Depression

Understanding the Dangers of Depression

Our lives are colored by numerous textures of feeling ranging from deep joy to being down in the dumps with many shades of grey in between. It is but natural to feel sad at the death of a loved one, or to be melancholic to be leaving a familiar place or to be upset when we have disagreements with people or get laid off from work.

In fact, there are many instances in life where we feel the blues and this is but natural. However, what is not psychologically healthy is to remain in a perpetual state of dysphoria, which could be described as a “profound state of dis-ease, unhappiness and dissatisfaction,” day in and day out.

According to the DSM V, the following symptoms would help you identify Persistent Depressive Disorder (Dysthymia) in yourself or a loved one:

1. Depressed mood for most of the day, for more days than not, as indicated by either subjective or observation by others

2. Poor appetite or overeating

3. Insomnia or hypersomnia

4. Low energy or fatigue

5. Low self esteem

6. Poor concentration or difficulty making decisions

7. Feelings of hopelessness

If a person embodies having a “depressed mood for most of the day” day after day with two or more other symptoms one can be said to be clinically depressed. Being clinically depressed, in turn, will have negative consequences on one’s health, well being, relationships, work, productivity and bring down the overall quality of one’s life. Research has shown, that high levels of the stress hormone cortisol have been found in the blood stream of people who identified being depressed, this in turn reduces immune function and makes any pre-existing medical disorder worse or may perhaps even create new ones. What we can gauge from this is that depressed people are more likely to be easily stressed and in turn, people who have a low threshold to stress are more susceptible to becoming depressed.

If an individual is in an intimate relationship or has small children their having depression would impact their loved one’s in very harmful ways. There is a progressive diminishing of real interpersonal contact and closeness since the depressed person is no longer present to anything other than overwhelming feelings of sadness. Spouses of depressed individuals report very low relationship satisfaction as depressions gnaws away at the fabric of intimacy where emotional connection, sexuality and simply having fun together is greatly reduced or becomes non-existent. Studies have also shown that children of depressed people have a higher risk of being depressed themselves, as well as having a vulnerability to addictions and exhibit behavioral disorders.

 Read more at http://www.sonerajhaveri.com/blog/psyche-therapy/depression

Working with Depression in the Body

 

Part of being human is to experience difficult emotions such as sadness, depression, anxiety, frustration, disappointment etc. Yet these emotions do not make us feel “good” and so we   have an unconscious tendency of not wanting to feel whatever we are feeling. We might brace, not breathe deeply and develop ways and means to numb ourselves and not feel. Commonly, this is what births addictions that range from food, alcohol, drugs, TV watching to excessive exercise, shopping, sex, and over working to name a few. However, these methods, at best, provide short-term relief, and at worst, create other issues for us, while lodging the disquieting feeling deeper into our psyche-soma, allowing it to eat away at our soul. 

These obsessive self-numbing activities are called in psychological terms, “defenses.” In some cases, we are even lauded for being defended against our true experience, especially,  if we wear the mask of productivity as a   “workaholic” or have a great body because we are a “fitness freak.” Yet beneath that veneer, we chronically don’t feel so relaxed and much to our chagrin, nobody realizes our underlying state or empathizes with us. 

Most mainstream psychological treatments for depression involve talk therapy, like psychoanalysis, which is known as the speaking cure or laced with some cognitive and behavioral interventions like CBT. While talk therapy, definitely has its relevance, sometimes, it maybe more palliative then corrective. The emotions will arise again and again and don’t really leave our system, unless they are fully felt, digested and processed through. Somatic therapy is a novel way to work towards a more permanent release of distressing emotions by increasing our capacity to really feel and tolerate troubled emotions in the body. In somatic therapy the understanding of what an emotion is expanded to psycho-motor holding patterns, like a permanent ache in the heart at the loss of a loved one or a knot in the throat due to not following one’s true calling, indicating a profound sadness that needs to be alleviated through the very physiology of the person.

Read more at http://www.sonerajhaveri.com/blog/psyche-therapy/working-with-depression-in-the-body

Psychotherapy and Counselling

 

I am often asked about the difference between psychotherapy and counselling. While these words are used interchangeably, there is a difference between them and it is vital to be cognizant of the distinction. Counselling generally implies a short term,  very specific and targeted facilitation. There are many types of counsellors and varied topic-centred types of counselling, such as marital counselling, drug and alcohol counselling, career counselling, health counselling etc. The list can go on . .  what is important to know is that counselling designates facilitation around very narrow criteria’s restricted to the theme the counselling is pivoted around. 

So a marital counsellor will focus primarily on marital issues and will have restricted therapeutic skills in other areas of mental health, such as trauma work, attachment issues or chronic pain. Tangential issues that could come up in the context of marriage, that go beyond the nominal marital issues, are out of the scope of the counsellor and counselling. For instance, if there are sexual problems in a relationship, due to one of the partners being a survivor of childhood sexual abuse,  it would be hard for a counsellor alone to tackle such a case since childhood sexual abuse elicits deep trauma work. Counsellors are restricted to mostly working on the communication styles of the partners and regulating the behaviours of each member of the couple in the context of the marriage.

It is best to know well your own sui generis therapeutic needs and then to find a psychotherapist or counsellor that will be able to work within your ambit and with your very specific, tailor-made therapeutic goals.

Read more at http://www.sonerajhaveri.com/blog/psyche-therapy/psychotherapy-and-counselling

Drives, Archetypes and Sub Personalities

 

As human beings seeking a therapeutic process we often believe that  our cognitions  and behaviours  or the way we think and act in the world is what has been causing us disquiet. However, this is only part of the story – we are, unbeknownst, to us,  informed by subtler subconscious processes that colour how we feel, interact and take in the world. In other words, the way we think and act is influenced by unconscious processes or habits that we are not really aware of. These processes govern us and run us and through the practise of these unreflective habitual behaviours  we constantly hit dead ends  we seek psychotherapy. 

These unconscious processes can be said to be linked to energies that are felt in our bodies. Freudians refer to them as drives, Jungians as archetypes while those following Assagioli referred to them as subpersonalites. They can all loosely be understood as forces within us that organise our sense of self, other, time and space and mould our personalities, predisposing us to think, feel, behave and sense in particular ways. Often, these drives disrupt the peace in our minds and we are seeking external objects or experiences to gratify us.

Read more at http://www.sonerajhaveri.com/blog/psyche-therapy/drives-archetypes-and-sub-personalities