Depression

Depression is a common experience for people. Statistics say 45% of people will have an episode of depression in their lives. In any year, one million people in Australia, will be experiencing depression. I feel that despite the commonality of depression, it is often misunderstood.

The first thing I want to state is there are several types of depression.

Biochemical Depression – where the brain neurotransmitters are deficient, the most popular ones are serotonin and dopamine, but low levels of noradrenaline can also contribute to depression. Medication is essential to rebalance the biochemical imbalance and can be sourced from the pharmaceutical or the natural world.

Life Event Depression – where an event or several events contribute to depression such as job loss, the death of a loved one, injury, etc. Time is considered to be needed for the depression to be resolved, although anti-depressants are frequently prescribed by the medical profession. Natural Therapies are brilliant for this kind of depression. Everything from Flower Essences to Emotional Freedom Technique, Empowered Tapping, Matrix Reimprinting, Trauma Buster Technique, NLP, Kinesiology, Reiki and obviously Counselling can all assist with processing the experiences had.

Normal Depression – as part of the ups and downs in life, the overwhelming emotions swamp a person for a period of time. Depression as a psychological process occurs when a person has tried everything, and a problem hasn’t been resolved. Depression is a signal from the mind to say, ‘I’ve had enough and need a rest now!’ It also applies to the spiritual crisis where we question the meaning and the point of life in general and ours specifically. Natural Therapies again are brilliant for this kind of depression.

Melancholy Personality – some people are just sad, negative, less inspired, or excited by life. This is seen as an outlook on life – the half empty cup people. Often anti-depressants don’t help at all but remedies like Flower Essences can still help enormously.

I have defined depression, and discussed it with clients for years, as a combination of any or all of the following:

• Discouragement
• Sadness
• Anger
• Loneliness
• Lack of direction
• Physical, emotional, and mental exhaustion
• Physical, emotional, and mental pain
• Despair
• Doubt
• Inability to accept what’s happening in one’s life
• Inability to let go or holding on to what is no longer relevant
• Times of great change
• Feeling out of control
• Frustration
• Insecurity
• Emptiness
• Overwhelm
• Guilt
• Worthlessness
• Grief
• Loss
• Isolation
• Lack of purpose in life

Normal depression is an emotion and like all emotions can be used to guide us towards a solution, greater clarity about our life and our limits as well as empowering us with greater self-awareness.

There are some fantastic flower essences to help with alleviating depression.

Gorse: When we think ‘What’s the use?’ and feel like giving up because everything seems bigger than we can handle, which is the very basis of depression Gorse is the essence. It helps restore hope for a solution or resolution. 

Mustard: This is for the kind of depression that comes and goes, and we can’t identify why is comes or what makes it go away. It feels like a black cloud descends upon us and then lifts of its own accord. Taking Mustard eliminates the depression bringing calm and faith into our life.

Gentian: This helps the personality that sees the cup as half empty or feels cynical about anything working out, ever! While we won’t become ridiculously optimistic a greater balance and acceptance of reality can be achieved.

Sweet Chestnut: When we feel at the end of our tether and just can’t take another thing, pressure, demand, or request because we are sure we’ll break we need Bach’s Sweet Chestnut. It quickly lifts overwhelm so life feels manageable again.

Wild Oat: We all need to have a sense of purpose in our lives and when we don’t there is a kind of depression that consumes us. Wild Oat helps people who aren’t sure what they are meant to do or have so many talents and skills that they get bored doing one thing leading us to keep looking for greater meaning and purpose in our lives. Greater understanding of this process helps us connect to our purpose with acceptance.

Scotchbroom: I teach this as the ‘Greenpeace-Greenie-Humanitarian worker who falls into depression’ essence. The reason being is it helps a certain kind of depression – the one that comes from feeling overwhelmed and powerless to impact or change the state of the world or world events. It comes up for people more when tragic events occur in the world – like two years of lockdowns and the Ukraine-Russian War. It helps us keep things in perspective and acknowledge our power to influence what we can influence.

Borage: This helps with a heavy heart that feels de-pressed. It brings a lightness and buoyancy back into our lives.

Bleeding Heart: As the name says it’s for the broken heart that is bleeding pain and sorrow for a lost, loved one and it goes well with Borage. The healing comes through a mending of the broken feeling, which enables us to remember our loved one with joy.

Hackberry: Sometimes we don’t get to grieve at the time of someone we love passes and then it just seems too hard to grieve later. Hackberry helps us give ourselves permission to feel our loss and begin to process it. 

Wolfberry: When grieving feels too painful and so we avoid it Wolfberry gives us the perspective and strength to face our loss and honour our feelings by embracing them allowing for healing.

I have had over 28 years of success using these essences with clients to relieve their depression. Flower Essences are selected for what is imbalanced and assists in bringing in the positive transformation.

Depression is a serious mental state that is all-consuming. When in the depression it is really hard to find a way out. If nothing else, I just want you to know there is a way out. What really matters is that you seek help from whatever kind of practitioner you feel comfortable with.

Have you felt depressed and overcome it? What worked for you?