Natural Healing for Depression
Leo Galland, M.D.
If you are reading this book because you or someone you care about suffers from depression, please understand that you are not alone. The symptoms of depression trouble more than twenty-five percent of Americans. The frequency of depression is increasing and its debilitating symptoms are striking people at younger and younger ages. If you were born after World War II you are four times more likely to experience severe depression than your grandparents were. The increase in depression parallels an increase in other epidemic diseases of modern society, all of which have become frighteningly prominent during the twentieth-century: cancer, heart disease, asthma and allergic disorders, arthritis, inflammatory bowel disease, attention deficit disorder, and childhood autism. The response of conventional medical care to all these problems has been to define new diagnostic standards, develop new drugs for treatment and search for the genes that "cause" the disease. Yet all our modern diseases result from complex, interacting factors that include stress, social and cultural changes, the effects of environmental toxicity and nutritional imbalances.
Depression, especially, demands a holistic approach to its understanding and its treatment. Depression always involves both mind and body, the individual person and the environment in which the person lives. Depression disrupts social relationships. It may destroy friendships and marriages or result from the destruction of friendships and marriages. Depression alters the chemistry of the brain and may also result from abnormalities in the chemistry of the brain. By affecting appetite it may alter nutrition. Nutritional deficiency and excess on the other hand may cause depression. Depression may be the result of physical illness and may cause physical illness. It is just as important in causing death from heart disease as are smoking or high blood pressure; lifelong depression increases the risk of cancer.
Complete recovery from depression usually requires that many paths be taken, because depression rarely has a single cause. It's important to know what factors in a person's life trigger symptoms and how the various components of life modulate moods and thoughts. Diet and nutrition, the daily pattern of sleep and exercise, memories and expectations, social interactions, the time of year, the weather, stage of the menstrual cycle, the use of drugs and medication, exposure to toxins--chemical, psychological and spiritual -- must all be considered.
Although depression has increased dramatically in today's world, the problem of depression is ancient. We can therefore draw on the wisdom of many different healing traditions, modern and ancient, in our quest to overcome the burden of depression and discover the vibrant energy that each of us possesses.
This unique book brings together the expertise of doctors skilled in different healing traditions. They all share a common understanding: that good health and vitality result from harmony and balance and that illness or disease are the result of disharmony and imbalance. This understanding separates all systems of natural healing from conventional medicine, which is built around the theory of diseases. The key question for the conventional physician is, What disease does this person have? The treatment then is the treatment of the disease, in this case depression, not an attempt to help the individual restore health by creating harmony and balance. The distinction between the two approaches--natural healing and conventional-- can be profound. The conventional approach to depression has been increasingly based upon the use of drugs that alter the chemistry of the brain. Alternative therapies focus on the person. Their goal is to empower the individual to regain health, emotional and physical, by restoring balance and harmony of function. The methods used are person-centered. They may complement or substitute for conventional psychiatric care and are often useful in helping people who resist or oppose the concepts which underlie conventional psychiatric methods. They represent a wonderful resource for people in the stressed/depressed modern world.
Not only is each of the contributors an expert in the particular field which he or she discusses, each writer brings a holistic perspective to his or her work that recognizes the importance of integrating therapies. The awareness that guides this book is the same awareness that underlies Integrated Medicine. Specific therapeutic techniques are helpful, but what is most important for restoring and maintaining health is the holistic perspective: Each of us is a unique individual living in an environment which we share with others. Each of us has special needs for achieving and maintaining a state of inner balance and harmony with the environment in which we live. Depression is one outcome of the breakdown of balance and harmony. Restoration of health begins with empowerment, the decision each person makes to take an active role in health restoration. To realize personal empowerment, we need tools. Awakening Your Energy for Life gives its readers those tools and the resources with which to seek additional help.
For many people, diet and nutrition is a good place to start. We all eat at least once a day, and food can have profound physiological effects. Alcohol, sugar and caffeine affect the body like drugs. People who are depressed frequently medicate themselves with these foods, producing an unstable internal state that aggravates depression. Four chapters in this book use nutrition as the point of departure for the journey of self healing. Their perspectives are different but complementary, allowing readers to choose tactics with the greatest personal appeal.
Patterns of thought have a profound influence on the symptoms of depression. It's common to believe that sad feelings are the cause of negative thoughts. Extensive research and abundant experience show us that the converse is true. Our thoughts and activities determine our feelings. Seven chapters of this book present strategies for promoting thoughts, beliefs and habits of physical activity that enhance emotional well-being. Although their techniques differ, they share the belief that personal activation can help people overcome depression. Control of your thoughts, actions, eating and drinking is the beginning of empowerment.
Several chapters proceed from the recognition that natural substances including nutritional supplements, full strength herbs and homeopathic remedies can help enhance energy and vitality. It is important to understand the difference between this nutriceutical/homeopathic approach and the pharmaceutical approach of conventional medicine. Like drugs, nutriceuticals influence the physiology of the body. Unlike drugs, however, nutriceuticals are not used to suppress symptoms or to treat diseases. They are used as part of a system that has as its primary focus the restoration of harmony of function for the whole person.
James and Nancy Strohecker have brought together some of the best healers practicing today. Search through their insights and their wisdom. Embrace those concepts and techniques which make the most sense to you. Use this book to empower yourself and those you love.
Leo Galland M.D.
Director, Foundation for Integrated Medicine
Author, Power Healing (Random House, 1998)