Changing the Definition of Depression:When “the Blues” Mean Transformation
Wednesday, April 22nd, 2009
Twenty two years ago I spoke at the California Association of Marriage and Family Therapy Conference on a new category for depression that is spiritually not bio-chemically induced. The title of my talk was “From the Shadows in to the Light”. I assumed that by now with all the awareness we have in the field of clinical psychology that we would be medicating people with anti-depressants a lot less. As it has turned out, the use of SSRI’s ( anti-depressants) has skyrocketed the world over. The stats for Italy show a three hundred percent increase in the last 15 years. And that was before Wall Street crashed. Now, don’t get me wrong. I do know there is a place for them when an individual is in what we call ” A major depressive episode” lasting more than a few months. If you are not functioning in your life, you may need some pharmaceutical help but here are a few questions to ask that come right from Stage Two of The LifeQuake Model in my book The LifeQuake Phenomenon:
* Am I longing for a more meaningful life?
* Are my values changing?
* Am I no longer comfortable with my old friends or long-time intimates?
* Are there people in my life with whom I do feel a resonance and who being around gives me an energy lift?
These are a few of the questions that can determine if what you are experiencing is an early stage of a LifeQuake. If you can’t get out of bed, are not functioning at work, and/or are in withdrawal from everyone, you may be clinically depressed and in need of psychiatric evaluation. For those of you interested in taking the whole questionnaire to see where you are in your LifeQuake or whether you are even in a LifeQuake, I have now posted on the home page of http://www.LifeQuake.net the quiz that is in my book.
It has been said by many that food, the right food has great healing powers. It is also said that if you want to pull out of a depression or the blues, give of yourself to others. Now I have definitely had days where I was down in the dumps and by working with a client I felt better after. Who knew that cooking could also pull you out of a low moment?
