August 2008

Yoga and Meditation

Yoga is an ancient Eastern art that uses body poses and contortions to give inner peace. Meditation is also practiced in Yoga. You should keep in mind that you do not have to contort your body into impossible positions in order to achieve the benefits of Yoga. You also do not have to chant in order to meditate. Both of these ancient philosophies rely on cleansing the body and the spirit through self discipline.

You can easily learn yoga by renting a video or DVD or even reading a book. Yoga classes are available just about anywhere, even at your local park department. Meditation can be practiced anywhere. You just need about five minutes of peace and quiet and a chance to clear your mind. Think of happy, peaceful thoughts and then rid your body of negative energy. Meditation is, in itself, an art form but one that can really work to help you over tough times in your life. Yoga and Meditation are both used as methods of treating anxiety and depression as well as other ailments.

Eat A Healthy Diet

Many in the medical community believe that people who suffer from depression and anxiety have a deficiency in vitamins. You should not only eat a healthy diet that is rich in B vitamins (such as dark colored vegetables and fruits) but also Omega Fatty Acid which is found in fish. You should also take a multivitamin to make sure that you are getting all of the nutrients that you need. You may notice a change in your moods right away if you take a multi vitamin. Make sure that the vitamin that you take contains Omega 3 Fatty Acids.

Eating a healthy diet is good for anyone. Staying away from simple carbohydrates will not only benefit you mentally, but physically as well. This is not to say that you cannot have ice cream or sweets once in a while. Actually, dark chocolate is beneficial to your health and can be a mood enhancer all unto itself. But you should limit your portions of these foods and make sure that you get a healthy allotment of the foods that are beneficial to your health. Your new healthy diet will not only benefit you mentally, but physically as well.

Drink Water

Skip the soda and alcohol and drink plenty of water. You should also limit your caffeine intake. Have your morning coffee or tea, but switch to water during the day. Drinking water will not only help you maintain a healthy weight, but it will also boost your metabolism. Water is a natural energizer. While some say drinking eight glasses of water a day for health is a myth, most doctors will agree that water is very beneficial to your health.

Drinking water will also flush out your system and keep your immune system working properly. You will notice that you will fight off colds easier by drinking more water. Instead of sweet drinks, which are really only liquid candy and offer no nutritional value whatsoever, drink water.

Limit Alcohol and Don’t Smoke

Although some people who are anxious say that they smoke to calm their nerves, smoking actually increases your blood pressure and constricts your blood vessels. Smoking will make you wired, just like caffeine, so it hardly calms you down. In fact, you might find yourself significantly more relaxed after you have kicked the habit.

Alcohol is okay in a social setting and a glass of red wine can be very beneficial to your health. Like anything else, alcohol is fine in moderation. But if you are using alcohol to cure your anxiety, you are making a big mistake. While taking a stiff drink when you have a certain problem will not make you an alcoholic or even really harm you, if you learn this behavior and take a stiff drink every time something goes wrong in your life, you are headed for trouble. Alcohol should be used only socially and never as a medication.

Socialize

Human beings are social animals. We all need human contact. It is probably no coincidence that the number of people with anxiety and depression has risen so steadily as we have become more insular. Now, with the internet, many people are working from home and not interacting with other human beings at all. While the idea of going to work in your living room in your pajamas is pleasing, it can also be depressing if you never get a chance to meet or talk to other people.

There are plenty of groups and clubs that you can join that will give you a chance to interact with other people. Find something that you like to do and join a club. Go to your local library and join a book club. Take a look at classes at your local community college or park department. Do not rely on the internet as your sole source of socialization. We all need human interaction to avoid becoming depressed.

Get Creative!

Depression does tend to plague creative people more than others. Do something creative to stave off depression. Whether it is writing, painting, singing or even dancing, use your talents and enjoy your creativity. Even if you use your time to decorate your house, you can not only have some fun doing something that you enjoy, but also keep depression and anxiety at bay.

Get Busy

If you do not know what to do, clean something. Pick a closet in your home and clean it out. This will help you deal with your anxiety and also get something done at the same time. Being active is the best way to treat anxiety and depression. You have to force yourself to do this, but once you start, you will notice a difference. Chances are that you will start concentrating less on your anxiety and depression and more on the closet or bathroom that you are cleaning. And when you are finished, you will feel good about yourself.

Depression has its roots in low self esteem. In order to build up your self esteem, try the tips outlined in this chapter. You can also use affirmations on a daily basis. Try to banish negative thoughts from your mind and keep looking at everything in a positive light. This will help you treat depression and anxiety.

All of the ideas in this chapter are safe to do even if you are using medication. You should consult with your doctor before starting a strenuous exercise program, however. These ideas are all tried and true ways that you can treat your own depression. If you get into the habit of using all of them, chances are that you may be able to treat your depression and anxiety without drugs.

This is in no way to insinuate that someone who is suffering from severe anxiety or depression can be cured by taking a herbal supplement or performing exercises or yoga. This book cannot state enough that serious depression is a disease, a serious disease that can prove fatal. A person should not treat themselves for severe depression any more than they should try to remove their own gallbladder.

That being said, in the same respect, every single person who feels a little down should not have to run to the doctor and get tranquilizers and anti depressants. There are certain things that people can do to stave off both depression and anxiety on their own. Here are some tips on how to deal with depression and anxiety on your own. Even if you are under medication, you can use these methods to help you cope with depression and anxiety.

Routine

Establish a routine of some sort for yourself. Remember that anxiety comes from the fear of the unknown and loss of control and depression has its roots in low self esteem. A routine is a safe harbor in an unsafe world. A routine, even if it is as simple as watching a television show every night, gives you some sense of security in your life. You know that no matter how bad things get, you will still have that routine in which to rely upon.

A woman named Sarah tells a funny story about when she gave birth to her first child. Every night, she watched a specific program on television that gave her a sense of security. She was anxious about the impending birth of her first child as any new mother usually is. She was also excited about the birth as she and her husband got the nursery ready for the new baby.

Each night, she watched her favorite program on television and it gave her a sense of routine. No matter how nervous she was about the birth, she knew that she had something to look forward to each night that gave her a sense of security. In short, she had a routine.

When her baby was born, things were naturally chaotic. Her baby was a healthy little boy and Sarah was over the moon about him. But it was scary taking care of him. She was now a mother who was responsible for a life. She was happy to be a mother and loved her baby, but was very anxious.

She stopped watching her favorite program because things seemed so turned around in the house. A week after the birth, she managed to put the television on and there it was - her favorite show. And she sat down and watched.

Sarah soon began to again look forward to this program. She experienced an upheaval in her life and relied on routine to get her through this anxious time. The best part of this story is that Sarah realized how important some sort of routine can be to the mental state and also passed this on to her son and then later, her daughter. Today, Sarah’s children are grown and mentally healthy. Sarah, by the way, no longer watches that particular program. She does, however, continue to rely on routine as a way to alleviate anxiety.

Exercise

Any doctor worth his or her salt will tell you to exercise if you have depression or anxiety. Again, this can be used in conjunction with medication, if medication is needed. Exercise not only helps you physically, but also mentally. Exercise naturally raises your serotonin levels and gives you an energy boost as well. When you are depressed, however, the toughest thing to do is to exercise. It will work to help with your depression if you can just get into the habit.

Even if you just manage to take a walk or do some stretches, get yourself in to an exercise routine. This is valuable information for anyone, but particularly anyone who wants to alleviate depression. This is not to say that you cannot still take medication, but exercise can work well with the medication.

Exercise not only helps with depression, but anxiety as well. Performing exercise puts you in control of your environment, which can alleviate anxiety. Remember that lack of control makes us feel anxious so you can gain some control in your life in a positive manner if you exercise.

Some people with anxiety and depression find themselves becoming addicted to exercise. You will find them at the gym all of the time and they usually appear to be in excellent physical shape. Although addiction in any form is bad, even to something as positive as exercise, spending all of your time in the gym is better than spending it at a bar. You just want to make sure that you do not neglect other duties in your quest to stay fit.

Exercise is good for you physically and mentally. It will raise your energy level, boost your metabolism and even your immune system. On top of that, it will help you get into good physical shape. Most people who are depressed care very little about their physical appearance. Exercise helps them get into shape and gives them something to strive for, especially if they need to lose weight.

This is the cure all for a lot of different ailments, including anxiety and depression. If you are experiencing anxiety or depression on a small scale, start jogging or exercising before you reach for pills. You will be pleasantly surprised at the amazing effects.

The symptoms for depression and anxiety are something that most of us will experience at one point in our lives. They are very vague and general symptoms. There are different levels of anxiety and depression and they symptoms all relate to those levels.

Whether or not we need care to deal with the symptoms depends on the severity of the symptoms and the cause. Some obvious factors cause depression and anxiety. The condition is usually alleviated when the stressor is removed.

Some people experience short term anxiety and depression upon a major stressor in their life, even if it is a happy occasion. Any sort of change can upset tranquility in a person’s world. People feel comfortable with routine and a break in routine can bring about anxiety or depression. This, again, is short lived until the person gets comfortable and settled into the new routine.

If, however, the symptoms are severe that the person does not want to get out of bed in the morning, is having suicidal thoughts or is experiencing depression or anxiety for more than a few weeks, it is time to seek treatment.

Symptoms of depression include:

Insomnia or over sleeping
Loss of appetite or over eating
Low or no sex drive
Loss of interest in anything that they once took pleasure in
Crying
Letting their appearance go
Apathy and just not caring about life
A feeling of hopelessness

Severe depression would include suicidal thoughts. Many people who experience depression exhibit one of all of these signs. If everyone who ever had a bout of depression went on medication, the entire nation truly would be a Prozac nation. Most of the time, these symptoms gradually dissipate. If they persist, a person should seek treatment.

Suicidal thoughts should never be ignored, even if you believe that the person is faking it just to get attention. You never want to be wrong on a call like that, so you are better off to be safe than sorry. If a friend or loved one threatens suicide, don’t mess around - call 911.

Chronic depression lasts for more than a few weeks. It may be alleviated with medication. It may come and go.

Depression that is triggered by an event, such as the loss of a loved one or even the loss of a job, will usually resolve on its own. If it persists, chances are that it triggered something that was already there.

Symptoms of Anxiety include:

Nervousness and jumpy
Trouble sleeping - often has insomnia
Trouble focusing thoughts
May develop compulsive habits to keep order
Tremors (in some cases)
Can exhibit some destructive behavior (almost a mania in some cases)
Excessive worrying that is not logical

Anxiety is all about a need to control an environment that is out of control. Again, it is usually triggered by depression. A situation occurs that causes a person to become depressed. The body fights the situation with anxiety. Anxiety, the fear of the unknown, wishes to control the situation so that it cannot happen again.

Having anxiety and depression is very common. Getting treated for these syndromes does not make you crazy. If so, the entire country would be considered crazy. Millions are on medication for these illnesses as it is and millions more are self medicating with booze and illegal drugs.

While medications and therapy have proven to be effective in helping people who suffer from anxiety and depression, there are some things that they can do to actually help themselves. These natural means of treating their condition can work wonders.

There are three obsessive behaviors that you are likely to be engaging in that impeded your healing process and stop you from enjoying a stress-free life. Recognizing these barriers can be a great first step toward getting rid of the problems that go with being too stressed.

The first is obsessive negativity. When you are obsessively negative, it means that you have a tendency toward being “negative” about people, places, situations, and things in your life.

Perhaps you find yourself saying things like “I can’t do this!” or “No one understands!” or “Nothing ever works!”, for example. You may be doing this unconsciously, but essentially you have what’s known as a “sour grapes” attitude, and it holds you back from knowing what it’s like to view life from a positive lens and enjoy the beauty in yourself and people around you! There’s a whole world out there for you…with happiness and positive thinking.

Then you have obsessive perfectionism. When you engage in obsessive perfectionism, you are centered on trying to do everything “just so” to the point of driving yourself into an anxious state of being. You may find yourself making statements such as, “I have to do this right, or I’ll be a failure!” or “If I am not precise, people will be mad at me!” Again, this behavior may be totally under the threshold of your awareness, but it interferes greatly with your ability to enjoy things without feeling “uptight” and “stressed.”

Finally there is obsessive analysis. When you are obsessed about analyzing things, you find yourself wanting to re-hash a task or an issue over and over again. For instance, you might find yourself making statements such as, “I need to look this over, study it, and know it inside and out…or else I can’t relax!” or “If I relax and let things go without looking them over repeatedly, things go wrong!”

While analytical thinking is an excellent trait, if it’s done in excess you never get to stop and smell the roses because you’re too busy trying to analyze everything and everyone around you. Gaining insight into this type of behavior is one of the most important keys to letting go of stress, and getting complete power over your anxiety.
If you find yourself engaging in any of the above “Blocking Behaviors”, there are two things you can do to help yourself. First, ask the people you know, love, and trust, “Am I negative about things?”, “Do I complain a lot?”, and “Am I difficult to be around?”
This may be hard for you to listen to, as the truth sometimes hurts a great deal. But the insight you will get from others’ assessment of you is invaluable, and you’ll know precisely how others see you. Accept their comments as helpful info, and know that you will gain amazing insights from what you hear.

Second, keep a journal to write down and establish patterns of when you are using “blocking behaviors.” Even if you are not thrilled with the idea of writing, you can make little entries into a note book or journal each day. The great part is that you’ll begin to see patterns in your behavior that reveal exactly what you’re doing to prevent yourself from curing your anxiety.

We’ll give you some great stress busting techniques later in the book, but you need to recognize these blockages first so you can move into the “healing” stage and conquer your stress and anxiety.

Many people think that stress and anxiety are the same thing. This couldn’t be further from the truth!

It is tough to treat depression with treatment. Talking about problems can get a person to unleash their problems that are disturbing them, but if you think that a few counseling sessions are going to cause someone to make a life altering revelation and reveal all of the problems of the past, you have watched The Prince Of Tides one too many times.

For the most part, there are behavior therapies that are taught in therapy sessions that can teach you how to cope with depression and treat anxiety. Your therapist may give you the following ideas on how to cope with anxiety:

Write down the fear that you are having on a piece of paper. This makes the fear real, and not just a figment of your imagination. Read it and toss the fear in to the trash can. This is symbolic and an attempt to toss away your fears.

A more effective method is to allow you to face your fears. Take the example of Linda.

Linda was a 38 year old mother of two who was worried about breast cancer. A friend of hers had breast cancer she became convinced that she, too, probably had the disease. Instead of having her fears alleviated by going to the doctor, she decided to dwell on it. The worry took its toll on Linda, her job and her family.

After about three months of nearly constant worrying, Linda’s body could not take it anymore and she collapsed at work. Actually, Linda had a panic attack which caused her to feel dizzy and actually faint. The fact that she was not eating properly didn’t help. She was rushed to the hospital where she uttered her anxious fears. Although her physical tests came back fine, she was urged to admit herself to the psych ward so that they could help her.

In the psych ward, Linda had to undergo group counseling as well as meet with a psychiatrist. The psychiatrist ordered a mammogram for Linda and told her that she had to face this fear. She was trembling so bad when she had the mammogram that a nurse had to hold her hand. Finally, it was all over. The mammogram came back normal. Linda felt like a new person.

She stayed in the psych ward for three days and found out that perhaps the fact a good friend was facing a devastating illness forced Linda to confront her own mortality and the fact that she didn’t have enough money put aside for her kids, if something happened to her. She used the breast cancer as a cover for the real worry, which was her concern for her children if something happened to her.

In addition to learning to break down her anxiety and try to get to the root of the real problem, which was fear of the unknown, Linda also faced one of her greatest fears. Now she was no longer afraid of the mammogram. She goes every year for this potentially life saving test.

Therapy really helped Linda with her anxiety. Drugs might have masked the anxiety disorder by getting her to relax, but she really needed to get to the root of the problem.

The root of the problem of most people with anxiety is fear of the unknown. Fear of death, fear of losing their job, fear of what it going to happen in the future. Although we should be wise enough to realize that there is no guarantee for the future and that anything can happen on any given day, the idea that our lives are not totally under our control scares the living daylights out most people. So what do they do to gain control? They desperately look for some way that they can control their environment.

When we think of someone trying to control their environment, we might imagine someone who is either what is termed a control freak or someone with obsessive compulsive disorder who has to have everything in a certain order in their home. We often refer to people as anal retentive if they have to have things a specific way to keep them from freaking out. Just about everyone suffers, to a degree, of anxiety. Everyone fears the unknown. How we deal with the issue is what puts some people on anti anxiety medication and others in the church or the bar.

A good percentage of people with anxiety drink. This is an easy way to self medicate and relieve the anxiety. It does not cure the anxiety, it is just a mask. Like tranquilizers, booze can just make a person feel calm for a moment but is not a cure. In fact, it can be downright destructive.

Taking a drink at a social occasion is one thing. Having to have a drink because you are anxious and using booze as medication is another. When combined with sleeping pills or anxiety medication, it can be deadly.

Alcoholism has long since been recognized as a disease. Alcoholics Anonymous is a very effective support group that has helped millions of people get and stay sober over the years. Just about everyone is familiar with the prayer recited at the end of the meetings. Give me the strength to change what I can change and accept what I cannot change.

This gets right to the root of the problem that most alcoholics have. They are no different than anyone else suffering from anxiety and depression except that they are choosing a different method of medication. And long before there were tranquilizers, there was booze. People have been self medicating themselves for ions. Alcohol is the drug of choice when it comes to treating anxiety.

Alcoholics anonymous uses support and therapy to keep people sober. Drugs are not used as a replacement for the booze. The secret is to go to the meetings and continue getting the support of their fellow alcoholics. This is simple therapy. It is not performed by a therapist or counselor or anyone licensed in this field. It is performed by other people who have also been through the same problem and give their support to others so that they, too, can become sober and overcome their addiction to alcohol.

There is a line in the film Crocodile Dundee in which Paul Hogan’s character is confused because he is introduced to someone who is seeing a shrink. He immediately assumes that she must be insane. Coming from the outback in Australia to New York City, his character felt that anyone who had to resort to psychiatry was, in his words, a lunatic.

When it is explained to him that the woman was not crazy but just saw a therapist to talk over her problems, his response was doesn’t she have any mates?

And the answer was that we can all use more mates.

Freud went to his grave with one secret - that a psychiatrist was really just a paid friend. Most of us give more credit to the profession of counseling and therapy than that. While we do pay them to listen to our problems, unlike a friend who will always be on our side and is biased, a counselor will sometimes tell us things that we do not want to hear.

Therapy is much more effective at treating anxiety. Instead of just treating the problem with pills or self medicating with booze, we need to seek out treatment however we have to find it. Whether it is a support group, a friend or a counselor, we need to be able to let out our fears and not let them take over our lives. Otherwise, we are simply masking the problem with medication and booze.

If you suffer from anxiety, instead of reaching for the tranquilizers, reach for the phone and make an appointment to see a counselor. Most will work on a sliding scale where you can pay what you can afford. If you are in dire straits, call your local municipality and find out if there is a program that gives treatment for those suffering from anxiety disorders.

You are far from alone. There are millions of people who are already on medication and being treated for this disease. If you want to know how many are not being treated but are self medicated, take a look at your local tavern. Chances are you will find several people in the tavern who have been there awhile and are treating their anxiety with alcohol.