How To Cure Depression

Depression

I Was Suicidal Once Too

When I was 25 years old I went through a VERY bad patch. In the space of just 4 months: My girlfriend left me, my parachute failed to open while skydiving, my dog was killed, I lost my job, I couldn't continue my degree and I gave up smoking. The greatest of these with the most severe impact was my girlfriend leaving, as I was over the moon in love with her, the pain of losing her was more than I could bear and I had no idea what to do about it. The loss of my job and education prospects had apparently just ruined my plans for a new life and I was a complete mess!

My mind was completely blown all these things and I did what anyone would in such a situation: I went mad! I couldn't communicate with my friends and family properly and couldn't talk to anyone about the pain I was feeling. Each day I would wake up and feel the black depression descend upon me. Fortunately I didn't have to work as I was incapable.

One way that I handled it was to match the pain of the depression with rage and answer my troubles with the ultimate answer: Death! I would walk down the street in my long wanderings, look strangers in the eye and mentally voice my thoughts: "I will buy the farm!" I had long discussions inside my head, always along the same lines: This life is too painful, but I can end the pain. I can kill myself. I WILL kill myself!

Some people manage to part with their first serious love without too much damage but not me. I wrote an entire album of songs about our relationship which I later reworked and recorded and you can hear it here. In particular, the song: "An Ending Of Pain" is all about me preparing to take the final step. (Download it and listen to it on your music player. For some reason the web-browser audio player messes up the channels on this mp3 file...)

But I Cured It!

I guess I was suicidal like this for a couple of months. Fortunately I did not go through with the agenda, else I wouldn't have discovered the cure and you wouldn't be reading this now.

I attempt to be creative in my thinking and try to push the mental boundaries wherever I perceive them and come up with new approaches and solutions to common household problems and you may find my answers to be quite novel. Here is what I did:

Enjoy Your Depression
Depression is a mental construct consisting of a positive feedback loop with a pain element that feeds on negative emotions: The more pain you feel, the more the cycle spirals downward and the worse it gets. Like any positive feedback loop you can throw it off by injecting the opposite energy. It HATES positive emotions! Now YES, it's difficult to find anything positive when you are really depressed but there is ONE thing, and that's the depression itself!

When you feel the depression coming down on you and you know it's going to be horrible, GO WITH IT! Really get into the spirit of it and enjoy it the way you would a horror movie. Hell, you can even LOOK FORWARD to it!!! Prepare beforehand. Make sure your bed is clean, warm and comfortable. Have some chocolate by the bed if that's your thing. Make sure that when it strikes you have the time and privacy to go to your bedroom alone and really WALLOW in it! It's YOUR Depression. You've EARNT the right to enjoy it!

When it hits: drop whatever you're doing and go to your bedroom and lock the door. Dim or extinguish the lights and get into bed. Jump straight to the depths: "God I'm so miserable! My life is just horrible! Everybody hates me! I'm no good at anything! The evil ones have destroyed me! Just let me die!" etc. All the usual killer thoughts that you know so well... Don't say these things like you've just thought of them. Kind of send yourself up a bit.

After a while you should find that you don't feel quite so bad. Eat some chocolate. Watch some trash that you like. Most likely you'll start to get bored with wallowing around in bed and want to get up. Depression hates to be turned into fun, or even worse: a joke!

This is not a full cure in itself but it DOES help and it's EASY to do.
Enjoy!
Turn The Depression On Itself
As I said previously: Depression feeds on negative energy. Now Depression itself is a negative energy, so to kill it, you need only get the serpent to eat its own tail. If you do this you will see the monster shrink as it eats itself until it is COMPLETELY GONE! The entire process takes less than 5 minutes and the monster will NEVER return! This I have done 30 years ago and was permanently and completely cured. He that hath ears; let him hear.

Of course this process is more tricky to do and to explain than the amelioration approach provided previously, but if I can do it so can you! Just feel around in your misery until you find the tail then shove it in the depression serpent's mouth.
Fix The Root Cause
Don't listen to the biochemists: Depression comes from REAL WORLD problems! Ultimately you must address the issues before you can move on. Probably those issues are not so easily addressed, which is why you got depressed in the first place. Look at my causes listed above: There's no bringing my dog back, nor my job, nor my girlfriend as the damage was too great.

It was all too much to deal with in one hit but once I had cured the depression I was able to function again and deal with these serious issues one at a time: Sure, my dog was dead, but in time I could get another one if I wished. Yes, my GF was gone, but in time I found another. Yes, I had nearly died skydiving, but I didn't have to continue doing it. Yes, I had lost that job, but in time I found another. No, I could not continue my degree full time due to being sacked from work experience, but it turned out there was a clause allowing me to continue part-time, which turned out to be a blessing. As for giving up smoking: How is that not a good thing?

So it probably took me at least 6 months to get back on my feet again and to be looking forward to a positive future but I dealt with my real world problems one way or another and went on to a wonderful new phase of my life. I couldn't have done this if I hadn't cured my depression and I couldn't have done it if I hadn't addressed the root causes. You can do it bit by bit, but you MUST do it! DRUGS WON'T FIX YOUR REAL PROBLEMS!

Ouroboros: Get it to eat its tail and you're cured!

Biochemistry

The prevailing view at present is that Depression is largely a chemical problem. Researchers came to this conclusion because they observed low levels of serotonin, norepinephrine and dopamine in the brains of depressed subjects. Yes! There are low levels of these neurotransmitters that normally make you feel alive and happy, but that is not the CAUSE! That is the SYMPTOM! The same goes for altered brain structure in the long term depressed. That is not the cause of the depression. That is the effect of long term lack of neurotransmitters!

Serious Depression is often treated with drugs designed to increase the levels of the levels of neurotransmitters in the brain, especially serotonin. Selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) such as citalopram, fluoxetine and paroxetine are quite common. Such drugs help to elevate the mood of the patient but they are merely treating the SYMPTOMS. They do not address the root CAUSE and they will not CURE the condition.

Depression is a psychological positive feedback loop which manifests in the biochemical world as a brain with the symptoms listed above. Being faced with an impossible wall whenever you want to do something depresses the tendency to do anything because you can't see how it can work! Telling yourself that nothing can work in neurobiological terms is telling your brain to reduce the neurotransmitter levels to stop your neurons firing to stop yourself from doing something that can't work. The lowered brain activity makes it harder to see a solution which lowers the transmitter level further and you have a positive feedback loop. The brain is doing what the MIND is asking of it. The brain is being the faithful servant. You can only cure the brain by curing the mind!

Ultimately the real world causes of the Depression must be addressed if a permanent cure is to be hoped for. Sadly, most GPs see everything in terms of pill prescription and make a living out of treating symptoms rather than looking for a cure. If you want a real cure follow my 3 steps listed above!

Good Luck!

No doubt your GP and shrink will tell you that I am trivialising the complex and difficult world of depression and that expert neurobiologists and psychiatric researchers with doctorates and professorships know a lot more than I do... But I have cured it! They haven't! Most of them have probably never been seriously depressed with suicidal tendencies. What understanding do they really have?

So if you're getting nowhere with their expensive treatment sessions and pills, why not try my approach? Remember: I was at the edge of death and I cured it in a 5 minute patch of inspiration WITHOUT ANY DRUGS!!! It has not returned in 30 years, although I have been through further tough times in that 30 years where I was truly struggling. But I wasn't properly depressed and I dealt with my issues, bit by bit and got back onto an even keel again.

Life isn't a bed of roses, but it shouldn't be a bed of thorns either. If you use your intelligence and imagination you can probably find solutions to most problems. We are human beings. We are blessed with big brains. We just need to use them. Depression stops us using our brains properly. Break the positive feedback loop as I have done and then you are free to fix the root causes. Spending years in therapy and rolling around on drugs is not the answer. Remember: Drugs treat the symptom, they don't cure the disease.

I cured my depression. So can you!
Get off the drugs!
Enjoy your misery!
Feed the serpent it's tail!
Fix your real-world problems!

Good luck!

Warren Mars - October 14, 2015