Conquering depression

Depression is a common enough topic that often people brush it away, thinking there are quick fix-its that can elevate the mood and make it go away. But for those who suffer or have experienced extreme bouts of depression, they know that this is no laughing matter. The rising incidents of suicide due to depression show how very real the feeling of alienation and separation is for people who feel depressed. It is a soul angst so deep, an existential pain in the inner being they cannot seem to shake. Others cannot detect when their own bodies or minds are outside their control. It is a dreadful emotional condition, and unless the person who suffers from it recognizes that he or she needs help, he or she will never reach out to others.

I knew of two beautiful souls whose depressions could not be shaken. Both moving on to the next life, they left behind with their families seeds of inspiration that would in time blossom and reach out to many. Such is the case with the birth of the Natasha Goulbourn Foundation whose main focus is to inform and educate the public about depression.  The foundation’s concentration is solely on public awareness and linking troubled people to doctors, psychiatrists and counselors to help them and give treatment or management options. The foundation has actively held free seminars, given lectures in schools, brought international speakers in and even work with the Makati barangay local government group. Its main message is always the same: depression can hit anyone, anytime, anywhere — but it is preventable and treatable. Its next project is to reach out to overseas Filipinos and help them understand and bear the emotional impact while living in foreign land due to certain socio-economic realities. The loss of Natasha has spurred her family towards a life of sharing wellness and wholeness through projects and workshops they create and now run.

On the other hand, in memory of poet and painter Maningning Miclat, her family set up the Maningning Miclat Art Foundation which has helped deserving artists, musicians and poets celebrate life through expression via friendly competition. Yearly,  the Maningning Trilingual Poetry Awards are given to deserving poets in remembrance of a talented and gifted artist. The Miclat family is also a beacon for parents who have lost their children through the support group called Compassionate Friends. Just through listening, they have managed to move into grief therapy commiserating with people in their deepest sorrows and trying to help them in whatever way they can to assuage the pain of losing a loved one.

There are so many reasons why people get depressed. From grief, heartbreaks, rejections, disappointments, a sense of having no control over one’s life, even stress... and many, many more! Something in life WILL ALWAYS GET US DOWN... if we allow it. But the more alarming signs are when one doesn’t want to get up from bed any longer and prolonged sleeping patterns cannot seem to be broken or when life suddenly has no meaning, the suicide is contemplated carefully. For depressions of long duration, there may be hormonal problems which should be treated professionally. For majority of us, trying to live a balanced, aware and wholistic life is the answer. It is about balancing the mind, strengthening the heart with faith in a greater Divine Force and conditioning the body towards optimum health. There are so many Body-Mind-Spirit modalities that teach ways of centering, quieting, balancing and generally, raising one’s energies to have a more positive outlook on life. From yoga, meditation, prayer, trance dance, spiritual or religious study groups, these teach techniques that one can learn and practice daily.

But the mind is key to treating depression. So we must learn to control or understand the mind. One such meditation technique will be introduced and taught by visiting lecturers/facilitators Samantha Keen and Stefan Gorzkiewicz of the Vital Switch group. They state their methods to be quick and easy to learn for use in the office or at home for the purpose of improving mental clarity, boosting natural vitality levels and lifting the ability to remain focused. They have a popular technique developed especially to help people improve their sleep quality. They teach stress relief, clarity of mind, focus on the job, creative thinking and problem solving through enhancing intuition. This is good for majority of us with not very serious depressive mood swings... and for those who are contemplating on ending it all, reach out to people, and learn more about your dis-ease; and for those of you who know of someone who is severely depressed... let them know there is help.