Holistic Depression Remedies

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Holistic Depression Remedies

Depression is one of the most common concerns in mental health today. While depression is the natural reaction to certain situations, such as the death of a loved one, it becomes problematic when it's the reaction to much more minor situations and when the condition dominates most of your conscious awareness.

In this article, we present a holistic healing approach to depression and provide a number of tips and suggested remedies for managing and preventing depression altogether. First, however, we need to define depression and explain a little bit about what triggers it in today's hectic lifestyles.

Definition of Depression

Depression: general emotional dejection and withdrawal; sadness, dullness or inactivity.

Depression is an emotional state of melancholy that allows the body, mind, and soul to heal and recuperate after a terrible loss of something important, either tangible or intangible. We often refer to depression as a feeling of sadness. Again, this is a normal, even necessary condition that results from the many experiences in human life. Depression becomes a problem, however, when the melancholy mood persists beyond a reasonable amount of time to provide necessary rest and healing, or when the symptoms of depression appear without any specific or obvious cause. Note that depression is often a reaction to anxiety. Therefore, these mental and emotional disorders often go hand in hand.

Based on this more traditional definition of depression, it is difficult to understand then, why the symptoms seem to appear out of "nowhere". Many times people experience the symptoms depression, but deny them by saying "but I don't have any reason to feel this way".

What Are the Causes of Depression?

We have to broaden the definition then in order to see how depression is the result of more subtle and less dramatic causes. In a nutshell, the chaotic busyness of today's modern life creates stress, and the brain interprets stress as the threat of danger and/or loss. In other words, stress is the major cause of depression.

Whether or not you have any so-called "valid reason" to feel depressed, the brain interprets your reaction to stress as a significant loss, and quite often, and the threat of pending danger. You may not consciously be aware for example, that deep down you are longing for peace, quiet, and solitude. But the pressures of your days with the endless demands of work, family, social obligations and other duties leave you feeling that there just aren't enough hours in a day. You are spread too thinly and you know you are stressed out. If you don't relieve this stress, over time, it wears you down and causes both anxiety and depression.

Subconsciously, stress creates the conditions in your mind of mourning, a longing for peace and order that is lacking in your life. By the time you realize you are depressed, your natural reserves of rebound energies are so depleted that you can not easily "just get over it". In fact, your physical chemistry is literally altered by the depression.

Symptoms of Depression

Depression often reveals itself as fatigue. Even when you have enough sleep, you desire to sleep more. Depression is an overall lethargic state of being.

Both anxiety and depression can cause insomnia, headache and other physical pain, lack of appetite, irritability, and an overall gloomy perception of the world. Clearly these symptoms all affect your quality of life.

Recognizing Symptoms of Depression

In either case, you simply can not talk yourself out of the symptoms. When depression or anxiety have taken over your whole being, you are truly disabled in your normal functioning. The first step in finding a cure then, is recognizing your symptoms and calling the kettle black, so to speak: recognize that what you are experiencing is real and identify it as anxiety and/or depression.

Depression is a serious mental health disorder and requires serious attention and deliberate intention to overcome. Fortunately, the medical community and most of society have finally come to admit the reality and the severity of depression, and as a result, there are many cures available to treat these disorders. In our world dominated by Western medicine, we hear a lot about pharmaceutical drugs that are designed to reorder your brain's chemistry to set it back on balance. But what if you want a more natural way to restore your mental health?

Holistic Depression Remedies

Fortunately there are many natural remedies for depression: In particular, these constitute two main categories that fall under a holistic (whole - mind and body) approach to healing: 1) lifestyle changes; and 2) natural herbs.

You may not be able to change your job, fix all your personal relationships, find a quick fix for your financial woes, or create more hours in your days (these are the major stressors in most people's lives). You can, however, make changes in your lifestyle that will help you better manage those problems. Exercise and diet, for example, have a tremendous affect on how you feel. Prioritize yourself so you do things regularly that you enjoy. This also has a powerful impact and can work to free you from the chains of depression.

By taking a holistic approach to remedying your depression, you can get at the source and thereby the cause of your depression. This doesn't mean medicine, whether natural or pharmaceutical, won't help - but medications, in all but the most severe cases, only address the underlying symptoms. It's a lifestyle change that will ultimately free you from the bonds of depression. That being said, you might also be interested in our article on Herbs for Anxiety and Depression.