ASSESSMENT: Am I depressed? How depressed am I?

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YOUR REPORT: Am I depressed? How depressed am I?

Many inner turbulences are considered in Western society to be mental disorders and are seen as diseases. Depression is one of the more well-known disease labels related to chemical imbalances or dysfunctions of the brain. There are others who believe that depression is not a disease, but rather, a symptom of other inner processes at play. Some of the confusion arises from misconceptions about what depression is: many individuals believe that depression is “feeling down,” or “being in the doldrums.”

Depression is neither a disorder nor a disease. A disorder indicates that something is out of the ordinary realm of existence. Depression, however, is not about having a single bad day, or even a bad week. Depression is not related to a trivial life event, a mood change that will come and go. Depression is unconnected to specific life events, such as the death of a loved one. Depression is an intense feeling of pervasive sadness and dissatisfaction with life, which results in a paralysis of the will, and an overpowering feeling of being disconnected from both self and others. What is commonly considered as depression can also be seen as an invitation to reevaluate one’s life.

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A disease is a condition of a living being in which one or more of its parts, such as organs, are not functioning properly. This then produces certain signs and symptoms that indicate that dysfunction is present. What is commonly called depression, therefore, is not a disease. There is rarely anything wrong with the brain as an organ, contrary to what many individuals believe.

The idea of neurochemical imbalances in the brain, especially those of serotonin and dopamine, has never been proven by research. There have been weak correlations that connected chemical imbalance to depression, but there has never been strong research that indicated that depression is a disease state arising from neurochemical imbalances in the brain. Popular theories of the biochemical causes of depression include a reduced level of serotonin, dopamine, and norepinephrine in the brain. However, reducing the levels of these neurotransmitters in the brain does not cause depression in either people or animals. Further, though some individuals suffering from depression show lower levels of serotonin, dopamine, and norepinephrine, many of these individuals do not show reduced neurochemical levels. In fact, several studies have shown that just one-quarter of depressed individuals have these reduced neurochemical levels. Some depressed individuals actually show an increased level of serotonin and norepinephrine. Other individuals, with no history of depression, show reduced levels of the neurotransmitters.

Therefore, depression is not caused by a chemical imbalance in the brain. It may be correlated to some neurochemical states, but correlation does not mean causation, and any correlations seen are not strong enough to indicate any true causative relationships and interactions.

But even if it is the case, and if what you call depression is a chemical imbalance in the brain, then we would like to challenge you with following.

Right in this moment do this simple things: go vigorously exercise outdoors for 15 minutes, get a piece of dark chocolate (it won’t hurt you), then turn on some uplifting yet relaxing music, change your breath pattern to deep and slow, put a smile on your face, slow down the chain of thoughts and slip between them. If what you called depression was a disease, then if you observe yourself you noticed that endorphins and serotonin naturally produced just changed the structure of your chemical pattern. And if we have just changed it in 20 minutes, is considering chemical imbalance to be a foundation for categorizing your emotional state as a disease have any scientific or practical rationale?

Of course, an argument can be made that brain scans can show abnormalities, including the flux of biochemical changes, which may indicate a certain disease state is present in the brain, and that an individual suffers from this or that disease. The argument then goes that the brain scans “prove” that depression is indeed a disease state, and should be treated pharmaceutically. Well, we have just worked around this proof with a simple exercise, and there are many more holistic methodologies can be applied to deepen the state of satisfaction with life. We call ours –PhysioEmoDynamics Method. Try it or any other, before considering anti-depressants that in most cases have side effects, in addition to the fact that they disempower you and prevent you from looking deeper into finding who you truly are, underneath all your social conditioning, and what actually makes you “tick”.

Dr. Christopher Dowrick, Professor of Primary Medical Care at the Institute of Psychology, Health, and Society of the University of Liverpool, and Olga Kostrova, Founder of PhysioEmoDynamics Institute, California, insist that depression is not a disease, but rather, a culture-based syndrome. Both agree that depression is an “illness,” (again, not a disease), that is related to a specific culture of society, and as a universal concept, the term depression has little to no validity because there is no pathological basis for depression, as it is not a disease. This indicates, then, that depression is not caused by pathological or biochemical reasons, but rather, is a symptom of a cultural landscape which the mind, which takes in information from its environment, has manifested.

While pharmaceutical agents may help alleviate some of the symptoms of depression, it does nothing to attack the underlying causes. The pharmaceutics are unable to address the underlying causes of the mixed beliefs, imposed by media values and other inner conflicts. Kostrova suggests that individuals who suspect depression in their loved ones can benefit from spiritual counselors, and well-trained life coaches who can guide them through the social, psychological, emotional, and spiritual domains in the individual’s life. The coach should allow the individual suffering from the “depression” space to discuss life problems, what they are feeling and why, and offer hope for alternatives and various methodologies to reframe the subconscious mind conditioned by social environments and events that are perceived as “traumatic”. The coach should connect with the individual on an empathetic level, offering emotional and psychological support, as the individual needs it. This all indicates that depression has an objectified subjective cause, and it is this cause that one must dissolve. To “recover” you must understand the cultural causes, and recognize the psychological and emotional mechanisms underlying the depressed states.

While psychiatry still does not understand fully what causes psychological distress, spiritual (non-religious) practices address them and deal with existential depression instead of considering clinical.

So, we hope you understand –that what you might call depression is not a disease. Rather, it is an indication, a symptom, of some other underlying cause at play. From our experience the cause is almost always inner mental and emotional conflicts –conflicts of mental structures: concepts, belief systems, desires, values etc.

Regardless of the cause, commonly experienced depression is not a disease, it is not a pathological state in which the body manifests certain signs and symptoms that indicate organ dysfunction (with rare exceptions). Depression rarely has an objective cause, a root biological process. It mainly has inner, culturally influenced causes; that are not universal, and help to further expand our understanding of depression as a symptom, a cry for help that our mind and soul are calling for.

The development of the “self” begins with recognizing what is “me” and what is “not me.” We come to believe the outer world of reality (not me) is objective and “real”, even though it is largely projected by our inner world of thoughts, emotions, and fantasies (me). We are conscious of only a small part of our inner world because this inner world has such a strong effect on our overt emotions, behaviors and thoughts it significantly forms our perception of the “objective” world yet the connection stays beneath our cognition. The Talmud cuts through the illusion this way “We see things not as they are, but as we are.”

There are many methods and modalities that are worthwhile in alleviating depression, while also recognizing that depression is not a disease. Specifically, our PhysioEmoDynamics Method is an alternative therapy helping individuals to better explore their emotional world, and the world of unconscious mind. PhysioEmoDynamics programs seeks to make the unconscious aspects of the mind part of the individual’s present experience, and helps the person understand how their behaviors and moods are affected by their feelings.

During PhysioEmoDynamics sessions, the individual is encouraged to express freely whatever is present in their mental, emotional and physical fields, express feelings and emotions through the language of the body, with the help of sounds, breath and movement. As they do so, they begin to understand better how perceptions of past experiences affect their life now. The goal of PhysioEmoDynamics is to develop the internal and reflective resources to deal with the emotional challenges that life presents. Each session explores contradictory beliefs and desires, threatening memories, and unacknowledged feelings. Further, this exploration into the contradicting beliefs helps the individual recognize that just because they are able to explain the rationality behind emotions does not mean they are capable of doing anything efficacious to relieve themselves of the emotions. Therefore the release of repressed emotions and resulting reframing of the conflicting mental structures is the critical step in the PhysioEmoDynamics process.

The focus is on unwanted emotions and defense mechanisms, which are behaviors and reactions to stimuli that individuals use to avoid uncomfortable feelings. For instance, they might attempt to dissociate from uncomfortable, often shameful situations and suppressed memories by changing the topic, minimizing, justifying or denying their role or responsibility in events. It is these patterns that need to be recognized so individuals can free themselves from imprisonment by their Ego.

Until recently, there was very little awareness that the PhysioEmoDynamics System is an effective tool in transforming depressed states. This was mostly because various forms of therapy were more promoted and researched. However, this is changing as more and more case studies are presented and search is being conducted to determine the efficacy of PhysioEmoDynamics as an alternative to clinical therapy.

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