How to Overcome Depression with Holistic Healing
Are you feeling down and blue? Knowing how to overcome depression with holistic healing and depression natural remedies can help you get your life back.
The thought of never getting past the cycle of emotional numbness, lack of interest in life, and the accompanying malaise you may be experiencing is a scary one. It doesn't have to be that way.
Take a first step toward turning that around right now by letting yourself believe that it is possible to help yourself to feel better over time. This is not a lie. If somewhere deep inside you didn't already have hope that healing is possible, you wouldn't be reading this page.
Healing depression can feel challenging when your mind and body are pulling you in the opposite direction. You may be grieving the loss of a loved one or a way of life. Perhaps life let you down so many times you let yourself spiral into what now seems to be an unending funk.
Know there is hope. There is a lot of research about how to overcome depression naturally. Effective help is available to get you out of the mire. Just as you traveled the spiral into the blues, you can turn it around spiral back up to create a happier life.
Reminder: If you have been diagnosed with clinical depression, please consult your medical provider before using any of the following techniques and depression natural remedies. Never stop your medication without your doctor's guidance. Medication may be a necessary and helpful part of your symptom control and recovery. If you have suicidal thoughts, please consult a medical professional immediately.
Holistic Healing for Depression
The following holistic methods for how to overcome depression are most helpful for mild to moderate depressed feelings. They will support you in mind, body, and spirit. Use them as a complement to your medical care, not as a replacement for it.
Awareness: The first and most important step for beating depression
The first step in knowing how to overcome depression is to identify and understand why you feel the way you do.
If you skip this step, you can still use the following techniques and remedies, but it may be hit or miss, They might still help you control symptoms, but directly addressing the physical and/or mental causes empowers you to focus on what you need to do to achieve true, lasting healing.
Once you get an idea of what is bringing you down, or better yet figure it out for sure, it's time to focus your attention and energy on how to overcome depression. Choose the most appropriate course to support your healing. Experiment with the best practices suggested on this page for a well rounded holistic approach. Be sure to click on highlighted links for expanded information.
Seek help
Sometimes the most effective way to help yourself is to seek help from a professional. Get a physical exam with blood work in order to identify or rule out organic causes.
A holistic life coach, or cognitive behavioral therapist can help you get into action and keep it up if you have trouble doing this on your own.
Consult a medical health professional immediately if you are experiencing severe depression or are considering suicide. Recent technological advances are making it easier for doctors to determine which course of treatment - medication or psychotherapy - is going to help you the most.
Make a commitment to feeling better every day.
Regardless of the recovery options you choose, you will have to be committed to your plan to make it work. At first you may only make half-hearted small steps. That's okay. Set easily accomplished goals using these tips. Stick to your plan regardless of what your emotions say. Consistency will make progress easier and faster. Then set bigger goals. Give yourself lots of encouragement and praise for moving forward.
Once you gain momentum, you will notice more frequent bright moments. Focus on those feelings. Allow a few weeks to experience significant results.
Do something.
Take charge of your thoughts and emotions to help reclaim your power. According to Dr. Deepak Chopra,
"Inertia is depression's best friend."
A good starting exercise for beating depression is to experiment with Charlie Brown's instructions for how to stay depressed.
His wise observation of the connection of mind and body may appear to be poking fun at a serious problem. Actually, it contains pearls of wisdom for how to overcome depression that outpace medical science. Try it yourself and see. Sit and stand up straight. Try a smile - a big one, or two. Don't worry if it feels phony or forced or even worse. Retrain yourself.
Remind yourself that in order to change your brain's neuro-circuits, you have to change your thinking and your mental habits. This includes body posture habits that accompany them. Fake it until you make it.
Take care of yourself.
Humans tend to base their sense of worth and value by the amount of love, care and acceptance we do or don't get from others. Although being loved or cared for in a healthy way by another is a beautiful thing, ultimately your most healing love and care must come from yourself. Practice self-love and care.
Here are some ways to give yourself the mental self-care you need.
- Change stressful conditions as much as possible. Decide if the problem is something you can fix. Do you need to put up with it or can you/do you want to walk away? Feel empowered by the fact that you are making a choice.
- Focus on relationships, instead of situations. Treat yourself and others with love. Associate with people who inspire and uplift you.
- Do work or a hobby you love.
Accept what is and take control of your thoughts.
Bad things happen, even to good people. Life happens. You may not be able to control circumstances, but you can certainly control your response to them. Actually, the only thing you can truly control is your thoughts. Realizing that you have this power, and to claim it, are key to feeling in control. You control yourself, no one else.
Downer self-talk like "It's all my fault", "There's nothing I can do about it", or "What's the use?" are disempowering. This self talk is also likely to at least be partly untrue and provides no way out.
- Turn around your negative thinking patterns in order to build new neural pathways that support positive responses.
- Acknowledge your initial depressive thoughts and shift it to a better feeling thought. Develop the habit of responding with better feeling, more supportive, expansive thoughts quickly.
- Explore the connection between depression and anger. Where do you need to let go of anger? Who, including yourself, do you need to forgive? How can you use that energy as a positive force instead of a draining one?
- Meditate to help yourself you be in the present moment instead of the painful past and unknown future. Meditation transforms your brain and helps you relax.
Make healthy lifestyle choices
A healthy body helps make a healthy mind. These healthy living habits will help you feel better and boost your mood.
- Exercise is one of the most effective natural depression treatments. Moderate exercise raises feel good hormones and lowers chemicals that make you feel down. How to overcome depression with exercise? Commit to twenty minutes of brisk walk, bicycling, or swimming three or more times a week. Go with someone you enjoy for healthful social interaction.
- Sit less. Seriously. Your brain's blood supply is decreased when you sit too much and too long at once. Get up at least every hour and move around, even if it's just for a minute.
- Eat healthy foods. Research suggests a strong link between inflammation, eating too much sugar and processed foods, and lack of Omega 3 fatty acids with depression. Limit sugars and grains to normalize insulin and leptin which affects mood. Eat wild caught salmon, sardines, herring, mackerel or fish oil regularly to get plenty of Omega 3 fatty acids. Eat probiotic rich foods and season liberally with inflammation fighting herbs such as cinnamon, ginger, turmeric and chili powder.
- Stay hydrated with pure water. The American Psychiatric Association conducted a huge study that showed the main difference between depressed and non-depressed populations was...drinking water!
- Get safe sun exposure. Sunshine brightens your mood. A popular winter remedy for how to overcome depression is the light box. It reverses drooping mood and flagging energy levels due to too little daylight.
Practice happiness habits
Explore the secrets of happiness and incorporate one or more of them into your daily life. Happy people share certain traits that can be learned. Even though the thought of feeling happy right now may seem like a far stretch, you may find steps that appeal to you. They can help you raise your current happiness set-point a bit at a time. Every little bit helps.
How to Overcome Depression with Natural Remedies
The following depression natural remedies probably won't heal your melancholy long-term, but they can uplift your spirits in the moment.
- Herbs for Depression such as St. John's Wort and Kava kava have a long history of easing a mild to moderate case of the blues.
- Uplifting aromatherapy essential oils like lavender, rosemary and lemon help to quickly balance your moods and lift your spirits. They are good when you feel a little down and smell oh so heavenly.
- Certain supplements are helpful. COQ10 helps with energy production and boosts the effect of herbs and supplements that promote serotonin production. SAMe and 5-HTP are known for lifting your spirits. Magnesium deficiency contributes to depression and anxiety. Ironically, Prozac and other fluoride containing drugs such as nicotine, diuretics, cocaine, and birth control pills deplete magnesium.
- There is a correlation between lack of Vitamin D and depression. Ask your doctor to perform a blood test to see if you are deficient. My doctor tells me that almost everyone over the age of 40 needs to supplement Vitamin D regardless of where you live.
- Sip a few cups of green tea every day. The antioxidants in freshly brewed green tea help reduce cortisol and improve mood.
- Get out in nature. Breathe fresh air. Go to the beach and wash away your sorrows in the ocean waves. Put your hands in the soil and garden. Gardening is a natural antidepressant.
Knowing how to overcome depression and making a commitment to a holistic approach including natural remedies and medical care if needed will take you a long way on your healing journey. By implementing practices that feel right to you, you may find that you are beating depression and feeling brighter in a matter of weeks.
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