levels of cholesterol, which is needed to make reproductive hormones. Damiana is a good antidepressant for reproductive hormone related depression. Ginseng and other reproductive tonics may also be helpful.
For depression associated with sadness or grief lemon balm may be a useful herb. David Winston makes a formula called Grief Relief, which may be helpful. It contains an herb called mimosa, which is a mood elevator in traditional Chinese medicine.
Holistic Solutions to Depression
It’s interesting that both Western and Eastern systems of traditional medicine associate the liver with the emotion of anger. Depression and anger are closely connected.
Anger is the emotion we experience when we feel threatened and want to fight back to defend ourselves. Depression is what we feel when the situation is hopeless and we don’t feel there is any way we can win. In other words, I see these emotions as the flip sides of the same coin—an excess and a deficiency of the same energy.
It’s interesting that the organ located under our right rib cage is called the liver. In other words it is the live-er, the center of the drive to live life to its fullest. In many traditional systems of medicine, the liver, not the heart, is seen as the emotional center of the body.
When our life is threatened, the first response of the liver inside us is to fight back, to defend us. That desire generates feelings of irritability and anger. But, when the liver gets battle weary, it wants to give up the fight. It feels overwhelmed and defeated. That situation gives rise to feelings of discouragement and depression.
In fact, the ultimate loss of liver energy is to become so depressed that one is suicidal. Feeling suicidal is feeling the loss of the desire to live, but it is also a form of anger—anger turned inward against the self, instead of outward against an external enemy. This is why I believe that depression is suppressed or underactive liver energy. It is anger turned inward.
Most of the people I’ve seen who suffer from chronic problems with depression were abused as children. They were severely hurt when they were unable to fight back, and the very people who should have helped protect and defend them were the source of their pain. Since getting angry with an abusive parent only generates more abuse, the anger energy may turn inward and become depression or it may explode in later years by the injured child becoming an adult abuser of others.
However, it doesn’t matter whether the factor that is trying to defeat us is an external experience or problem, or internal toxins; the core element is that the body wants to defend itself. If we help the body defend itself in a healthy way, the cause is removed and the problem will be resolved. I don’t see drugs accomplishing this, but I do see a well thought-out program of holistic health care being able to offer real solutions.
In summary, I see the following as critical in helping someone overcome depression.
1. You need to strengthen the liver, cleanse the colon and detoxify the body. Mood Elevator, used along with a colon cleanse, should work for most people. Letting go of all that waste immediately helps a person feel lighter and freer. You may also need to use remedies to balance the thyroid or reproductive glands.
2. You need to put good food in the body and stop abusing it with chemicals, drugs, alcohol and junk foods. This is a form of self-attack or self-defeating behavior that is a sign that one is turning against one’s own body and one’s own life. Nourishing oneself is a form of self-care and self-love.
3. The person needs to go inward and find what is emotionally defeating them. I’ve found flower essences like borage, scarlet monkeyflower and others to be helpful in this process. Keeping a journal about one’s feelings can also be helpful. The process involves getting in touch with the repressed anger, allowing oneself to feel it, then releasing it through forgiveness work.
4. Anger dissipates when one learns to set appropriate boundaries in one’s life. To understand this concept better check out my new Manage Your Mood DVD.
Much more could be written about the subject, but suffice it to say that I completely disagree with the way our society as a whole is handling the problem of depression. The above approach really works, but you probably need to seek outside help from a skilled therapist to assist in this process when depression is severe. (And be patient, healing takes time, that’s what both pain and depression are trying to do—force us to stop and take the time we need to heal.)
Anger is the emotion we experience when we feel threatened and want to fight back to defend ourselves. Depression is what we feel when the situation is hopeless and we don’t feel there is any way we can win. In other words, I see these emotions as the flip sides of the same coin—an excess and a deficiency of the same energy.
It’s interesting that the organ located under our right rib cage is called the liver. In other words it is the live-er, the center of the drive to live life to its fullest. In many traditional systems of medicine, the liver, not the heart, is seen as the emotional center of the body.
When our life is threatened, the first response of the liver inside us is to fight back, to defend us. That desire generates feelings of irritability and anger. But, when the liver gets battle weary, it wants to give up the fight. It feels overwhelmed and defeated. That situation gives rise to feelings of discouragement and depression.
In fact, the ultimate loss of liver energy is to become so depressed that one is suicidal. Feeling suicidal is feeling the loss of the desire to live, but it is also a form of anger—anger turned inward against the self, instead of outward against an external enemy. This is why I believe that depression is suppressed or underactive liver energy. It is anger turned inward.
Most of the people I’ve seen who suffer from chronic problems with depression were abused as children. They were severely hurt when they were unable to fight back, and the very people who should have helped protect and defend them were the source of their pain. Since getting angry with an abusive parent only generates more abuse, the anger energy may turn inward and become depression or it may explode in later years by the injured child becoming an adult abuser of others.
However, it doesn’t matter whether the factor that is trying to defeat us is an external experience or problem, or internal toxins; the core element is that the body wants to defend itself. If we help the body defend itself in a healthy way, the cause is removed and the problem will be resolved. I don’t see drugs accomplishing this, but I do see a well thought-out program of holistic health care being able to offer real solutions.
In summary, I see the following as critical in helping someone overcome depression.
1. You need to strengthen the liver, cleanse the colon and detoxify the body. Mood Elevator, used along with a colon cleanse, should work for most people. Letting go of all that waste immediately helps a person feel lighter and freer. You may also need to use remedies to balance the thyroid or reproductive glands.
2. You need to put good food in the body and stop abusing it with chemicals, drugs, alcohol and junk foods. This is a form of self-attack or self-defeating behavior that is a sign that one is turning against one’s own body and one’s own life. Nourishing oneself is a form of self-care and self-love.
3. The person needs to go inward and find what is emotionally defeating them. I’ve found flower essences like borage, scarlet monkeyflower and others to be helpful in this process. Keeping a journal about one’s feelings can also be helpful. The process involves getting in touch with the repressed anger, allowing oneself to feel it, then releasing it through forgiveness work.
4. Anger dissipates when one learns to set appropriate boundaries in one’s life. To understand this concept better check out my new Manage Your Mood DVD.
Much more could be written about the subject, but suffice it to say that I completely disagree with the way our society as a whole is handling the problem of depression. The above approach really works, but you probably need to seek outside help from a skilled therapist to assist in this process when depression is severe. (And be patient, healing takes time, that’s what both pain and depression are trying to do—force us to stop and take the time we need to heal.)