Treating Depression With Proven Natural Techniques

(Part 1 of a Series on Depression and Anxiety)
Unstuck: Your Guide to the Seven Stage Journey Out of Depression

Book by James S. Gordon, M.D.

We're in the Depression Era...And It's Getting Worse

According to the World condition club (Who), major depression is the prominent cause of disease burden in North America and high-income countries. It is the fourth prominent cause worldwide; by 2030, it is foreseen, to be the second prominent cause of disease burden worldwide. (1)

"Depression" ordinarily refers to lasting or severe levels of sadness, anxiety, perceived helplessness, insomnia and disinterest, among other linked feelings. Depression can be moderate to severe. "Dysthymia" involves long-term symptoms that keep one from feeling good or functioning well, but will not disable the someone affected by the condition. "Major Depression" interferes with a person's capability to function regularly and enjoy life; this includes the capability to sleep, work, eat, and socialize. "Bipolar disorder," also known as manic-depressive illness, is marked by wide mood changes, including severe highs (mania) and lows (severe depression). Bipolar disorder is not as coarse as other forms of depression.

Antidepressants have come to be the most ordinarily prescribed drugs in the United States, prescribed more often than drugs for high cholesterol, high blood pressure, asthma, or headaches.(2) The U.S. Centers for Disease operate and stoppage (Cdc) reviewed 2.4 billion drugs prescribed in visits to doctors and hospitals in 2005. 118 million were for antidepressants (high blood pressure drugs were the second most common, with 113 million prescriptions). Approximately 232 million prescriptions for antidepressants were written last year, a large increase. (3) Approximately 30 million patients in the Us spent billion on antidepressants in 2007. (4) The median time a normal practitioner (Md) will spend with each outpatient to determine the best arrival to treat a outpatient for the condition at issue while a visit? About 15 minutes. (5)

The use of antidepressants and other linked drugs have ballooned over the last decade and that trend is projected to continue. Are more people receiving previously unaddressed yet needed rehabilitation for depression? Are more people becoming depressed and want treatment? Are more people being treated for symptoms that reflect depressive symptoms, such as normal unhappiness, with prescribe drugs?

These are crucial questions about our healthcare system's arrival to depression, particularly considering new study addressing the effectiveness of prescribe drugs.

New curative Studies Raise a Lot of Eyebrows, and Even More Questions

The prestigious New England Journal of rehabilitation (Nejm) recently published a study that questioned both the selective publication of (positive) curative studies on antidepressants and therefore either we have an accurate, unbiased perspective on their effectiveness and risk-benefit ratio.(6) Instead of only considering published studies on the effectiveness of antidepressants, the authors evaluated all studies registered with the Food and Drug administration (Fda), both published and unpublished. According to publishes studies, it appeared that 94% of the trials conducted showed distinct outcomes. However, when the unpublished studies were included, only about half (51%) of the studies demonstrated distinct outcomes, suggesting a bias in the publication of distinct studies, significantly questioning their efficacy. The authors finished that they could not determine, however, the cause of the publication bias, but stated, "[s]elective reporting of clinical trial results may have adverse consequences for researchers, study participants, condition care professionals, and patients."(7)

As a group of researchers wrote in a letter to the Nejm as a ensue up to the study, "[t]he most serious implication of this study is that guidelines for the rehabilitation of depression may be inaccurate, since they are often based on meta-analyses of published data alone.

This current law makes it impossible for scientific journals to furnish a valid photo of the efficacy of antidepressants."

Additionally, a modern study publushed in PloS rehabilitation concludes that new antidepressant medications, such as Ssris, advantage only the most severe patients and, "[a]lthough patients get good when they take antidepressants, they also get good when they take a placebo [such as a sugar pill], and the distinction in revision is not very great. This means that depressed people can enhance without chemical treatments." (8)

An Explosion of the Use of Antidepressants Combined with the modern study Questioning Their Effectiveness

Dr. Ronald Dworkin has a clear view about the current state of depression treatment, which, as already stated, includes billion spent on antidepressants in the Us alone. Dworkin, a senior fellow at Washington's Hudson Institute, is the author of "Artificial Unhappiness: The Dark Side of the New Happy Class." "Doctors are now medicating unhappiness," said Dworkin. "Too many people take drugs when they no ifs ands or buts need to be making changes in their lives."(9)

Unstuck - A New Book That Challenges billion in Drug firm Advertising and the Mainstream rehabilitation of Depression

Pharmaceutical associates spent Approximately billion in advertising in 2001; the largest number was spent to promote antidepressant drugs. A new book by integrative rehabilitation pioneer James S. Gordon, M.D. Criticizes our current law of treating depression so extensively and quickly with antidepressants and offers a comprehensive and largely self-directed agenda for those afflicted by depression. "Unstuck: Your Guide to the Seven Stage Journey Out of Depression" is Gordon's first effort to write about the agenda he has industrialized and used for thirty five years to treat depression, ultimate stress, and anxiety.

Gordon, the Founder and Director of the non-profit town for Mind-Body rehabilitation (Cmbm) in Washington, Dc, industrialized the foundation of the agenda over forty years ago and has been using it with patients and teaching it to condition professionals while that period. He also served as the Chairman of the White House Commission on Complementary and Alternative rehabilitation procedure under President Bill Clinton.

Gordon believes that depression is not a disease, but a sign that one's life is out of balance, or "stuck". He asserts that, while there are biological changes linked with depression, they are inconsistent among patients and are more likely to be the ensue of feelings of hopelessness, loss and helplessness than their cause. A core aspect of Gordon's arrival is that antidepressants are significantly over-prescribed and they are less productive than other less-toxic approaches. According to Gordon, writing prescriptions for antidepressants has come to be a well-intentioned, but ill-informed and quick option for doctors, who have exiguous time to spend with patients due to our current curative refund law that encourages short outpatient visits. Their use has ballooned as a result. Gordon's comprehensive arrival which emphasizes self-care techniques, including dietary change, nutritional supplements, meditation and exercise, represents a principal - and controversial - departure from typical contemporary curative approaches to depression treatment, which are based primarily on prescribe drugs and only secondarily on the use of supportive and cognitive therapy.

Seven Stages of the Program

Gordon's Unstuck agenda consists of seven stages and a collection of self-care techniques to treat depression. He tells patients to stay on antidepressants initially and work with their doctors and other condition professionals with the program. The seven stages, as Gordon has titled them, include:

The Call. Gordon notes that one has to come to be aware that he or she is depressed and determine that convert is necessary.

Guides on the Journey. The Unstuck agenda suggests finding people, such as condition professionals, who can help the outpatient through the process.

Surrender to Change. This stage involves letting go of those issues that may constrain us, and move into the current of life.

Dealing with Demons. Gordon discusses facing the challenges to the process, such as procrastination, pride, resentment, and fear, among others.

Dark Night of the Soul. This stage involves allowing free time to emerge as participants move through despair along the process.

Spirituality: the Blessing. The agenda discusses connecting with something or someone larger than ourselves.

The Return. This stage involves learning to live every day joyously, deeply and consciously in the light of what participants have experienced.

Treatments, Exercises and Techniques Used in Unstuck

Gordon includes a collection of forms of psychological advice and instruction in discrete wellness approaches, included below. Ironically, some of these techniques have existed for thousands of years. Though they empower a outpatient to take operate over the rehabilitation process, Gordon also strongly recommends that each outpatient find a skilled "Guide" or therapist for support.

* Meditation
* exercise
* Self-expression through words, drawings, and movement
* Yoga
* nutrition and Supplements
* Acupuncture and Herbal Therapies
* A collection of Spiritual Practices
* Psychological guidance

Scientific Basis for Program

Gordon has industrialized and used the Unstuck agenda for 40 years. The agenda is taught by Dr. Gordon and the faculty of the "Mind-Body rehabilitation pro Training Program" held by the town for Mind-Body Medicine, based in Washington, Dc. The town has taught the agenda and arrival to thousands of curative schools, condition professionals and individuals nearby the world since 1994. Currently, the agenda is being used in New Orleans, throughout the Middle East, with returning veterans from Iraq, and others nearby the world to help alleviate the symptoms of stress, trauma, and post-traumatic stress disorder (Ptsd).

There are thousands of peer-reviewed scientific studies on the personel techniques included in the agenda that Gordon cites in Unstuck. In addition, some published studies have demonstrated the effectiveness of Gordon's approach.(10)

Inevitable Controversy and Some Challenges

Gordon's Unstuck arrival will inevitably face comment from those in the thinking condition field who have seen the clear benefits of antidepressants for their patients and from some of those patients themselves. Gordon acknowledges that many people have, in fact, benefited from prescribe medications. His program, however, offers a proven, natural alternative for the many who suffer from depression, but have not gotten relief from the typical treatments. It also offers a way for those who continue on medication to fetch principal benefits as well as take operate over their rehabilitation program. This active involvement addresses feelings of helplessness and hopelessness that are hallmarks of depression. The techniques are so simple, in fact, that patients can merge them into their current mainstream treatment.

If there is one challenge to the program, it is the same one faced by countless dieters, people who exercise, and others who ordinarily effort to merge healthy changes in their lives - sticking to the agenda and practicing the recommended exercises regularly, especially when hit with the "blues" of depression and lethargy. In "Unstuck," Gordon is there every step of the way, encouraging and helping readers to start from where they are, experimenting with dissimilar approaches, gently building up the momentum for convert and healing. To help with this process, we have created a web-based webinar with Dr. Gordon on treating depression.

References

(1) Mathers Cd, Loncar D (November 2006). "Projections of global mortality and burden of disease from 2002 to 2030". PloS Med. 3 (11): e442. Doi:10.1371/journal.pmed.0030442. Pmid 17132052. (3) Source: Ims Health. Ww.imshealth.com/portal/site/imshealth (4) Id. (5) Ann Fam Med. 2005 Nov-Dec;3(6):494-9. (6) N Engl J Med. 2008 Jan 17;358(3):252-60.(7) Id.(8) N Engl J Med 2008; 358:2180-2182, May 15, 2008. Kirsch I, Deacon Bj, Huedo-Medina Tb, Scoboria A, Moore Tj, et al. (2008) preliminary severity and antidepressant benefits: A metaanalysis of data submitted to the Food and Drug Administration. PloS Med 5(2): e45. (9)(8) Gordon, James S. Staples Julie K, Blyta Afrim, Bytyqi Murat, Wilson Amy T. rehabilitation of Posttraumatic Stress Disorder in Postwar Kosovar Adolescents Using Mind-Body Skills Groups: A Randomized Controlled Trial. Journal of Clinical Psychiatry, 2008; Staples, Julie K. & Gordon, James S. "Effectiveness of a Mind-Body Skills Training agenda for Healthcare Professionals." Alternative Therapies in condition and Medicine, 2004, 11(4): 36-41. Gordon, James S., Julie K. Staples, Afrim Blyta, and Murat Bytyqi. "Treatment of Posttraumatic Stress Disorder in Postwar Kosovo High School Students Using Mind-Body Skills Groups: A Pilot Study." Journal of Traumatic Stress, 2004, 17: 143-147.

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