Crazy Sexy Life » depression

Why Antidepressants Don’t Work for Treating Depression

Mark Hyman MD — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 09:00:02 +0000

Here’s some depressing recent medical news: Antidepressants don’t work. What’s even more depressing is that the pharmaceutical industry and Food and Drug Administration (FDA) have deliberately deceived us into believing that they do work. As a physician, this is frightening to me. Depression is among the most common problems seen in primary-care medicine and soon will be the second leading cause of disability in this country.

A study published in The New England Journal of Medicine provides the evidence. It found that drug companies selectively publish studies on antidepressants. They have published nearly all the studies that show benefit, but almost none of the studies that show these drugs are ineffective.¹

That warps our view of antidepressants, leading us to think that they do work. And it has fueled the tremendous growth in the use of psychiatric medications, which are now the second leading class of drugs sold, after cholesterol-lowering drugs.

The problem is even worse than it sounds, because the positive studies hardly showed benefit in the first place. For example, 40 percent of people taking a placebo (sugar pill) got better, while only 60 percent taking the actual drug had improvement in their symptoms. Looking at it another way, 80 percent of people get better with just a placebo.

That leaves us with a big problem: millions of depressed people with no effective treatments being offered by most conventional practitioners. However, there are treatments available. Functional medicine provides a unique and effective way to treat depression and other psychological problems. Today I will review seven steps you can take to work through your depression without drugs. But before we get to that, let’s take a closer look at depression.

What’s in a Name?

“Depression” is simply a label we give to people who have a depressed mood most of the time, have lost interest or pleasure in most activities, are fatigued, can’t sleep, have no interest in sex, feel hopeless and helpless, can’t think clearly or can’t make decisions.

But that label tells us nothing about the cause of those symptoms. In fact, there are dozens of causes of depression, each one needing a different approach to treatment. Depression is not one-size-fits-all, but it is very common.

Women have a 10-25 percent risk and men a 5-12 percent risk of developing severe major depression in their lifetime.² One in ten Americans takes an antidepressant. The use of these drugs has tripled in the last decade, according to a report by the federal government. In 2006, spending on antidepressants soared by 130 percent.

But just because antidepressants are popular doesn’t mean they’re helpful. Unfortunately, as we now see from this report in The New England Journal of Medicine, they don’t work and have significant side effects. Most patients taking antidepressants either don’t respond or have only partial response. In fact, success is considered just a 50 percent improvement in half of depressive symptoms. And this minimal result is achieved in less than half the patients taking antidepressants.

That’s a pretty dismal record. It’s only made worse by the fact that 86 percent of people taking antidepressants have one or more side effects, including sexual dysfunction, fatigue, insomnia, loss of mental abilities, nausea and weight gain.

No wonder half the people who try antidepressants quit after four months.

Despite what we have been brainwashed to believe, depression is not a Prozac deficiency!

How We Have Been Deceived by the Antidepressant Hoax

Despite what we have been brainwashed to believe, depression is not a Prozac deficiency!

Drug companies are not forced to publish all the results of their studies. They only publish those they want to. The team of researchers that reported their findings in The New England Journal of Medicine took a critical look at all the studies done on antidepressants, both published and unpublished. They dug up some serious dirt …

The unpublished studies were not easy to find. The researchers had to search the FDA databases, call researchers and hunt down hidden data under the Freedom of Information Act. What they found was stunning.

After looking at 74 studies involving 12 drugs and over 12,000 people, they discovered that 37 of 38 trials with positive results were published, while only 14 of 36 negative studies were published. Those that showed negative results were, in the words of the researchers, “published in a way that conveyed a positive outcome.”

That means the results were twisted to imply the drugs worked when they didn’t.

This isn’t just a problem with antidepressants. It’s a problem with scientific research. Some drug companies even pay or threaten scientists to not publish negative results on their drugs. So much for “evidence-based” medicine! I recently had dinner with a step-uncle who runs a company that designs research for drug companies. He designs the study, hires the researcher from an esteemed institution, directs the study and writes up the study, and the scientist just signs his or her name after reviewing it.

Most of the time, we only have the evidence that the drug companies want us to have. Both doctors and patients are deceived into putting billions of dollars into drug companies’ pockets, while leaving millions with the same health problems but less money.

The scientific trust is broken. What can we do? Unfortunately, there is no easy answer. But I do think functional medicine, on which my approach of UltraWellness is based, provides a more intelligent way of understanding the research. Rather than using drugs to suppress symptoms, functional medicine helps us find the true causes of problems, including depression.

I see this in so many of the patients I have treated over the years. Just as the same things that make us sick also make us fat, the same things that make us sick also make us depressed. Fix the causes of sickness and the depression takes care of itself.

Here are a few things you can do to start treating your depression today.

Seven Steps to Treat Depression without Drugs

1. Try an anti-inflammatory elimination diet that gets rid of common food allergens. As I mentioned above, food allergies and the resultant inflammation have been connected with depression and other mood disorders.
2. Check for hypothyroidism. This unrecognized epidemic is a leading cause of depression. Make sure to have thorough thyroid exam if you are depressed.
3. Take vitamin D. Deficiency in this essential vitamin can lead to depression. Supplement with at least 2,000 to 5,000 IU of vitamin D3 a day.
4. Take omega-3 fats. Your brain is made of up this fat, and deficiency can lead to a host of problems. Supplement with 1,000 to 2,000 mg of purified fish oil a day. Consider a vegan source of omega-3 (such as this one).
5. Take adequate B12 (1,000 micrograms, or mcg, a day), B6 (25 mg) and folic acid (800 mcg). These vitamins are critical for metabolizing homocysteine, which can play a part in depression.
6. Get checked for mercury. Heavy metal toxicity has been correlated with depression and other mood and neurological problems.
7. Exercise vigorously five times a week for 30 minutes. This increases levels of brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF), a natural antidepressant in your brain.

Overcoming depression is an important step toward lifelong vibrant health. These are just of few of the easiest and most effective things you can do to treat depression. For more information on how to optimize your health, see http://drhyman.com/.

Now I’d like to hear from you … Have you been diagnosed with depression? How have antidepressants worked for you? Do you plan to try any of the approaches mentioned here? Please let me know your thoughts by leaving a comment below.

References

1. Turner EH et al. 2007. Selective publication of antidepressant trials and its influence on apparent efficacy. N Engl J Med. 358: 252-260.

2.Eaton WW, Kalaydjian A, Scharfstein DO, Mezuk B, Ding Y. 2007. Prevalence and incidence of depressive disorder: the Baltimore ECA follow-up, 1981-2004. Acta Psychiatr Scand. 116(3):182-188.

Photo credit: walknboston

Disclaimer: The opinions presented in this article are those of Dr. Hyman based on his years of training and experience as a medical doctor. This information is not intended to treat, diagnose, cure or prevent any disease. All material in this article is provided for educational purposes only. Always seek the advice of your physician or other qualified health care provider with any questions you have regarding a medical condition, and before undertaking any diet, exercise or other health program.

Life is a Game. Are You Playing it?

Guest Blogger — Tue, 18 Oct 2011 09:00:20 +0000

“What you are is what you have been. What you’ll be is what you do now.” – Buddha

Even though life is sometimes messy and unpredictable, there is one constant — opportunities will come and go. And the reality is that opportunities are abundant when we are open to them. When we are open to new things and eager to branch out of our safe, cozy, comfort zone, we can open up a world of new possibilities. And it all starts with one easy step: Play the game, and get on the court. Landmark Forum’s self-improvement course teaches the power of getting on the court in life vs. sitting in the stands.

Think about a sporting event. Spectators cheer from the stands but never put themselves at risk. They are not the ones taking any risks or making anything happen. Rather, they sit, watch, judge and wait, while the players are full of life. They are the doers, making life happen and work with them. They see an opportunity and go for it. They take risks and play hard. Of the two types of people, which would you rather be?

More often than not, I have been a spectator in my own life. I let life happen to me and fell into deep, moldy holes. The only way to pull me out of each depression episode was to take responsibility for my own life and start making calls – getting my butt up out of “self-pity-ville” and taking action to guide me in a better direction. It started with one single step forward, by getting onto the court of my own life.

If you look at your life as a bestselling book or blockbuster movie, how is yours playing out? What kind of picture are you in? Is it full of depression, mistakes, regrets and secrets? Or are you the hero in your own starring role? Are you in a role that challenges and excites you? Do you seize the day and make the moment matter? The opportunity here is to dream of possibilities and things beyond the traditional confines of cultural and social acceptability. Whenever there are areas of our lives we are unhappy with, often, the human tendency is to ignore them … to simply act as if they are not an issue; out of sight, out of mind.

For example, maybe you are unhappy with your job. I was the queen of bitter job certainty. I lived the “this is how things are” card to its death, meaning I was a victim of the negative perpetrations of my job. I worked with people who didn’t understand me or respect my contributions. They always made me feel like an outsider, and I always had a boss who seemed to have ulterior motives. I could never trust them. No matter where I went, what city, this job was where I was. I’d quit one company and start working at a completely different company, sometimes even different industries and would always find myself crying in the bathroom on lunch break.

I would tell myself it is normal to cry at work and this is just how life is supposed to be. I would come home and complain to whoever would listen about how bad my job was, how lame the people I worked with were and how I wasn’t getting what I deserved. That’s a lot of “me, me, and me” talk if you ask me. I was pretty self-consumed and exhausting the victim role. I kept playing out my same reality over and over until one day I was talking to a friend. I was complaining about my new boss and the work I was doing, when she gently said, “Sounds like your last two jobs.”

I realized then and there that the only thing all these nasty, toxic environments had in common was me. I was the connecting thread to all of these mishaps in the workplace. I took mental stock and realized I am accountable for everything in my life. All of these patterns that kept surfacing were a common thread of my life, not theirs. I asked myself, “What have I been doing to create this reality?” Quite simply, I hadn’t been getting on the court or playing a starring role in my own blockbuster. I had been letting life happen to me vs., co-creating with life and being accountable for my own actions and patterns. These patterns were really an inner cry for help. I kept living the same reality of moving between jobs, states and countries to get away and start fresh. But I wasn’t able to look at the big picture. No matter where I went, these patterns would keep recurring until I learned to recognize each situation as an opportunity to learn something new. Each new job was a lesson. And the lesson would keep coming up until I recognized it and greeted it full-heartedly.

Is there a situation in your life that is causing you frustration? Challenge yourself to look at the situation with fresh eyes and ask yourself, “What is this situation trying to teach me? What can I learn from this?” By opening your mind up to the potential of new possibilities, life can reward us in ways we never expected.

Shannon Kaiser is an inspirational travel writer, author, adventure junkie and art director. Shannon is founder of playwiththeworld.com, an adventure site dedicated to helping others love life fully. Connect with her there.

Photo credit: Evan Jackson

Redefining Depression

Leslie Carr Psy.D. — Fri, 19 Aug 2011 09:00:31 +0000

For a couple of months, two years ago, I was depressed. A profoundly rainy San Francisco winter, coupled with the heartbreak of yet another failed relationship, just left me feeling blue. Three-thousand miles from my family and my closest, oldest friends, it also left me crying in jags, with a lonely, nagging ache inside.

This time in my life would have been relatively unremarkable (in the sense that I wouldn’t otherwise feel inclined to blog about it two and a half years later) if it weren’t for the fact that I met my partner, Chris, during these months. Because I happened to meet him during a time that can be legitimately referred to as a “depressive episode,” it’s part of our story that it was not love at first sight, and I sometimes reference it that way in conversation. “Sparks did not fly,” I jokingly say to my girlfriends. I like telling people this version of the story because I think it speaks well to how love can sneak up on us when we least expect it. I got the love sneak-attack in that instance because I was … distracted.

What makes this story blog-worthy, in my opinion, is actually the way people respond to me when I “admit” that I was depressed. People’s faces always light up a little bit – not in a sadistic way, exactly – but in a way that seems to say, “You get depressed too? Oh thank God you’re admitting it! I’ve been depressed too. I feel so much less alone now.”

My question is, what’s up with that? Why do we feel like depression is this shameful thing that we shouldn’t talk about? I don’t doubt for a second that they feel doubly relieved that I’m admitting it because I’m a shrink, as if therapists don’t get depressed too. Well, I do get depressed sometimes, and I’m going to tell you why – it’s actually the same reason why almost everyone else does from time to time:

It’s because I’m human.

I have a bone to pick with my own profession. I think that we have done society a major disservice by medicalizing depression and calling it a “disease.” We have taken a normal (albeit very unpleasant) part of the human condition and encouraged people to see it as an aberration. We did this, in large part, so that insurance companies would be required to pay for its treatment, and unfortunately in doing so we’ve changed the way that people look at depression entirely.

I’m not saying that depression isn’t problematic, and I’m not saying that it isn’t something that needs to be treated, but this change in the way that we think and talk about depression has a way of robbing us of something that is vitally important: our ability to use our own internal experience as a source of information.

There are different levels and types of depression and, accordingly, there are a variety of tools that we as mental health professionals have in our tool boxes for it. While my own experience with depression has not been particularly severe, I’ve worked with individuals who have been so profoundly depressed that they’ve undergone ECT (electroconvulsive therapy, or shock therapy — yes, we still use this, although it’s come a long way from what most of us imagine) in a last-ditch effort to try anything that will pull them up from the depths of despair. I’m thrilled to report that I’ve seen that intervention successfully restore people’s functioning, but in my personal and professional experience, most of the time that people are depressed it’s because there’s something happening in their lives that needs their attention.

In my clinical work I help my clients to understand how their depressive thoughts and feelings are related to underlying issues in their lives. Sometimes those issues are current, and a course-correction is in order. At other times there’s something bubbling up from deep within, and I’m able to be helpful by listening empathically, connecting dots, and providing a human connection; I remember how invaluable it was for me to have that myself. Sometimes people need a little extra support, and anti-depressants can be helpful, but above all I believe that our feelings are never, ever random.

So, do I know what it’s like to feel depressed? Of course I do. I’ve had to course-correct. I’ve had to face the skeletons in my closet, and I don’t mind admitting it, because going to see a therapist who’s never experienced psychological suffering would be like going to an auto-mechanic who’s never owned a car.

This is what makes us human, and unfortunately it’s a problem that’s getting more pervasive as we become increasingly isolated and individualistic as a culture. By calling depression a disease, and by focusing our attention on the faulty wiring in each individual, we fail to respond to what elevated rates of depression are saying to us about our society as a whole. We are beings built for human connection in an increasingly isolated world.

Modern isolation is not the sole cause of depression, but if there’s anything that I hope people take away from this article, it’s this: Anti-depressant medication alone is not an effective way to treat depression. Anti-depressants are a boon to the pharmaceutical industry, partially because they’re often prescribed by general practitioners and other kinds of doctors who don’t refer their patients to any kind of psychiatric follow up care. This practice needs to stop. The dirty little secret about anti-depressant medications is that they barely outperform placebo in clinical trials. While they seem to be more effective outside of the lab (about 60 percent of patients respond well to anti-depressants in clinical practice), studies show again and again that therapy increases the effectiveness of these medications.

Have I gotten your attention yet? Please, if you’re reading this and you’ve been feeling depressed lately, know that you aren’t alone. You also aren’t, in my opinion, diseased – but now that you have more information, what are you going to do about it?

For more on optimal living, visit http://lesliecarr.com.

Photo credit: John Davey

Love Yourself First

Guest Blogger — Mon, 30 Aug 2010 09:00:05 +0000

“I’d rather be naked.” These were the words on the t-shirt I saw in Walgreens. It was a size that could only be worn by a young child. I smiled, thinking how self-love comes so naturally for young children. We are born loving ourselves soul, mind, and body, but as the years go on, we tend to forget that unconditional love and acceptance.

For many, many years I did not love myself, especially my body. It was difficult for me to even look in the mirror. I did not re-learn how to love myself from church, my family, or traditional school. In fact, I learned the true meaning of self-love through conquering a raging addiction. I was not addicted to drugs, or alcohol, or men; I was addicted to dieting. I spent six years of my life in the throes of a nasty addiction to trend diets and compulsive exercise.

How did this addiction begin? In October of my freshman year in college, after a series of negative dating experiences, questionable “friend” choices, and a coke-addicted roommate with a habit of punching holes in the wall, I fell into a depression unlike any other I had previously experienced. This lasted about two excruciating months, where I did not leave my dorm except to eat and go to class. I lost touch with my center, gained a bit of weight, and was completely unmotivated.

Then, I took up jogging. This helped alleviate my depression. It didn’t happen overnight, but running each morning gave me a reason to wake up, allowed me to set attainable goals, and connected me to a community of others who shared my passion.

However, the passion soon took on obsession-like qualities. My fixation with exercise began to include restriction and fascination with food. The diet addiction was in full swing: I began to stand on the scale once a day, sometimes more. If the number went up, my day was ruined.

Whatever the trendiest diet craze, I became their most valuable customer. I jumped from Atkins, eating all protein and meat, to an unhealthy vegan diet, eating no protein and meat. I tried South Beach and the Zone. I never ate dessert. I completely lost touch with my inner wisdom, guidance, and sense of balance.

I was buying into everyone else’s money-making “Health Plan” and completely separating from my soul, which was the intuitive part of me that knew what I needed to be healthy, at peace, and truly in love with my body and self. Furthermore, I spent a lot of time and effort “feeding” this diet/body/weight obsession. I had no energy or time left for cultivating my creativity, my spirituality, my zest for life, and my love for myself.

Just when it felt like there was no hope, I began to read and learn about Intuitive Eating, Exercising, and Living. This was a revolutionary concept for me. With the help of authors like Dr. Dorie McCubbrey and Geneen Roth, I tapped into my own inner guide and began to follow these “anti-diet” guidelines:

-My body knows exactly what it wants to eat, how much, and when.
-I can trust my body’s wisdom, hunger, and full point.
-My body knows what type of activity it wants to do and for how long.
-Following someone else’s plan only leads me further from the wisdom of my authentic self.

The most important aspect of this newfound strategy was to LOVE MYSELF FIRST and love my body NOW; not after I lost ten pounds or fit into a smaller size. I practiced daily affirmations: “I am loving and accepting myself fully right now.” I made gratitude lists of everything about my body that I appreciated. “My legs carry me through amazing jogs through the park.” I threw away my scale, refusing to sacrifice my power to a random number. I spent time naked in front of a full length mirror and noticing the beautiful curves of my body. At first, I had to “fake it till I make it,” as the saying goes, but soon I was truly loving myself and practicing self-care to show my body and soul how much I appreciated them.

I can now say that I am done with diet addiction. My body has taught me what foods help me feel energetically alive. I eat dessert, and I usually eat just enough to feel satisfied. I recognize my full point, and I try not to eat too far past it.

Furthermore, as my mind/body/soul connection grew through intuitive living, other areas of my life were positively impacted. I finally allowed myself to accept the love of my best friend, the man of my dreams. My confidence grew and I was able to move on from an exhausting job and into owning my own business, one that feeds my soul and gives back to the world.

Sometimes I have the urge to go back to that time in my life and hug that 22 year old, tell her that she is fine the way she is and that no amount of diet/weight obsession will create self-acceptance and love. Sometimes, I wonder what my life would have been like without that war I waged against myself… but I trust there was a deeper, Divine purpose.

Also, I do embrace that young woman from the past in my own way, each time I work with a client or witness a friend as she searches for self-acceptance, for her inner wisdom, and begins to love her body and self more completely. Together, we are part of a revolution of women who are choosing to love ourselves fully mind, soul, and BODY! I’m going to check if they have the “I’d rather be naked” shirts in larger sizes…

Cora Poage lives in New York City with her incredible husband Ben (her “other” soulmate) and her two crazy kitties. She is the owner of Super Woman Health, a company offering wellness coaching for learning to eat, exercise, and live intuitively.

Photo Credit: insearchofbalance

The Link between Creativity and Depression

Guest Blogger — Thu, 05 Aug 2010 09:00:33 +0000

“Remember sadness is always temporary. This, too, shall pass.” -Chuck T. Falcon

It has been said that creative persons, such as authors, artists, actors, musicians, performers and poets are more often plagued with the demon of depression than the general population. One of the possible explanations for this is that creative types tend to feel powerful emotions which aid their creative endeavors. In other words, some experts believe that being sensitive to one’s surroundings, including sounds, colors and people’s emotions, has been associated with both creativity and depression. Such hypersensitivity can lead people to worry about things with which other people aren’t typically as concerned, thereby increasing the potential for depression.

If we examine the lives of accomplished artists, we will observe that many battled depression at some point in their lives. A few prominent examples are Vincent Van Gogh, Charles Darwin, Virginia Woolf, William Styron, Anne Sexton, Emily Dickinson and Sylvia Plath. If you’ve ever been depressed, you probably understand the sense of helplessness and numbness which accompanies this illness. Sometimes this sense of helplessness drives creative individuals to the drawing or writing pad, but other times, it can be immobilizing.

The life of writer David Foster Wallace offers a more recent example, as he committed suicide secondary to depression. Experts have identified certain characteristics in his writing—such as hypersensitivity, constant rumination, and persistent contemplation—which researchers say can connect creativity with mental illness, especially bipolar disorder and depression. In this case, mental illness does not necessarily cause creativity, but a certain ruminating personality type may contribute to both mental health issues and artistic ability.

Some Theories Linking Depression and Creativity

First, some artists and writers admit to engaging in their craft as a kind of self-therapy for depression. In this way, their efforts to avoid depression may provide an incentive for their creative work that wards off melancholy.
Second, the experience of depression provides subject matter for artistic creations: Edvard Munch’s famous painting “The Scream” and Emily Dickinson’s poem “There’s a Certain Slant of Light” are two examples.

Third, some believe that one cannot truly comprehend or convey the human condition unless one has experienced the highest emotional highs and the lowest lows. Thus, depression provides the existential angst from which great art arises.

Approximately seven percent of the general population is affected by depression or bipolar disorder, and studies have shown that this number tends to be higher among creative types. Bipolar disorder is characterized by episodes of mania and major depression. Typically, someone who is manic depressive tends to swing from excessive highs (mania) to profound hopelessness (depression). In between these episodes, they experience feelings of normalcy. Some people can also have mixed symptoms of both mania and depression simultaneously, while others may have manic symptoms that are more moderate.

In his book “Van Gogh Blues,” Eric Maisel proclaims that virtually one hundred percent of creative people suffer from episodes of depression. He supports this claim by asserting that every creative person came out of the womb ready to interrogate life and determine for herself what life would mean, could mean, and should mean. He believes that depression in creative individuals is thought of as a crisis caused by chronic, persistent uneasiness, irritation, anger, and sadness about the facts of existence and life’s apparent lack of meaning. In fact, those who try to understand the reason for their own existence will most likely be more prone to depression.

Kay Redfield Jamison, a foremost expert on bipolar disorder who has also suffered from the disease since childhood, believes that most artistic geniuses are manic depressive. Jamison is the author of “Touched with Fire” and a professor of psychiatry at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. Her book makes a powerful link between depression and creativity.

When a writer is depressed, he or she may turn to their craft to ease the pain. The writing process can help the creative person make sense of their lives and validate what they are feeling. Writing brings us face-to-face with reality. The act of moving the pen across the page or the fingers on the keyboard can be meditative and calming. Expressing feelings helps to give meaning to life, which is helpful for us all!

Personally, I have found writing to be very therapeutic during tumultuous periods in my life. Writing my own recent memoir/self-help book, “Healing with Words: A Writer’s Cancer Journey,” proved to me that in times of depression, it is very helpful to try to be creative. Pick up a notebook and just start writing!

If you haven’t tried this before, here are ten things to keep in mind:

1. Find a quiet, uninterrupted time and place to write.

2. Choose an inspiring notebook and pen.

3. Create a centering ritual (light a candle, meditate, play music, stretch).

4. Breathe deeply.

5. Put aside your inner critic.

6. Date your entry.

7. Begin by writing your feelings and sensations.

8. Write nonstop for 15-20 minutes.

9. Save what you have written.

10. Write regularly.

Diana Raab is a author of eight books and teaches in the UCLA Extension Writers’ Program and in various conferences around the country. She frequently writes and speaks about journaling and her most recent memoir is Healing With Words: A Writer’s Breast Cancer Journey (June 2010).

Photo Credit: Derek Gavey

My Spiritual Salvation

Guest Blogger — Wed, 16 Dec 2009 09:00:58 +0000

Alice Grist

When I started to write a book about spirituality for modern women the last thing I expected was to have my own lifestyle and personality overhaul. Though lord knows I needed it! Even the spirits, guides, angels and fairies at the bottom of my garden knew I needed it. Everybody knew I needed it, except, of course for little old me! Two years ago I was living a late twenties alcohol-fueled path of denial. I happily partied the nights away as though I were still a twenty-one-year-old freshly unleashed in the world, whilst simultaneously making it through the working weeks without losing my job or collapsing of exhaustion. However it was becoming apparent that massive self-indulgence was no longer working out to my advantage.

Once the fun truly vanished, I spiraled into utter gloominess. As far as I was concerned it was everyone and everything else that was causing my heartache and mental trauma. In my hazy opinion my boyfriend was to blame, my job was to blame, my friends were to blame, my teachers at school ten years previously were to blame…anybody but me.

Many people continue to live this way not realizing something is badly wrong. Other people scrape their way out of this ego induced misery through a stiff stint of counseling, hefty self help books, or embarking on a life changing world voyage. My route was somewhat different. Having spent my childhood surrounded by a patchwork quilt of religion and spiritual thought, I somehow ended up digging out that quilt and turning it into my very own comfort blanket. And what a difference it has made to my life. My boyfriend is now my husband, my book is published and I live a sane and stress free existence with my cats and chickens!

So how did spirituality catapult me out of the very big and dark rut I had dug myself into? First, I awoke one morning with an overwhelming urge to learn about Buddhism, and then Reiki, and then revisit my father’s pagan religion of Wicca. I continually wanted to know more and I literally embraced my own version of spirituality. I explored ancient belief systems and I took what felt right to me and experimented with it. I watched my life slowly transform from monotonous to marvelous in less than a year.

The examples of benefits for the modern woman are endless. One of my personal favorites happened close to the beginning of my journey. With the cynic in me still firmly in place I had attended a number of events and courses. I was enrolled on a nine month Spiritualism course, and it was here that I met my ‘spirit guide’. Like many people I have several guides, but my first one was exceptional! His name is Celebrielle and he is a big, white, winged horse. He was the one who helped me to believe, my prince charming so to speak (of the Equestrian nature!). He was everywhere in the months following our first meeting during a mediation session. His image turned up on the sides of lorries, on stationary, in my crystal therapists’ therapy room, on my holidays and in my handbag. It was a Cellebrielle onslaught! His presence in my life was uncanny and incredible. He was my introductory guide and he eased me into spirituality gently, almost like Sesame Street introduces a child to spelling and numbers! He showed me that spirituality will always be there for me. He introduced me to ‘signs’ by being my constant sign, showing up on a daily basis and taking my breath away. He gave softness and light to a spiritual study that had come from darkness and that eventually grew into something deeper, complex and utterly life changing!

It was from a cushy Celebrielle enhanced start that I continued my exploration of spirituality, unafraid and protected. My life took on new meaning and my previous habits, desires, vices and sadness dropped away. Through spiritual growth I quelled my lusts and desires for bigger, better material objects such as cars, handbags or sofas. I realized that weight, looks, bad hair days, fashion, and possessions did not reflect anything meaningful about me. They were accessories, and ones that could cause too much mental stress. As a result, Buddha’s teachings taught me how to live happily in my own skin and without the need to bitch and moan my way through the day. Shamanism helped me to see the bigger picture and to incorporate my innate love for nature and the environment into my spiritual beliefs. Attending a Sweatlodge was the pinnacle of this and brought nature into my very soul. Whilst Kabbalah had some darned good advice on ways to behave that minimize the darker influences of my human character. It gave me balance, a calm soul and showed me how to be a better person. Divination and healing techniques added intrigue to my life, and helped to show that there is life beyond the conventions of modern science and time as we perceive it.

Spiritual salvation has been the most incredible thing that has happened to me. Spirituality for a modern female is a tool kit of wonders and here are my top tips to get you started…

Quick Spirit Boosters

-Shut the noise off. Turn off TV’s, radios, cell phones and I-Pods and listen to the world around you. See what inspirations or intriguing thoughts come to you when you give your mind a chance to be itself.

-Try one alternative healing technique in place of your usual beauty treat. Swap a massage for reiki, or your facial for a crystal healing session.

-Read something spiritual. It need not be a religious tome or the Dead Sea scrolls. There are plenty of interesting modern day writers catering to all kinds of spiritual tastes, go with your ‘little voice’ and see what the ‘world as you don’t know it’ has to say.

-Be in nature, see nature, and appreciate nature. It’s so easy in our urban jungles to forget that nature exists or that we are guests here on this wonderful planet. Take an hour a week to prune your plants, watch the sky or sit in a field. Be in nature and breathe.

-Think positive and picture your life as you wish it to be. I do this regularly and have found that as I set my intent for the kind of life I would like, so it happens.

-Choose not to react and always live in the moment, find some space for unconditional love in your life. Above all listen to your inner voice, make her your guide.

Alice Grist is author of The High Heeled Guide to Enlightenment, a practicing Intuitive Tarot Card Advisor and a Reiki Practitioner. She lives happily with her musician husband, James, their two cats and two chickens and is partial to a spot of gardening, giggles with the girls and indulgent hot baths!

Overcoming Chronic Pain

Guest Blogger — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 09:00:39 +0000

Hello, Happy Healers! My name is Maria Mooney, and I am a proud, mostly raw, vegan graduate student munching and working my way toward a clinical M.S.W. in mental health therapy. Did I mention I also have a rare, progressive neurological disease, which has no known current cause or cure? It’s true! I have been blessed and cursed with Reflex Sympathetic Dystrophy (RSD), also known as Complex Regional Pain Syndrome (CRPS), a progressive neurological disease with the main symptom being chronic, burning, stinging, shooting neurological pain. Lucky me, all four limbs happen to be affected, with the most disabling pain in my lower legs and feet, and I daringly fight each day for my mobility.

While many people diagnosed with RSD/CRPS are forced to use wheel chairs, crutches, or other mobility enhancing devices, I have evaded the aforementioned and even obtained a 4.0 GPA in my first year of graduate school with Kris Carr’s raw, vegan diet, strong opiate medications (a.k.a. “leg juice”), a strong support system, and an even stronger desire to live a joyful, fulfilling life.

I picked up Kris’ documentary, Crazy Sexy Cancer, during my first hospital stay two years ago, and quickly followed suite reaping the benefits of a diet high in anti-inflammatory fruits and veggies and low in inflammation causing animal products and processed foods. This is of infinite importance for an illness where incredible swelling, which I have little to none of, is a major symptom and mobility/spirit stealer. It also provided me with a sense of empowerment that I could make a significant and strategic difference in my health, despite the grim prognosis. I could beat the odds! Not to mention, it has kept my weight low and healthy, which plays a vital role in allowing me to, well, stand at all! Think about it, the more weight a set of painful legs and feet has to bear, the worse the pain will be.

Let’s rewind several years ago to when the first signs and symptoms of RSD/CRPS developed. I was running 40+ miles a week for a division one university and was perpetually in motion. You couldn’t catch me in one place for very long, and if you did, you better have been able to keep up with me as I moved onto the next location.

As the symptoms progressed, the amount of time I could stand lessened until it became a few excruciatingly painful minutes, and not long after, I fell into a deep, reactive depression. A depression I now know is very common and quite normal for those experiencing chronic pain, but the stigma around mental illness affects a suffering individual’s access to care and, ultimately, his/her right to happiness. Chronic pain has the ability to wipe out any sense of self you possessed before and replaces it with a never-ending black hole of self-loathing and a clear disdain for life as you now know it. This is when we must enlist the help of a knowledgeable professional to bring us back to center and point us in the right direction of health and happiness.

Two years of intensive mental health therapy later, I possessed the proper and effective coping tools to deal with my altered existence, but it wasn’t until I freed myself of the notion that life is supposed to be “perfect,” without pain and suffering, that I began to really live. Once I embraced pain in my life, I could sit with it, feel it, be it for some time, ultimately, let it go, but most importantly, LEARN from it. The pain no longer had the power to ruin my days and make my decisions for me, and with that, I closed out fear and opened myself up to the healing powers of love in all of its splendid forms. Most importantly, I opened myself up to a love and acceptance for my unique, empowered self as I am in this moment, and I saw my disease as a vehicle for my personal growth and development. I discovered I have something to offer this world.

A friend once told me I was a special and unique individual, a single unicorn among many horses, and cleverly used what I now call the “unicorn analogy.” The unicorn analogy celebrates our individual uniqueness and our ability to understand that we are special, no matter what illness or burden we carry, no matter what size or color we are, and what infectious power comes with this realization. Each one of us is one of a kind, an alluringly beautiful creature, strong, wild, fierce, and impossible to tame with exceptional endurance, perseverance, and wisdom, might I add? A symbol of hope, love, and faith with an unconquerable nature! Did I mention beauty?! Inside and out. With a sharp wit that only a lucky few possess, my friend once uttered with the best of intentions, “Feel lucky you are a unicorn. They put down horses with bad legs.” And, to that, I say, “AMEN!” Embrace the uniqueness in you and share it with the world as part of your healing journey, your illness evolution, and you will touch the lives of others while self-actualizing, personally developing, and healing yourself, mind, body, and spirit. I can guarantee it. And, isn’t that the purpose of it all?

Happy Healing, Unicorns!

<3 Maria

Maria is a 25 year old, vegan graduate student living with a progressive neurological disease, Reflex Sympathetic Dystrophy (RSD). Follow along as Maria reflects on lessons learned through her health challenges, shares her experiences with alternative and traditional treatments, and enjoys life to its fullest at her blog!