"Depression is a cruel & debilitating illness. It affects every single aspect of my life. The negative thoughts are deafening. I feel weak, ashamed & alone. Unworthy, helpless & hopeless. I develop anxieties on top of my anxieties – of the telephone, leaving the house, opening my post, travel, noise… My family were, & still are brilliant. But that brilliance shines almost too brightly, I put them on a pedestal & depression convinces me that I just don’t match up. That I am a burden to them. That I am dimming their light. That in simply existing, I am slowly, but surely ruining their lives." – A man talking on a UTube TED talk.
“Depression isn’t only the person screaming out for help, it’s the silent person dealing with battles they’re still trying to understand themselves. It’s the want & need to be around people, but at the same time, you push them away. It’s drinking the way you do because at least for a moment your pain is numbed. You know the effects lead to being even more depressed the next day & you know alcohol is a depressant but being numb helps sometimes. It’s eating too much, or just never being hungry.” - Anonymous
One of the most challenging aspects of dealing with depression is often the stigma & negative criticism that can come from others. Often people may not even know their comments are being negative or hurtful & sometimes even make the depression feel worse. The weight that depression can bring upon a person is enough to bury them for a day, or even a week and the ‘black dog’ may push them to be alone, because they don’t want to impact anyone negatively.
This next piece was something I put out to raise awareness eight year ago!
Patients with depression should be routinely given £300 meditation courses on the NHS, doctors claim. They say techniques used by Buddhist monks could produce 'massive savings' by halving the risk of depression coming back. But only one in 20 family doctors are prescribing such treatment, according to a report by the Mental Health Foundation charity. More than 100 studies have shown that areas of the brain linked to controlling emotion are bigger in those who have meditated regularly for five years. This means they have a greater volume of grey matter to process information.
Dr Andrew McCulloch, the Mental Health Foundation's chief executive, said 'mindfulness' therapies were much cheaper than treating the condition with drugs. 'This would have huge knock-on benefits both socially and economically, making it a sensible treatment to be making available, even at a time when money is short within the NHS,' he added. 'Our report found that three-quarters of GPs have prescribed medication to people with long-term depression believing another treatment would have been more appropriate.'
He said NHS guidelines already recommend eight-week meditation-style courses which cost £300 for recurrent depression, but provision is patchy and should be extended.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1240642/Doctors-urge-NHS-use-meditation-beat-blues.html - 4/1/2010
It’s sad to say, nothing has changed much, but let’s hope we get the change so badly needed very soon.
“Depression isn’t only the person screaming out for help, it’s the silent person dealing with battles they’re still trying to understand themselves. It’s the want & need to be around people, but at the same time, you push them away. It’s drinking the way you do because at least for a moment your pain is numbed. You know the effects lead to being even more depressed the next day & you know alcohol is a depressant but being numb helps sometimes. It’s eating too much, or just never being hungry.” - Anonymous
One of the most challenging aspects of dealing with depression is often the stigma & negative criticism that can come from others. Often people may not even know their comments are being negative or hurtful & sometimes even make the depression feel worse. The weight that depression can bring upon a person is enough to bury them for a day, or even a week and the ‘black dog’ may push them to be alone, because they don’t want to impact anyone negatively.
This next piece was something I put out to raise awareness eight year ago!
Patients with depression should be routinely given £300 meditation courses on the NHS, doctors claim. They say techniques used by Buddhist monks could produce 'massive savings' by halving the risk of depression coming back. But only one in 20 family doctors are prescribing such treatment, according to a report by the Mental Health Foundation charity. More than 100 studies have shown that areas of the brain linked to controlling emotion are bigger in those who have meditated regularly for five years. This means they have a greater volume of grey matter to process information.
Dr Andrew McCulloch, the Mental Health Foundation's chief executive, said 'mindfulness' therapies were much cheaper than treating the condition with drugs. 'This would have huge knock-on benefits both socially and economically, making it a sensible treatment to be making available, even at a time when money is short within the NHS,' he added. 'Our report found that three-quarters of GPs have prescribed medication to people with long-term depression believing another treatment would have been more appropriate.'
He said NHS guidelines already recommend eight-week meditation-style courses which cost £300 for recurrent depression, but provision is patchy and should be extended.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1240642/Doctors-urge-NHS-use-meditation-beat-blues.html - 4/1/2010
It’s sad to say, nothing has changed much, but let’s hope we get the change so badly needed very soon.
RSS Feed