Category: Spiritual Writings

‘Find your own groove… dance your own dance.

We came here to be unique expressions of the divine spark… not cookie cutter copies of what’s popular and socially appealing.  We are being called to dive deeper into ourselves, to find our answers within.

You will only temporarily scratch an itch by looking outside of you, because others can only inspire.  Sooner or later your soul will growl hungrily within you and the search begins again.  You think, “Maybe this reading/modality will tell me who I am?”

You won’t find yourself out there.  You need to go within.  Face all the stuff that scares you.  Look at all the things you’ve been told are true and ask are they true for you?  Be willing to drop everything and empty it all out.  Get to know yourself.  Dive in..”

The Truth—Joint pain, headaches and chronic fatigue syndrome are also associated with depression, possibly because pain and mood are regulated by the same pathways in the brain, says John Greden, MD, executive director of the University of Michigan Comprehensive Depression Center, in Ann Arbor. A recent study presented at the European Society of Cardiology Congress also found that depressed patients experience more frequent chest pain even in the absence of coronary artery disease. The combination of mental and physical pain can be debilitating—major depressive disorder is the leading cause of disability in the U.S. for those ages 15 to 44, according to the Anxiety and Depression Association of America.

Mistaken Belief #2: Nobody you know has depression

The Truth—The average age of onset for major depressive disorder is 32 years old, according to the National Institutes of Mental Health, and in any given year, 6.7 percent of Americans 18 and older suffer from it. Women are particularly vulnerable— 1 in 5 will develop depression at some point in their life, and they’re 70 percent more likely to experience it than men. And because of the stigma that’s still attached to depression, people often hide their symptoms. Meaning “You may know someone with it and have no idea,” says Sarah Lisanby, MD, director of the division of translational research at the National Institutes of Mental Health.

Mistaken Belief #3: There’s always a trigger

The Truth—”Sometimes there are major life stressors we can pinpoint, but sometimes there aren’t,” says Lisanby. “I’ve had patients who say that everything is wonderful and they have no reason to be depressed, but they are nonetheless.” Depression with no identifiable trigger is called endogenous depression, and Ian Gotlib, PhD, director of the Stanford Mood and Anxiety Disorders Laboratory, estimates that it happens in roughly a third of cases. A person’s first depressive episode may have an obvious trigger, like the death of a friend or family member or overwhelming stress, but the more episodes a person suffers, the more likely it is that future bouts will come on without a precipitating event.

Mistaken Belief #4: Antidepressants will fix the problem

The Truth—SSRIs were a game changer when they came to market in the 1980s, and there are many other types of meds available (tricyclics, MAOIs, SNRIs), but none offers a one-size-fits-all fix. Why? “We don’t really know how to match patient to treatment very well,” says Gotlib. “With cancer, researchers are looking at genotypes to predict response to specific treatments. We’re not there yet with psychiatric disorders.” At the moment, depression treatment typically involves a complicated, potentially lengthy process of figuring out the right medication, type of therapy or combination of the two, then waiting to see if it works. Even after that, “[only] 65 percent of people will get better,” says Gotlib.

Mistaken Belief #5: If you’re not sad, you’re not depressed

The Truth—Sadness (clinically known as depressed mood or irritability) is just one of nine criteria for major depressive disorder outlined in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders 5, the go-to reference book on psychiatric illness. The other eight: loss of interest in activities you previously enjoyed, significant changes in weight or appetite, changes in sleep, fatigue or low energy, change in activity levels, feelings of guilt or worthlessness, trouble concentrating and thoughts of suicide. An official diagnosis of depression requires five of the nine persisting for at least two weeks, but depressed mood doesn’t have to be among the five.

Mistaken Belief #6: It’s a personal failing—depressed people just need to buck up

The Truth—Every expert we spoke with cited this as one of the most common and damaging myths about depression, because while there are factors that can increase your risk (family history, trauma, a stressful life event, to name a few), mental weakness isn’t one of them. “Telling a depressed person that they need to pull themselves up by their bootstraps is like telling someone with pneumonia to do the same,” says Stuart Eisendrath, MD, founding director of the University of California San Francisco Depression Center. “People don’t understand that there’s a physiological abnormality associated with, it just like there is with other illnesses.”

 

Read more: http://www.oprah.com

Read more: http://www.oprah.com/health_wellness/surprising-depression-facts/all#ixzz5gf3oiKf8

A young and successful executive was traveling down a neighborhood street, going a bit too fast in his new Jaguar. He was watching for kids darting out from between parked cars and slowed down when he thought he saw something. As his car passed, no children appeared. Instead, a brick smashed into the Jag’s side door!

He slammed on the brakes and spun the Jag back to the spot from where the brick had been thrown. He jumped out of the car, grabbed some kid and pushed him up against a parked car shouting, “What was that all about and who are you? Just what do you think you are doing?” Building up a head of steam, he went on. “That’s a new car and that brick you threw is going to cost a lot of money. Why did you do it?”

“Please, mister, please. I’m sorry, but I didn’t know what else to do!” pleaded the youngster. “I threw the brick because no one else would stop.” Tears were dripping down the boy’s chin as he pointed around the parked car. “It’s my brother,” he said. “He rolled off the curb and fell out of his wheelchair and I can’t lift him up.” Sobbing, the boy asked the executive, “Would you please help me get him back into his wheelchair? He’s hurt and he’s too heavy for me.”

Moved beyond words, the driver tried to swallow the rapidly swelling lump in his throat. He lifted the young man back into the wheelchair and took out his handkerchief and wiped the scrapes and cuts, checking to see that everything was going to be okay. “Thank you and God bless you,” the grateful child said to him. The man then watched the little boy push his brother down the sidewalk toward their home.

It was a long walk back for the man to his Jaguar…a long, slow walk. He never did repair the side door. He kept the dent to remind him not to go through life so fast that someone has to throw a brick at you to get your attention.”
Author Unknown