Sentient Times Oct/Nov 2007

Getting Out from Under

Natural and Holistic Help for Depression

by Gaea Yudron

In Part I of this article (Sentient Times, Aug/Sept ‘07) we explored some social, environmental and political reasons for depression, as well as how depression rates rise as countries industrialize. We also looked at use of anti-depressant medications as the preferred mainstream treatment. Depression ranked 4th on The World Health Organization’s Global Burden of Disease list in 2000, WHO predicts that depression will become the #2 disorder by 2020.

Here, we will explore some of the natural, holistic, spiritual, energetic and psychological methods that can be used to transform depression. In these holistic therapies, each person is met as a unique constellation of experience, beliefs, habits and preferences. Treatments support and nurture the whole person, focusing on enhancing the immune system rather than merely suppressing symptoms.

A prescription for anti-depressants is the only treatment many people receive from their physician. The assumption is that with symptoms reduced, one can get on with business as usual. Fortunately, some medical doctors treat depression in a more holistic way. Howard Morningstar, MD is one of them.

“Depending on the person, I might suggest nerve tonic herbs such as nettles, red clover, oatstraw, or adrenal-strengthening herbs such as ginseng or eleutherococcus. St. John’s Wort is great for helping get serotonin levels up. I might recommend diet changes and more exercise. I sometimes prescribe psychotherapy,” Morningstar said. “Of course, depression can be a sign of a serious illness, so it’s important to check into that.

“It’s interesting, the word itself, depressed, could be ‘deep rest.’ After all, there is an archetypal journey here. It can be useful to look into the darkness as long as you don’t get stuck there and drown. Every culture knows that. In some ways, depression is much more a political than a medical issue. So many people are anxious and taking anti-depressants. They feel helpless. The Earth is falling apart. Marx used to say that religion is the opiate of the people, but today Prozac is the opiate of the people. It comes down to this, though: are you going to numb yourself, build walls around yourself or take powerful action? Don’t use alcohol or smoke pot to cure depression. It’s as unreasonable as Prozac. Don’t use sex, risky behavior, or join the Army to cure depression,” he said, and smiled. “Pleasure is a cure for depression. Do what you love.”

Another holistic MD, Elson Haas, author of the popular book A Diet for All Seasons and director of The Preventive Medical Center of Marin in San Raphael, California, focuses on clearing toxins from the body with a two to three week cleansing diet, using steamed vegetables, oils, and whole grains as described in his book. Afterward, Haas recommends eating a diet with fewer carbohydrates and more vegetables and protein, a diet free of wheat, dairy, sugar and additives.

Bodywork and massage therapy can be helpful in changing patterns of depression. Here’s what Ashland-based Shari Sunshine, LMT, founder of Syntropy Insight Bodywork, told me, “One thing I do is help the person recognize patterns of holding and contraction in their muscle tissue. In depression, there’s contraction in the rib cage and shoulder blades. It’s as if the person is holding their breath. Changing the rhythm of the breath is important. I help people re-establish the courage to breathe. The gentle movements I use in my work are very nurturing and allow the person to come into a deep space of relaxation, which is useful in the process of releasing.”

Chinese medicine is another effective method. Jeanne Normand White, MSOM, L.Ac. practices at the Siskiyou Clinic of Oriental Medicine in Ashland. White said, “Chinese medicine is very individualized. I use acupuncture and herbs to help people re-align. Herbs are body and brain foods. They are not sedating and suppressing like anti-depressants, but tonifying and energizing. Of course, it’s always important to understand the person’s life situation. If a person is on anti-depressants, it can be trickier. Sometimes they are not able to look at the roots of the problem. Also, the side effects from the drugs can be in the way of their healing. Often with depression the earth element is out of balance, and that can affect the person’s energy. They feel heavy, stuck, tired, lethargic, weepy. Their digestion often is out of balance, which relates to how they are digesting or assimilating their life experience. The herbs are helpful, and so is acupuncture, which is really great for moving stuck energy.”

Homeopathy provides another individualized system for working with depression. Tamara Der-Ohanian, a classical homeopath who practices in Toronto, described several cases and the different remedies given. “A patient who had been depressed his entire life, who had feelings of inadequacy, low self-esteem, and had difficulties expressing his feelings, made great progress with the remedy Natrum Muriaticum, while another patient suffering with life-long depression, who was a perfectionist, was unable to tolerate mediocrity, had rage and suicidal thoughts, made great improvement with the remedy Aurum Metallicum. Two recent cases of depression involving hormonal imbalance received the remedies Lilium Tigrinum and Sepia. In another case, the remedy Tuberculinum helped the recovery of a patient who became severely depressed after separating from her husband. And Arsenicum Album created a spark of optimism for a young woman who had been depressed since a childhood occurrence of sexual abuse,” she reported.

Exercise and meditation are two other methods for combating depression. Thirty minutes of exercise daily has been shown to be as effective as anti-depressants in mild to medium stages of depression. It’s simple and it works.

Some practitioners like to say, “Meditate, don’t medicate.” Mindfulness meditation gives the thinking mind a break and allows us to drop into present moment body experience. I highly recommend the book and CD The Mindful Way through Depression, by Mark Williams, John Teasdale, Zindel Segal and Jon Kabat-Zinn.

Hypnotherapy is another effective tool for letting the thinking mind rest and dropping into deep relaxation, where new suggestions can be taken up by the unconscious mind. Rochelle Jaffe, director of Ashland School of Hypnotherapy, said, “When people are depressed it’s hard for them to mobilize themselves. They know their negative thoughts are contributing to the depression, but they can’t get out of the cycle. Any treatment that uses the thinking mind to treat the thinking mind doesn’t work. Hypnotherapy helps people to access the deeper self and its transformative resources.”

Imagine what might happen both for individuals and society if even half of all the people suffering from depression took healing action rather than just masking their symptoms with anti-depressants. We would be surrounded with a great many more happy, engaged, fully present people. I sure enjoy imagining that and I do what I can to support that, person by person. I hope you do, too.

Gaea Yudron MRET, CHT is an author and health care practitioner who offers hypnotherapy and rapid eye healing services in Ashland. Her best-selling book Growing and Using the Healing Herbs (Gaea Weiss and Shandor Weiss) was published by Rodale Press. Her articles and poetry have appeared in Yoga Journal, San Francisco Examiner, and other publications. She can be reached at gaea@snowcrest.net or (530) 475-3649.