Depression Information

What About Drugs for Anxiety and Depression?


As a counselor, I am often asked, "Can drugs be helpful for anxiety and depression?" The answer I give is "Yes" and "No."

Yes, drugs may be useful for short-term help. No, drugs are not a good long-term solution.

Anxiety and depression are not caused by a lack of drugs. Drugs do not heal the underlying causes of anxiety and depression. However, when drugs are temporarily used to give a person a window of relief to do the inner work necessary to heal the underlying causes, they can be useful.

Anxiety and depression generally have two major underlying causes - emotional and physical.

THE PHYSICAL CAUSES OF ANXIETY AND DEPRESSION

Our bodies go into imbalance when we do not eat well or have enough healthy exercise. Our bodies are not made to handle the unnatural substances found in processed food. When we overload our bodies with chemicals, pesticides, sugar, and devitalized foods, our bodies become depleted of vital nutrients and go into stress. Anxiety and depression can be the result of this physical depletion and resulting stress.

Our bodies are designed to thrive on the food and water that God gave us - pure, clean, organic, unaltered food and water. If you take drugs for anxiety and depression and do not clean up your diet and get proper exercise, you are just using a Band Aid for a gaping wound.

THE EMOTIONAL CAUSES OF ANXIETY AND DEPRESSION

Emotionally, anxiety is caused by dysfunctional thoughts - thoughts that are not true. For example, if you tell yourself that you are not good enough or you have to be perfect, you will likely feel anxious. Thoughts of not being good enough and having to be perfect are generally focused on our outer qualities of looks and performance, rather than on the inner qualities of kindness, compassion, and gratitude. When we choose to be kind, loving and compassionate with ourselves and others, we feel good about ourselves. When we choose gratitude for what we do have rather than dwell on what we don't have, we create inner peace. Kindness and gratitude are wonderful antidotes to anxiety!

Anxiety is always a sign that we are telling ourselves a lie. The truth creates peace inside, while lies create fear and anxiety. This is a sure-fire way of knowing what is true and what is not true!

Emotionally, depression is caused by not taking good care of ourselves. If we ignore our needs, don't speak up for ourselves, judge ourselves, and make others responsible for our feelings, the result may be depression. If you have a child whom you ignore and judge, that child will likely be depressed. The same occurs on the inner level when we ignore and judge our own inner child. Putting yourself last and taking care of everyone else but yourself may cause you to feel unworthy and depressed.

There is little point in taking drugs for anxiety and depression without attending to your dysfunctional thinking and to how you are treating yourself. However, if you take drugs for a short time and give yourself the opportunity to do your inner work, they may be helpful. Many of the people I work with find that as soon as they start taking good care of themselves, they don't like the effect of the drugs. They don't like the fact that the drugs take the edge off their feelings. They find that, rather than wanting to be numbed out, they want to feel all of their feelings deeply, both the highs and the lows. The more they learn to take responsibility for their feelings by attending to their thoughts and needs, the more they want to feel all of their feelings. They discover that, while drugs may take the edge off pain, they also take the edge off joy.

Most of the people I work with can avoid drugs completely by learning to take loving care of themselves, both physically and emotionally. Many of the people who practice the Inner Bonding process that we teach find Inner Bonding to be far more powerful in healing anxiety and depression than drugs.

If you are a person who does not want to learn to take personal responsibility for your pain and joy, then drugs may be a way out for you. But if you want to feel true peace and joy, drugs are not the answer.

About The Author

Margaret Paul, Ph.D. is the best-selling author and co-author of eight books, including "Do I Have To Give Up Me To Be Loved By You?" She is the co-creator of the powerful Inner Bonding healing process. Learn Inner Bonding now! Visit her web site for a FREE Inner Bonding course: http://www.innerbonding.com or mailto:margaret@innerbonding.com. Phone sessions available.

margaret@innerbonding.com


MORE RESOURCES:

Economic View The New Deal Didn’t Always Work, Either
New York Times, United States - 3 hours ago
By TYLER COWEN MANY people are looking back to the Great Depression and the New Deal for answers to our problems. But while we can learn important lessons ...
No new New Deal National Post
Depression risk hits shares The Australian
The Coming of the Second Great Depression? OpEdNews
all 4 news articles


Talk of a Recession, Maybe a Depression
FOXNews - 7 hours ago
How the recession, maybe depression, would drag on and on. It was over in months. My point is not to pick on TIME, but remember such prognostications rarely ...


Voice of America

The Big Three Depression risk
CNNMoney.com - Nov 20, 2008
Some fear a loss of GM, Ford and Chrysler would take US into another depression. Even if that doesn't happen, a major auto failure would clearly hurt. ...
Big Three do not have their act together Seattle Post Intelligencer
Pennsylvania lawmakers split on how to save US automakers Pocono Record
Ailing automakers plead for $25b in loans Boston Globe (registration)
Detroit Free Press - Voice of America
all 1,582 news articles


MinnPost.com

GM shares hit lowest price since Great Depression
BusinessWeek - Nov 20, 2008
Shares of General Motors Corp. plummeted to a low not seen since the days of the Great Depression as hope that the automakers could receive a financial ...
Automaker Loan Deal Reached - Reports Briefing.com
US senators unveil US$25B plan for auto bailout Financial Post
Auto bailout divides Minnesota's congressional delegation MinnPost.com
Visalia Times-Delta
all 620 news articles


Everybody’s Business What if a Slowdown Is a Never-Ending Story?
New York Times, United States - 3 hours ago
This, at least, is the pattern of the large recessions we have had since the Great Depression, which was a special case, as we shall see. ...
Pushing On A String And An Imminent Economic Catastrophe. Motley Fool
all 2 news articles


And You Thought 1931 Was Bad for the Market
New York Times, United States - 7 hours ago
The S.& P. 500 has lost more than a third of its value in a calendar year only twice before, both during the Great Depression. It fell 41.9 percent in 1931, ...
Remembering the Dustbowl Wall Street Journal Blogs
all 3 news articles


An Eight-Point Plan to Avoid a Depression
TheStreet.com - 20 hours ago
It will take the Great Depression II off the table once and for all. This must be done now. Today. January is too late. Another depression will not be ...


The Daily Voice

Are We Headed For Another Great Depression?
The Daily Voice, NY - 18 hours ago
Nobel Prize-winning economist Paul Krugman sees a parallel between today's economic woes and the Great Depression era. "In 2008, as in 1932, ...
Obama's One-Time Opportunity: to Restructure the American Economy Huffington Post
all 2 news articles


Depression and poor diabetes control
NDTV.com, India - 1 hour ago
Depression may make it harder for people with diabetes to keep their blood sugar levels in check. Researchers from America analysed records from 11525 ...


Gov. Gardner made major changes to North Carolina during Depression
Triangle Business Journal, NC - 19 hours ago
As governor of North Carolina from 1929 to 1933, O. Max Gardner was dealt the hand of confronting the effects of the Great Depression. ...

Depression - Google News

home | site map
© 2006