I Need More Help

"I am on an antidepressant but I need more help." the woman in the commercial exclaims.

A calming voice continues to describe depression as a serious disease caused by an out of balance condition of epinephrine and serotonin, two drugs produced by the brain to regulate mood swings. The announcer goes on to explain that the new drug EZmood, taken with the antidepressant has helped many with the same problem. However, notify your doctor immediately if you have thoughts of suicide, swelling of the tongue, violent mood swings, heart palpitations, and on and on the announcer goes describing problematic symptoms that you should be aware of if you chose to use their new drug. Unfortunately these symptoms have obviously happened as other people took their drug which, in my understanding, increases your chances of the same things happening.

Do you hear the message in that advertisement? No, I'm not talking about the alleged benefits of the product being sold but the warning message that is only there because of the FDA's labeling laws. I absolutely agree that persons suffering from depression do need more help because offering them mood altering drugs is not helping them but hurting them in the long run by masking their real problem. The proof that I offer is the AMA's own statistics that up twenty five percent of America is classified clinically depressed even though they are currently on anti-depressants and under a doctor's care. If that doesn't give us cause for alarm then nothing will. In fact, we should be more than alarmed, we should be absolutely horrified.

Over the past 20 years I have been helping many overcome depression without the use of drugs. In fact it all started many years ago when I was personally given to a routine of anger followed by depression that with the Lord's help, I was able to escape. This is done by simply helping those suffering learn how to control the thoughts of their mind. It may seem too simple for some while the thought of controlling your mind may seem overwhelming for others. However, believe me it is possible and I am seeing it done on a regular basis. Because of this I would like to give you some food for thought as it pertains to dealing with depression. I will also address the issue of a chemical imbalance or low epinephrine and serotonin levels in the blood as the cause of depression in the latter part of this article.

Depression is looking inward, it is a sinking down in your thoughts; looking at self or the problems and challenges at hand. It involves becoming so absorbed by the challenges you are facing that you are unable to see any hope of overcoming them. Our mood swings follow our thinking process' so if you allow your mind to think down, dark, depressive thoughts you are naturally going to feel depressed. If you feel bad about yourself and continue to allow your mind to replay the same old sad stories of life again and again you are naturally going to be depressed and potentially self-destructive in your behavior. The key to your freedom is to simply find the good things in your life to think about. Only then can you expect to feel better. I want to help you find the way.

Too many people allow their minds to direct and control their day; they have never been taught how to control the use of their bodies including their minds. Your mind is a tool for you to use, not an organ that is intended to use and direct you. You are responsible to make your mind be still. You must not allow your mind to dictate what you think about or when you think.

The natural mind that is uncontrolled will naturally gravitate downward to negative thoughts. In fact God created the human mind to doubt everything. That is how progress is made; when people doubt that this is the best way they put their mind to work finding a better way. However, depression goes beyond doubting and into the realm where they cannot see any hope of improvement or change. Many people I have worked with over the years have described this as their mind wandering down by the pit. Some have even seen a bottomless black hole in their mind's eye. If you allow your mind to stay down by the pit long enough or often enough you will eventually fall in. However, you don't need to allow your mind to do this to you. When thoughts that you know will hurt you or take you down come into your mind you must say "No, we're not going there." You force your mind to think on things that are uplifting and edifying. Refuse to allow your mind to lead you. When your mind wants to run off onto other thoughts you merely refuse it the privilege; pull it back onto the subject you wish to think about.

Some people have told me that at first, during this battle and it is a battle, they have a hard time finding positive things to think about. Let me help you with this; look at the end of your legs, if there is a foot attached to each leg you have just found two things to rejoice over. Look at your hands, if they work you have two more things to rejoice over. You are probably reading this on a computer so be thankful you can be connected in this manner. There are people all over the world that do not have this privilege. Be thankful you can read. If you are reading this because someone loved you enough to print it off then you have love in your life and people that care about you.

When I found myself either in or heading to a pity-party I would ask myself this question; "Am I worse off today than I was yesterday?" If I could honestly say that I was no worse off today than I was yesterday I would be able to shake it off and get back into life. If things looked worse today than they seemed to be yesterday I would then list how different today was from yesterday. As I looked at the things that made today worse I would then consider this "Do I know this for a fact or am I assuming this is the way it is." Most generally I was assuming and by the time I determined that I was assuming something to be fact, I was far from the pit and ready to live again.

Consider this statistic; it may help you understand why so many people are in depression. Medical science has proven that 70% of a person's daily, uncontrolled thought process is redundant and negative. In other words, we keep thinking the same old thing over and over and it keeps growing worse and worse with each pass through. Talk about a huge waste of energy. No wonder depression makes one tired and unable to function.

Another way to shake off the blues is to find someone else to invest your life in. Depression is thinking about self. Your life is more important than that. There are others out there that need you. You have much to offer others; your life experiences can be used to encourage people who may be going through situations similar to what you have experienced. As you invest your life in other's problems you suddenly find out that you don't have it so bad after all. Begin to look at yourself as a potential fountain of life, offering others hope rather than a pit of depression, taking life. God has a purpose for your life; begin seeking His purpose for your life.

I have a friend that is a missionary in a country that is closed to Christianity. That in itself isn't to unusual but this friend mine is much older than I am. We'll just say that I am old enough to retire and he is at least 10 years my elder. This too is not so unusual. However this missionary friend of mine has Multiple Sclerosis and struggles to walk. In addition to his physical condition he ministers to lepers in the jungles and mountain areas of his mission field country; mountains and steaming jungles because that is where they banish lepers too, the undesirable places to live. He could be here in the USA being taken care of by people trained to help him but no, he is out stomping through the jungles and mountains searching for people no one else even want to be close to. He told me once that when he is in the USA he becomes depressed because he watches people running to and fro never giving any thought to others around them. Therefore, when he goes to his mission fields he finds people who suffer much worse than he has ever had to suffer and he is happy and contented serving the unfortunates of this world.

I have another friend that learned how to whip depression by being thankful and in his process of finding things for which he could be thankful, he visited a nursing home where a friend's family member was residing. While he was there he noticed a nurse having a tough time with one of their residents so he went to her aid and began speaking to the elderly gentleman that was giving her a tough time. As he communicated with the resident these two men discovered something about themselves that changed both their lives. The nurse told my friend that she appreciated his help and by the way, have you ever given any thought to becoming a nurse's aid? She said. She went on to say "you have a natural ability to help these folks. We need someone like you on staff here. The majority of my day is not dealing with physical health like I am trained to do but I spend most of my day trying to convince them they have a reason to live and to take care of themselves. You just have a natural way with these folks." To make a longer story shorter, he recognized how good he felt about his ability to help those who obviously had it much worse than he so he began volunteering until one day, at the insistence of the director; he went on staff only to replace the director a few years later. He told me "I never knew how great life could be until I began to pour myself into others. When I met this young man he was in the depths of despair and depression; he couldn't function for himself or take care of his family. He had no purpose or direction in life. Once he began volunteering to help others he never again returned to his private bottomless pit of depression. As he found his place in life he not only helped the residents but he helped the nurses so they could return to their trained call in life. Soon after that he began coming off all his antidepressants and other drugs and today lives free from all his past struggles. (Never come off your meds cold-turkey. Always seek the Dr's help as I will explain at the end of this article.)

Depression is focusing on self and the issues of life that cannot be changed by worrying or constantly thinking about them. You would be surprised at how those problems or concerns will take care of themselves as soon as you quit holding on to them in your mind.

When I help people struggling I always incorporate God in the mix; in fact, without God you will never find the purpose for which you were created. The young man I told you about began to ask God to show him his purpose and to open doors for him just weeks prior to his visiting his friend's relative in the nursing home. I am not talking about becoming religious. Religion has no part to play in a true relationship with God.

God is the most practical person to build a relationship with because He is always with you and is always ready to help. I can help you build a practical relationship with my best friend if you would like. I teach all about it in my book Genuine Christianity which you can purchase on my website at http://www.genuinechristianity.org/ or at your local Christian book store (publisher is American Book Publishing Company).

Now to address the situation with epinephrine and serotonin levels in your blood; these are natural mood stabilizing drugs created by glands in the brain. I am not surprised that a person who is depressed has a problem with adequate levels of these drugs in their blood. After all, medical science has known for years that stress can actually cause your heart to fail. Your heart is possibly the strongest organ in the human body. If stress can cause it to fail, and it can, it is not surprising that two little glands in the brain could also be caused to fail or malfunction as you go deeper and deeper into depression. Stress is actually caused by what a person thinks about them self. In future articles I will discuss stress and how we can become free from the causes of stress as well as how to manage stress. This is where a relationship with God is very practical because He is the only one who has a plan that actually works. His plan involves no drugs by the way. It is my contention that improper drug levels do not cause depression but constant, deep depression causes the glands to fail. Injecting an artificial drug into your blood stream only masks the real problem. I want to help you deal with the root problems and become free the natural way with no drug side effects.

Now let's look at why you should not come off drugs cold-turkey. When your physical body becomes accustomed to what you are putting in it (mood altering drugs) to suddenly stop them puts your nervous system under much stress; it shocks your system and causing additional emotional trauma and many times the physical pain of it all can become overwhelming. It has been documented that it can actually make you behave in ways that are totally unlike you. The point is, why put yourself under such added stress. There is a better way to accomplish what you are after.

It has been my experience working with hundreds of people over the years that as we help them reduce the stress levels in their lives their body begins to function as God designed it too in the first place. When your body begins to function properly you will eventually find yourself with too much drug in your blood, causing you to physically feel bad. At that time you need to ask your doctor to do a blood test so he can determine how overdosed you have become. When this is determined he can safely reduce the amount of artificial drug you are taking working with your natural body rather than putting more stress on your body.

In my next post I will discuss how the brain works concerning emotional pain including worry, fear and consuming thoughts. I want to help you see how simple it is to end your emotional pain, stress and fears so until next time my friend find something to be thankful about and begin to control your mind so it doesn't control you.

Blessings to you all;

Pastor Larry Author of Genuine Christianity, Eight Steps to Emotional Peace, Obtaining Marital Bliss and Your Pain is Showing (A study of Attitudes, Paradigms and Patience)