Coping with depression or anxiety, in whatever form or degree, can be very crippling for the individual suffering as it affects their daily living as well as their ability to think and reason soundly.
Not being able to cope easily with everyday living will certainly affect their survival potential at home, at work, with family, friends and relationships. Not only will the depression sufferer be affected by the problem but also those related to, or in contact with them.
So it is in everyone's interest to help someone suffering from depression!
The Common "Treatment" for Depression
When dealing with depression the usual recourse in trying to overcome the signs and symptoms of feeling depressed is by visiting your doctor, health care practitioner or psychiatrist, whereby the chance of a psychotropic drug or two is prescribed to "help" you cope. But does this really handle the problem of overcoming depression? Or does it just mask the problem with a chemical overcoat?
There is much controversy over the "chemical imbalance in the brain" theory, due to the fact that there is no evidence to support this and no actual tests are ever carried out by a doctor or psychiatrist to establish if in fact the depressed person has a "chemical imbalance".
What a doctor can and should do in the first instance, if treating a patient who is depressed or suffering from depression, is to do a thorough physical check-up of the body to determine if there are any organ malfunctions or problems as well as any other physical problems that could be causing the depressed state. There should also be a check-up to see if the body is suffering from a vitamin or mineral deficiency, and if so, natural supplements should be prescribed to balance out that deficiency.
Take a Walk to Help with Depression
This may seem simplistic in view but taking a walk can help reduce the symptoms of depression or anxiety, and can have very therapeutic results.
Someone who is depressed or feeling anxious has, to some degree, their attention stuck or fixated inwardly on themselves or on a particular difficulty or loss, whether it is known or not, that is causing the depressed feeling. For example, if one had unexpectedly lost a loved one or a job then to some degree this causes shock and emotional pain. It can also be the case that someone you are connected with is constantly bullying or intimidating you, which causes you to introvert and feel bad about yourself and lose self-confidence.
These losses, shocks and difficulties cause one to fixate on the bad experiences which, over a period of time, can cause one to feel low or depressed. So, the purpose of taking a walk is to extrovert your attention by putting your attention onto the environment around you and taking it off of the shock, pain or bad experiences.
Now it's not just a case of going out and taking a ten minute stroll, you should go out and purposely look at things; you should look at and take note of the objects, houses, people, animals, the things around you. You should notice the pavement in front of your feet, you should look at the wall and the bricks and the weeds growing out of them, you should look at the person walking near you, etc, etc.
This is an actual practical exercise and if you continue to look, look, look, you will eventually find yourself paying more attention to the environment and less attention will be focused on your problems, or depression. It is difficult for someone to deal with their problems effectively if they are stuck in an abyss of a depressed state.
So with this task of taking a walk and looking, it needs to be continued until YOU notice some change for the better. It will be noticed after some time doing this exercise, a difference in attitude, or outlook of the environment, or just some degree of relief. This is a good point to stop. Do not go beyond this good point and do not stop the exercise until YOU notice a positive change.
There is no set length of time in doing this exercise as each person responds differently. It should be done as long as necessary for each individual and should be done on a daily basis.
Important Note: As this exercise is done it will usually occur that things will happen that may be discomforting in some way; you could feel some unwanted emotion or have irrational thoughts come to mind, or some such thing. This is just part of the exercise and you should continue to take a walk and look, look, look. If by doing the exercise some upset occurs then by continuing the exercise the upset will eventually desist. Just persevere and push through it.
Health Article: Dealing with Depression and Anxiety
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Theta Health http://www.thetahealth.co.za is a health and wellness website supplying vitamin supplements and health products in South Africa and is dedicated to helping people improve their health and wellbeing.
Our goal is "Making People Healthy and Happy!"
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