Re: No danger at all
Over my head? I think you've got it backwards. There is nothing,
nothing in your articles that even hint that meditation is unable to reverse
what you have presented. Yet there are testimonials that indicate that
SSRI imbalances can be healed with meditation. Here's but one example of a
bipolar, clinically depressed, mentally incarcerated teen who cured herself with
meditation alone.
http://voices-of-recovery-schizophrenia.blogspot.com/2008/07/jane-alexander-m...
You've been listening to the medical doctors too much. If you think you
can't be cured or receive help through particular option, you won't. It is
spirit which does all healing and it is spirit that you access during
meditation.
Another great healer of depression is exercise, but again - if you don't want
to heal - you won't.
Exercise for Depression Rivals Drugs, Therapy
Aerobic exercise can make a big difference in mild to moderate depression,
say Andrea Dunn, PhD, and colleagues in the American Journal of Preventive
Medicine’s January edition.
The researchers found that 30-minute aerobic workouts of moderate intensity,
done three to five times weekly, cut mild to moderate depression symptoms nearly
in half. That’s comparable to other depression treatments, say researchers.
Depression Common, Treatment Rare
In any given year, nearly 19 million adults in America have a depressive
illness, says the National Institute of Mental Health. That’s more than 9
percent of the population.
Many suffer silently, not getting treatment that could help.
Only 23 percent of depressed people seek treatment and just 10 percent
receive adequate treatment. That’s partly due to social stigma associated with
treatment, say the researchers.
With that in mind, they studied a socially accepted antidepressant —
exercise. Studies have shown that exercise can help relieve depression, but no
one knew exactly how well it worked.
Participants were 80 adults with mild to moderate depression. All were 20 to
45 years old. None were taking other depression treatments.
Fitness Makeover
The participants signed on for a major fitness overhaul. Before the study,
they were largely sedentary, working out less than three times weekly for no
more than 20 minutes per session.
Those couch-potato days vanished when the 12-week study began. Participants
were randomly assigned to one of five groups to test different fitness
strategies.
Two groups did moderate aerobic exercise. One group worked out 3 days per
week; the other group exercised 5 days per week. They worked out on treadmills
or stationary bikes.
The other groups took it a bit easier. Two groups did low-intensity aerobic
workouts for 3 or 5 days weekly. For comparison, the last group didn’t do any
aerobic exercise. Instead, they stretched and did flexibility exercises for 15
to 20 minutes 3 days per week.
Cheating was out of the question. Everyone exercised under the watchful eye
of fitness pros at the Cooper Institute in Dallas.
Exercise Equals Talk Therapy, Drugs
After 12 weeks, participants were rescreened for depression symptoms. All
three groups had lower scores than at the beginning of the study.
The moderate-intensity groups had the biggest improvement. Their symptoms
fell by 47 percent. In addition, depression had gone into remission for 42
percent of those participants, according to their depression test scores.
That’s comparable to other depression treatments, say the researchers. They
cite remission rates of 36 percent for cognitive behavior therapy and 42 percent
for the antidepressant medication Tofranil (imipramine) – an older
antidepressant — in other studies.
Lower-intensity aerobic exercise and stretching/flexibility weren’t as
beneficial. Low-intensity exercise cut depression symptoms by 30 percent,
compared to 29 percent for stretching/flexibility.
It didn’t matter whether the workouts were done three or five days per
week.
“The key is the intensity of the exercise and continuing it for 30-35
minutes per day,” says psychiatry professor Madhukar Trivedi, MD. Trivedi
worked on the study and directs the university’s mood disorders research
program.
Keep in mind that this study focused on mild to moderate depression in
younger adults. It didn’t address severe depression, or other groups of
patients.
Depression is a serious illness affecting the whole body and deserves
professional help. No one suggests trading talk therapy or prescription drugs
for gym memberships. Instead, exercise might be one more option to consider in
planning treatment. It’s also a good idea to get your general health checked
out before launching a new fitness program.