Can this work cure depression?

[JBG1963]

Hi all,

After reading some comments by @JanAtheCPA in another post about curing depression using these same principles-I have some questions I'm hoping you can chime in on.

I have a coworker who, for the most part, lives successfully with depression via medication and self-care. My issue is, she so strongly identifies with her depression that it makes up most of her identity. I have mentioned that she might be able to influence the depression in some way. She believes her depression is completely chemical based because it hit her like a ton of bricks with the hormone changes of puberty. This makes her feel she has no control over it what so ever. Are there some types of depression that can be helped by this type of work and others that cannot? I would love to hear your thoughts. Thanks.

 

[JanAtheCPA]

Ack! I don't know how to answer the poll - because as with most things in this crazy life, I have much more to say on the subject.

I have a half-nephew who is bi-polar, and I knew his grandmother (my father's first wife)(don't even try to figure that out) who was also bi-polar, and a terrible alcoholic (which is why my dad divorced her). My nephew's mom (my half-sister) escaped it, but her brother (dead at age 60) did not. To top that all off, we had a foster daughter who was diagnosed with bi-polar II at 16, but clearly had it when she came to live with us two years earlier. And her mom had it (and was an alcoholic) and it sounded like her grandmother did as well. Thanks to modern SSRIs, she did not fall into the drug-and-alcohol trap.

This is a terrible and evil mental disease. And it is so intense, that I really don't know if it's possible for someone who suffers from it to have the mental strength that is needed to shift their mindset even a fraction. It might be possible - but is a temporary fraction even worth the effort? And I think I mean the effort of others to convince the sufferer that they should be able to do this.

The kind of depression that I experienced is, I believe, similar to that which affects the elderly - some say it's to prepare the brain to accept death. That's kind of what it felt like, except for the fact that I was 60 and healthy, so I knew all along that it was not acceptable, even during the weeks "Before Sarno" when I was starting to experience it frequently and had NO idea what to do about it. During the immediate weeks "After Sarno" it wasn't even an issue, so in the incident that I describe, it really felt like it came totally out of the blue. But by then I had new tools, although it took a huge amount of will power to force my brain to make the shift out of negativity. It's scary stuff.

 

[Rainbowdash]

I think depression could be another type of TMS just like anxiety. And if it serves its purpose as being physically originated, then it is keeping the TMS facade going really well. But I think that depression will be a lot harder to shift with this work.

Imagine, if your brain has resorted to using an emotional problem to mask your emotional problems, then imagine how scary the original emotional problem must be.

 

[JBG1963]

@JanAtheCPA and @Rainbowdash Thank you both so much for your insights. I do agree that it's a tough situation. I guess I'm just assuming that hiding from something in your past can just as easily become depression as it can become physical pain. Maybe I'm simplifying it too much, because it clearly is a complex issue. Thanks for thinking this thru with me!

 

[plum]

Imagine, if your brain has resorted to using an emotional problem to mask your emotional problems, then imagine how scary the original emotional problem must be.

That is bloody terrifying. The worst nightmare I ever had concluded with me waking and my mind saying to me "you cannot ever escape me". Yeah, that was pretty much summed by the phrase the horror, the horror.

Needless to say my TMS work saved my bacon and while the old black dog visits me every now and then I haven't resorted to medication. I took meds for depression twice in the past and swore never to again. So far so good.

I guess in the past I lacked the tools to cope. Now I view depression as a passing storm and endeavour to give those emotions life. I truly empathise and feel terribly sorry for anyone suffering with severe depression. It is beyond awful.

 

[JanAtheCPA]

I guess I'm just assuming that hiding from something in your past can just as easily become depression as it can become physical pain.

Oh, I think this is absolutely true - and I think @Rainbowdash also said essentially the same. In his later years Dr. Sarno certainly started to believe that anxiety and depression were probably TMS equivalents. But there are many different types of depression, and also many different levels of depression. @plum has effectively described the kind of depression that can be controlled with mindfulness, acceptance, and self-love, but I think there are severe forms of depression for which mindfulness is simply not going to be an option, simply because the black hole of the negative subconscious is just too deep.

That being said, someone like your co-worker might be able to make use of TMS theory for pain and other symptoms of emotional stress - and she could probably do that without having to make the bigger leap of seeing her depression as TMS. I think there are many variations and gradations of success when doing this work!

This was a really interesting question, @JBG1963 !

 

[JBG1963]

someone like your co-worker might be able to make use of TMS theory for pain and other symptoms of emotional stress - and she could probably do that without having to make the bigger leap of seeing her depression as TMS. I think there are many variations and gradations of success when doing this work!

I think this is very true. She can learn about this work as a tool for better living without having to abandon her identification with the depression. Thank you all so much for your insights. They have all been quite helpful! Jo