Doc Childre - Transforming depression: the HeartMath solution to feeling overwhelmed, sad, and stressed

Chapter 1

For the vast majority of people, living is feeling. Imagine spending time with a loved one, or sitting in a beautiful spot in nature, or listening to your favorite music, or watching an exciting sports game without any connection whatsoever to your emotional experience. Feelings allow you to experience the textures of life. They are such a natural part of human existence that people often take them for granted.

A life without feeling is a terribly empty place. In fact, when your feelings are numb or suppressed, youre just surviving in a mechanical way. Thats why they call it going through the motions when someone is shut down emotionally. With no emotion to fuel your actions, everything feels pointless and without meaning. Young or old, people shut down feeling as a defense mechanism when emotional distress becomes too much. Notfeeling often seems the least painful alternative. When you dont understand the purpose of feelings or how to interpret them, life can become very confusing. You may get stressed, angry, anxious, sad, and then overreact with judgment and blame toward yourself or others. You may end up feeling shut off from people and choosing to withdraw into loneliness.

When anxiety or sadness is ongoing, it builds a state of emotional density that filters out some of your normal textures in lifethe sparkle you feel with family or friends, your enjoyment of nature, the moments of inspiration, and the satisfaction you get from your daily activities. Eventually, anxiety or sadness can significantly diminish your rewarding experiences and lead to a chronic feeling of dullness. Depression sets in as your emotional connection to others is gradually reduced to a flat linea dead zone, without any feeling of purpose or meaning. For some, depression plunges them into a dark hole of despair.

Have you ever thought about the word depression? It implies something pressing down on you emotionally. No wonder this creates sadness, difficulty in thinking and concentrating, and feelings of dejection and hopelessness. These are all symptoms of depression that cause a lowering of vitality and functional activity. Before long, fatigue sets in.

Depression has many contributing factors. A number of physical conditions can make you more vulnerable to depression. Some people have a genetic predisposition toward pessimism and sadness. Depression can be brought on by hormonal, neurological, or other physical changes. Serious medical conditions like chronic pain, heart disease, cancer, or HIV can also contribute to depression, partly because of the emotional stress they evoke. In other cases, depression is caused by the drugs used to treat medical conditions. Ultimately, depression can make health conditions worse since it weakens the immune system and can make pain harder to bear.

Dramatic global changes are happening today at a faster rate than ever before in human history. The speed of these changes is contributing to the largest rise in numbers of people experiencing depression today. Many people feel so much pressure and anxiety about the future that it puts them in a state of overload. When your emotions cant keep up with everything, your emotional system jams up and then signs off in resignation. When you sign off on your creative life force, it quickly results in depression and a host of other ailments.

Ongoing depression causes biochemical and neurological imbalances that affect the way you feel about yourself and the way you think about things. A state of dis-ease keeps stress signals turned on between your heart and brain, which alters the neurotransmitters and hormones getting released in your body, affecting your perceptions and moods. If those stress signals and neurochemical changes become continuous, your brain thinks this is your new normal state and resets itself to lock in the pattern. Then no matter what you do, its hard to feel better. You may suffer silently; reach for solace from friends, religion, or self-help methods; or try therapy or medications. You may bury your distress with overwork or stimulants. But the depression wont releaseuntil you set a new pattern.

Three Types of Depression

Doctors have classified three types of depression: major depression, bipolar disorder, and low-level depression (or dysthymia).

If you feel that you are in a dark hole and cant see your way out or if you find yourself caught up in frequent crying spells or suicidal thoughts, you are suffering from major depression. Its important that you see a qualified medical professional to get help immediately. If you are having suicidal thoughts, call your local crisis hotline or 911 and ask them to direct you to that hotline.

If you have bipolar disorderindicated by wildly swinging mood changes, from manic to depressive statesits also important that you seek medical treatment.

If you dont know where to go for help, call your local mental health center or visit the National Institute of Mental Health website at www.nimh.nih.gov.

If you are reading this book because a family member or friend is depressed, its important that you encourage him or her to see a competent medical professional to determine the type of depression and treatment needed. This book can help you better understand your friend or loved one. Its written to be an adjunct treatment for depression.

We have tremendous compassion for those suffering from major depression or bipolar disorder. The main purpose of this book, however, is to help people recover from and prevent the most common type of depressionknown as low-level depression. If it goes untreated, it can turn into a major depression.

Low-Level Depression

Many people either dont recognize or wont admit that they have an ongoing, low-level depression. They may believe they are just pessimisticthinking that life isnt going to get better. Particularly if they have grown up around depressive people, they may think that being down in the dumps much of the time is normal or just part of their personality. This is not the case.

Low-level depression is characterized by frequent down moods and confusing thoughts. It isnt just a passing bleak mood. You may find yourself always negatively projecting the worst outcomes and believing your own thoughts, constantly brooding about what you could or should have done, then feeling bad or guilty that you didnt. You may even think youre going crazy.

Low-level depression is not something you can just pull yourself out of with positive thinking. These mental and emotional attitudesalong with their accompanying biochemical and neurological imbalancestook time to build up. It will also take some time to bring them back to balance. But it doesnt have to take as long as it feels like it will take.

Thats the hope of this book. New scientific research along with a new understanding of how emotional energy works shows that you can transform depression. New tools are available to help you reconnect with the positive, regenerating textures of life and regain the hope and clarity you have lost.

Allison is living proof of this. Heres what she wrote:

Last spring, before I started using the new HeartMath tools, I felt sad, depressed, confused, and defeated most of the time. I could not truly enjoy my daughter or my fianc or the good in life. It felt like it was only a matter of time before everything would come crumbling down.

After I started using the HeartMath tools, I realized I was no longer a victim. It wasnt some sort of magic pill that made things better all at once, but practicing the tools ignited something like a magic flame burning inside of me. The more I look at it, the stronger it gets. And the most wonderful thing about it isits mine. No one but me truly controls it.