How to tackle depression?

I just heard that my cousin, whom I have not seen for several months, has been suffering from very severe depression. He has asked me to visit him. I know depression is TMS. I have no intention of pushing information onto him but I would like to know how depression is treated as TMS. Is it treated exactly the same as a pain symptom or differently? I have seen people suffering from both pain and depression be advised to tackle their depression first. How does this work? He is seeing a psychiatrist but it sounds like that mostly involves trying drug after drug and shock treatment has now been proposed which sounds awful.

Ewok

 

Dr. Schubiner wrote a very good book on the topic called Unlearn Your Anxiety and Depression. Also, in his 3rd edition of Unlearn Your Pain, the workbook was revised to make it relevant for treatment of depression in addition to physical symptoms. So the treatment is essentially the same. However, as your cousin has very, severe depression it seems prudent that he be under the care of a competent psychiatrist and mental health therapist to ensure he is not at risk for suicide. Safety first. Is he taking any medication for it? The research in mainstream medicine states that medication plus therapy is most effective. Then, when he is stable and feeling more hopeful, he could work on it as TMS.

 

Ewok, That's excellent advice from Ellen (always). Your cousin needs professional help. You can suggest that his depression is TMS, from repressed emotions, but he may need a combination of medication and therapy. For starters, I suggest he not watch any TV news and try to stay in his own moment, not the past or future. Find things to laugh about.

 

This! I had to leave Facebook (which is rather an addiction in itself) as it was triggering me into deeper depressions. We do not have any television service, as we only do Netflix DVDs (no TV for five years has been wonderful!!!) Our phones are Jitterbug, which means it is only a phone and sometimes it even will take messages We do not get radio where we live. So if we want news, it is all through the internet on our home computers. I avoid it. I've had major depressive disorder (and social anxiety, regular anxiety, ocd) since pre-teens. I have many many many tools for coping.

Anyone who is in a depressive 'crisis' will usually need help.

Ellen's advice is perfect. Safety first. Get stabilized ... and only then can other issues be addressed.

Sending Love and healing thoughts <3

 

Take the safety first advice Ellen gave above then treat it just as we would with any other tms symptoms. I had pretty major depression problem long ago. Nothing would help. Medicine just numb my mind and make it foggy. I was finally got rid of it by keep telling myself do not fear it, do not fear it, it will be ok, it will be ok, it is ok to be depress sometimes, it will get better when I no longer fight it.
it is ok to be sad and depress. When I fight it, it stay but when I make peace with it, it leave. Funny!

 

Hi @balto
I always find your advice comforting and easy to understand. May I ask, when you tell yourself not to fear, it will be ok, but then the pain just stays or comes back - how do you hold onto that conviction/position? I feel confident that there is nothing wrong and tell myself I'm done being afraid, that it's ok, but then the pain just gets worse and stays around and my resolve weakens and I feel frightened and doubtful again. How do you stop the fear returning?

 

Hi Ewok, Here is a few ideas:
First,
Rushing to heal is the single biggest mistake any student of tms make in their journey to heal. Steve O had advised people not to do that all the time. Doctor Weekes also told us to give it TIME. But we rarely listen to the experts. We all want to heal yesterday. We all want a magic pill that cure instantly. It's not going to happen.
We rush to heal all the time without realizing we are rushing. We live in a fast food society for so long we just don't know how to be patient. It took a long time for us to get sick with tms, it will take time to heal from it. So please give yourself plenty of time. When you make a conscious decision to give yourself time to heal, your mind will be more accepting of your depression. Your mind will start to make peace with your depression. According to doctor Sarno's theory, Your depression is trying to distract you from your repressed negative emotion (by creating fear. You fear your depression) and now if you accepting it that mean you're less fearful of it, then this distraction is not working, then it will likely leave you soon.

second,
the medicine advertisings all over the internet and television made us believe that the only way to heal from mental illness are for us to use their medicine. They made us think depression is unacceptable and they have the cure. Over time we start to believe in their message and lost confidence in our own ability to heal on our own. We have to recognize that and have to change our belief. We are perfectly capable of healing ourselves, just by accepting it then ignore it, then just LIVE. Just live like we never have depression. Fake it if you have to. Fully living your life despite your depression. It will leave you.

Third,
The power or your mind. The power of positive words. This subject has been researched for years and researchers had prove that positive mind and positive words that we use and practice persistently and repeatedly will bring about positive change in our mind. It will. It worked for me. It work for ACE1 (he is a cancer doctor and a member at tmshelp.com forum) and it work for countless other people. You just have to be persistent.

There are thousand of way to get better: praying, meditation, tapping, running, exercising, therapy.... They will all help. But you will only completely cure when you start to accept it.

good luck Ewok.