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It's easier for health professionals and most of their
patients to use drugs as a substitute for improving relationships. Medication
with alcohol or nicotine, anti-depressants or stimulants are easier than
applying intelligence, focus and analytical skills to complex relationship
situations.
Although drugs are cheaper for the patient (in the short
term) and much more profitable for health professionals, the long-term
consequences and side-effects of psychoactive drugs are unacceptable to an
increasing number of health professionals and patients. You are not alone. We
can help you.
Are you Depressed?
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If you feel depressed, we recommend
that you visit a medical doctor or clinical psychologist, especially
if you consider harming yourself or others. Please refer people with
signs of depression to an appropriate health professional.
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Depression is part of adult life. Symptoms of depression
affect about 10% of the world population. Common causes of depression are
unsatisfying relationships and lives that lack sense. Depression is associated with
food allergies,
limiting beliefs,
stress,
codependence,
addiction and relationship bonds.
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Depression is the inability to
construct a future
Rollo May |
Depression is a reminder that something is
missing in your life, or that you are abusing, mistreating or ignoring
important people. Martyn Carruthers
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Depression reduces quality and sense of life. If depression concerns
other people, it may be a systemic problem, originating in
earlier relationships. Depression often starts in
codependent, symbiotic or separating relationships. Systemic
problems require systemic solutions.
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Sometimes depression makes more sense
than joy - depression can motivate a search for meaning. Does your life make sense?
A joyful sense of life usually includes:
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- strong, known values
- strong supportive beliefs
- sense of connection to life
- sense of purpose or vision
- motivation to achieve a vision
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- healthy mind in a healthy body
- your place within a community
- transpersonal sense of connectedness
- intimate home with an
appropriate partner
- nurture children and projects
to independence
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Deal with depression - or deal with its consequences.
We can help you enjoy better relationships, life-plans, exercise,
good sleep and a healthy diet to prevent and resolve depression.
Depression & Drugs
The manufacture and sale of anti-depressants is a
multi-billion dollar industry. Although the most common anti-depressants may be alcohol
and nicotine, trying to manage depression with prescription psychoactive drugs
can have consequences
worse than depression. Many anti-depressants are addictive and have
unpleasant side effects, especially with
older clients.
The more expensive anti-depressant drugs are
SSRI - selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors such as Zoloft,
Prozac or Paxil. These drugs increase serotonin in the brain.
(Many older and cheaper anti-depressants are MAOI or MonoAmine
Oxidase inhibitors, with worse side effects. MAO inhibitors such as Nardil,
Parnate and Marplan may be prescribed if other medications don't manage
depression.)
Symptoms of Depression
Depressed people will
likely experience unpleasant moods, thoughts and self-perception. A depressed
person may have difficulty making decisions - day-to-day tasks of paying
bills, caring for children, meeting people and making telephone calls may
seem overwhelming.
If the following symptoms are present each day for a few
weeks; and interfere with daily activities such as work, self-care,
child-care, sleep or social life; please consider getting professional help:
- Preoccupied with death or suicide
- Insomnia and/or major sleep changes
- Appetite and/or major weight changes
- Decreased energy, fatigue - always tired
- Feeling hopeless, helpless or pessimistic
- Feeling guilt, worthlessness, helplessness
- Loss of interest or pleasure in work or profession
- Little pleasure in activities that were once enjoyed
Sadness, anxiety, emptiness, restless and irritable Little interest or pleasure in romance or sexual activity - Difficulty concentrating, remembering, making decisions
Depression, Disease & Guilt
We perceive depression as a healthy response to an unhealthy
environment and/or unhealthy relationships. People at higher risk
of chronic depression include those suffering from
schizophrenia,
bipolar disorder,
codependence or
mental illness.
Common issues underlying chronic
depression are guilt and shame, which can result if you:
- abused, traumatized or tortured someone
- were abused by someone but you blame yourself
- blame yourself for some misfortune to yourself or to others
- betrayed or abandoned someone important (violating trust, e.g.
abandoning a child)
- mistake one person for another (e.g. perceiving an
ex-partner as an abandoned child)
Managing Guilt & Shame
If you withhold emotions, sooner or later, you express them.
Depression often results from withholding guilt.
This guilt may reflect your regret for abuse, abandonment, betrayal etc - or
guilt may be a result of transferences, such as parental alienation
(PAS), sexual abuse or
emotional incest.
Guilt and shame are often expressed as depression, which may result
in nervous breakdown or suicide attempts. Long-term systemic solutions require
that if you have hurt others, that you clarify and balance this hurt, and/or that
you change any relationship entanglements. See
emotional maturity.
You may try to control guilt and depression with
distractions (TV, videos, gambling, etc), psychoactive medications
(including nicotine, alcohol and caffeine) and dissociation (withdrawal,
self-hypnosis and suggestion). Such emotional
control is short-term; continued use of drugs or distractions often results in
obsessions and addictions - without resolving the underlying depression.
Electroconvulsive Therapy (Electroshock - ECT)
ECT is passing an electric current through
a human brain to cause a convulsion. Electroshock is used on people with depression, mania and sometimes schizophrenia,
especially people who do not respond well to, or abreact to,
medications.
Side effects of ECT include electrocution, brain
damage, nausea and headaches, memory loss, distractibility, difficulty
with multiple tasks, trouble with arithmetic and language. See
Electroshock.
Systemic Solutions
Intelligence is not wisdom. Some intelligent people
become depressed if they perceive problems or trends that less intelligent
people do not perceive - if they cannot find effective solutions. We can
help you evaluate and change complex relationships and resolve
emotional and relationship problems:
- Relationship Diagnosis:
assess relationships and consequences of relationships
- Goal Diagnosis: assess future
consequences of expectations and goals
Resolving guilt, shame and depression requires
emotional maturity. Find and test solutions during systemic diagnosis,
during
which symptoms are cross-referenced with history, relationship diagnosis,
non-verbal communications and goal diagnosis. Then you can set goals that
include the lasting resolution
or control of depression, guilt and shame and other unpleasant emotions.
Do you want telephone coaching or systemic coach training?
Do you want to coach people to enjoy success and quality relationships?
Copyright © 2001-2009 by Martyn
Carruthers. All rights reserved. |
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