Depression. Causes and treatment in terms of traditional Chinese medicine. The main causes of depression: how to understand what is happening

Depression- a word that, in a sense, has become fashionable. They were called not only clinical cases but also momentary disturbances. From the point of view of the meaning of the word, it is partly true, because the word “depression” comes from the Latin “deprimo”, which means “pressure”, “suppress”.

Accordingly, depression is depression. And, one might say, momentary depression, or even periodic depression, is something that happens to all of us. Sadness, melancholy or fatigue that arises in a person from time to time are normal experiences, without which a person cannot develop.

But where is the line beyond which it makes sense to think about professional help? According to what laws does depression develop, what is behind it? And how to determine what is happening specifically with you now? This is what we will talk about.

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Psychogenic depression is a reaction to some traumatic events (it is also called reactive depression), causes of depression in this case - personal dramas, social failures, loss of loved ones and simply acute and prolonged dissatisfaction with one's life process.

Somatic depression occurs due to the development various diseases(endocrine, for example, diseases of the adrenal glands, thyroid gland, or cardiovascular, such as stroke, sclerosis, or traumatic brain injury, depression can also be the result of asthma or problems with the gastrointestinal tract).

Endogenous depression has no clear cause either in the area physical health, nor in the field of experiences of any difficult life circumstances and experiences. Causes of depression V this case not fully explored. There are versions about the lack of certain chemical substances(neurotransmitters), about genetic factors, but a single and clear picture in medicine has not yet developed.

In fact, it is quite difficult to distinguish one from the other. In particular, physicians have repeatedly observed that symptoms of depression may outpace physical illness. A classic example is hypothyroidism (an underactive thyroid gland).

In this case, patients first complain of depression, and after some time hypothyroidism is diagnosed. More than one year may pass between these events, and attempts to regain a normal mental state without understanding the somatic cause of depression are likely to be unsuccessful.

Or a person has accumulated latent and rather acute discontent own life, but due to the values ​​formed under the influence of the family and / or environment, he continues to convince himself that “everything is good, no worse than others, and in some places even better”, and stubbornly thinks that the causes of depression are somewhere inside his chemistry organism.

Then he gets to the doctors, drinks antidepressants, but continues to live the same life that does not suit him at the root, and she continues to cause him increasing dissatisfaction. Is it necessary to say that antidepressants do not give a lasting effect, and a person's despair is getting deeper?

Or vice versa - a person has a chemical failure in the body, which provokes the onset endogenous depression, but in parallel with this, by coincidence, a traumatic event occurs in life. He is declared "guilty" of depression.

As a result, such a person may spend months delving into the trauma instead of taking a course of antidepressants and learning to live with the fact that these chemical failures will occur from time to time, but with well-chosen treatment regimens, he will be able to cope with them effectively.

As you already understood, all these diagnostic difficulties can prevent adequate treatment. And the person himself will not understand - what are the causes of depression? Who to contact? Psychologists? Psychiatrists? Be examined by doctors for other diseases? What to check? What methods will be effective?

So that you can understand more about yourself and choose the type of help that is right for you, we will first talk about the symptoms of depression and how they can differ depending on the cause of depression.

There are basic symptoms of depression and additional. There are three main ones:

• Depressed mood that does not change with changes in external circumstances,
• Loss of interest in activities and events that previously consistently aroused pleasure and interest, lack of a sense of joy (anhedonia),
• Physical fatigue (read also about " chronic fatigue”), a breakdown that is not eliminated by rest, sleep for a long time.

Additional symptoms of depression:

• Pessimism
• Sleep disturbance (like insomnia and increased need for sleep)
• Decreased self-esteem, feelings of worthlessness, guilt
• Private thoughts of death, suicidal thoughts
• Attacks of fear and anxiety without apparent danger
• Decreased ability to concentrate and make decisions
• Problems with appetite (both its decrease and overeating)
• The appearance of a sweet taste in the mouth without the corresponding food

ICD-10 (International Classification of Diseases) considers that a two-week duration of symptoms already suggests depression. In reality, however, a two-week period is too short to exclude, for example, fluctuations hormonal background the female cycle (and women are more prone to depression than men - these are statistics).

If for some reason you could not contact the psychologist online, then leave your message (as soon as the first free consultant appears on the line, you will be contacted immediately at the specified e-mail), or on.

Hello dear readers! I decided to write this introductory article (the first of a series of articles) in order to clarify the understanding of the phenomenon of depression in an understandable language.

Of course, through an article it is impossible to save a person from this ailment, but on the other hand, you can arm him with knowledge and talk about actions that can be taken if depression has overtaken him or someone close to him.

Also in one article it will be very difficult to tell in detail about all the vicissitudes psychological help people suffering from depression, self-help for depression, its prevention, therefore, this will be only the first article in a series of articles on this topic.

In this article, of course, I in general terms view depression as a general physiological mechanisms its appearance, and from the point of view of the psychological tendencies that are characteristic of it, but in general it is important to understand that depression itself is only a symptom that is intended to testify to you that something is deeply wrong in your life. Because, psychological work with depression, it is first of all work with your life and what it consists of. A variety of events, situations and problems can be hidden behind depression, and the volume of all this can be very large. General knowledge about this disease can certainly be useful, but if you want to get rid of depression to the end, then it is important to start putting your life in order, your attitude towards it and how and what you live, do it immediately or along with taking antidepressants prescribed by your psychiatrist. The task is to make life such that there is no place for depression, because if it appears, it will come.

What is depression and its symptoms.

It happens that when we call one of our relatives and friends on the phone, we hear in response: “You know, I have such a depression today.” Well, or something like that.
In fact, of course, you can’t call a simple mood swing depression. In the case of depression, we are dealing with serious illness very often in need of medical treatment, and sometimes even treatment in a psychiatric clinic.
If we talk about the advice that can be given immediately: "Do not fall into the clutches of depression, it is much easier to avoid meeting with it."
Depression is a mental disorder. The condition with this disorder can be extremely painful, because there is a risk of suicide.

The following are the main symptoms of depression:

• man is depressed Bad mood does not depend on external factors (long time, from 2 or more weeks);
• a person loses interest in what gave him pleasure earlier (hedonia);
• high fatigue, apathy, decline vitality (this condition shows signs of stability for at least a month).

As additional symptoms can be considered:

• pessimistic attitude;
• a person can feel guilt think about your uselessness, feel anxiety and fear;
• Very low self-esteem;
• decreased concentration and difficulty in making decisions;
• a person may have thoughts of death and suicide;
• reduced or vice versa increased appetite, weight fluctuations;
• insomnia, oversleeping.

Classification of depression and its types.

Depression is different. From neurotic and reactive, when psychotherapy is one of the main indications for treatment, to genetic (endogenous), clinical, when only a well-chosen set of antidepressants can prevent the recurrence of depressive episodes (I recommend reading the biography of the famous American journalist Mike Wallace, who suffered from major depression). part of your life).

In general, there are many typologies of depression. As a rule, they are classified based on some sign, for example, the severity of the course, or age group sick. Without a doubt, all typologies are worthy of attention, but in general, listing them all in this article does not make sense, it is better to talk about some general trends that unite all types of depression. But first, let's see what internal causes are triggers for this type of disorder.

A look at depression in terms of neurophysiology and medicine

In order to better understand the mechanism of depression, I propose to briefly look at this phenomenon from a medical point of view. I think this is fair and right, because very often without psychotropic drugs prescribed by a psychiatrist, a cure for depression becomes virtually unattainable.

From the point of view of neurophysiology and medicine, depression is a violation of the balance and metabolism in the neurons of the brain. The point is that for our psychological condition in many respects, certain substances are responsible, the excess or lack of which in our body can lead to a decline in mood or vice versa to its rise. These substances of protein nature are called neurotransmitters. In fact, they provide a message between nerve cells and play a key role in regulating our mood.

Speaking briefly about the process of communication between nerve cells, it occurs as follows: A nerve cell has a number of short processes called dendrites and one long process called an axon.

Nerve cells adjacent to each other form a small free space called the synaptic cleft. This is where communication takes place between them.
The synthesis of neurotransmitters occurs in the nerve cell, then they are directed to the presynaptic membrane and further to the synaptic cleft, activating the receptors of the next neuron.

The neurotransmitters of interest to us are the following names: norepinephrine, dopamine, serotonin (there are others).

If a man for a long time is, for example, in a state of anxiety, then gradually a subtle restructuring occurs in the tissues of the brain. His systems sensitive to serotonin “get tired”, and the person ceases to feel joy and everything that happens around him and inside is perceived by him “against an invariably black background”. He is always in a bad mood, he looks depressed.

With the further course of the disease, the level of norepinephrine may decrease, while the phases of sleep and wakefulness are disturbed in a person, the person becomes inhibited, cannot even make simple everyday decisions.

If the content of dopamine is disturbed, we will see in him a loss of joy from motor activity, inactivity, very often it is simply impossible to get a person out of bed.

In fact, the drug treatment of depression consists in the fact that taking drugs prescribed by a doctor (antidepressants) allows the patient to accumulate missing neurotransmitters and restore normal impulse conduction along nerve cells. And this is a very important point in the treatment of depression, but very often, this alone is not enough, because in a person’s life, with a high degree of probability, there were factors that influenced his psyche for a long time, introduced him into an anxious state. For complete cure Depression needs psychotherapy.

A look at depression in terms of psychology

Considering the experience of working with people who are in depression and sub depressed state, one can trace a certain pattern of the relationship between depression and anxiety experienced by a person.
As a rule, at a certain stage, when anxiety becomes very strong, the human psyche, as it were, turns on a mechanism for suppressing its activity, which is depression.
At the same time, the anxiety factor itself often does not go anywhere, but is experienced by a person as if from a “veil”. Very often this can be seen when a person suffering from depression wakes up in the middle of the night with "spurts". This happens because when falling asleep, the cerebral cortex responsible for volitional control becomes less active, and as a result, a huge anxiety hidden in the depths creeps out, which causes this phenomenon.
The very phenomenon of anxiety can be described as a kind of anxiety that we experience in relation to any factor. What is very characteristic, the factor can simply be invented by us, i.e. no matter how real, anxiety can be quite weighty and quite real. In addition, a person may not be aware or not fully aware of the causes of the anxiety that arises, in this case, anxiety is present as a kind of background against which a person will be forced to live until he understands hidden reasons her callers.

The next trend that can be seen in depressed person is the loss of the meaning of life. Unfortunately, nothing makes sense for him, he doesn’t want anything and is not interested in anything, while he understands that such a view of the world is not correct, but he can’t do anything with himself, or rather, he can and does, but he doesn’t feel pleasure from this , and any minor failure convinces him even more that everything is useless, and he himself is hopelessly flawed. Of course, this is not so, it’s just that depression “unfolds its black flag” in it, on this stage suicidal thoughts may appear, and therefore, it is ESPECIALLY IMPORTANT at this moment for close people to be close to the suffering person and start looking for professional help, first of all, a psychiatrist, and then a psychologist.

Prevention of depression

Prevention of depression is one of the main measures to combat this disease. It is important to understand that it is much easier to prevent the appearance of this disease than to treat it later. Therefore, in the beginning, let's talk about the main thing. If there is any long-term stress factor in your life or the life of someone close to you, or their level of anxiety is too high, take care of how to reduce this level. Be interested in each other's lives and help each other solve problems as much as possible. The level of stress that a modern person experiences can be prohibitively high, and the resources of the psyche are different for everyone. Remember that a little timely humanity can solve a lot of problems..

For example, the cause may be low self-esteem and self-doubt. The consequence of self-doubt may be the inability to build relationships with peers. Further, ridicule is already on the part of school friends (in this case, even harmless jokes can be perceived as humiliation), which leads to psychological trauma, internal aggression both at them and at oneself, and this is a factor of constant pressure internal stress and anxiety. At the same time, you have to go to school, because there is a sense of duty to the family, and you also have to finish school. The problem of uncertainty, however, remains unresolved.
If you ignore the condition of the child and leave this problem on its own, then it is likely that the child will first develop social phobia, and then depression may well appear. Therefore, it is reasonable to see the first signs of a child’s self-doubt, help him overcome this lack of confidence, or if he cannot do it on his own, do it with the help of a specialist. When a child overcomes insecurity and his self-esteem normalizes, his level of anxiety will become tolerable, which means that the risk of depression will be reduced by several orders of magnitude.

1. Physical education and sports are very good method depression prevention. Taking care of your body is very life-affirming. A person becomes more alert, stronger and more resilient. Willpower and purposefulness are strengthened. In the process of playing sports, a lot of endorphin (the hormone of pleasure) is produced - and this is, in fact, a natural hormone therapy.
2. Breathing and meditation practices. Competent practice of psychological self-regulation techniques gives an effect very similar to the previous one. Moreover, to a certain extent, a person gets the opportunity to control his emotions, to be more calm about the difficulties that arise. In the process of these practices, the body enters the zone of self-regulation, which gives it the opportunity to independently correct the failures present in it at the moment.
3. Creation. Drawing. Modeling. Collecting. Writing literary works. Everything that fascinates you and that you love. Creativity in literally can heal a person.
4. Walks and sunshine. They are very helpful in preventing depression. The impact here is at the level of physiology. Metabolism improves and more serotonin and endorphins are produced.
5. Regular change of scenery. Trips. Along with the production of the necessary endorphins, a person is immersed in a new environment, new life, into a new rhythm of life and a new culture. All this gives you the opportunity to look at your past problems from the outside. It is very possible that depression, which was relevant in the environment from which the person came, will cease to be such in the new environment. Depression can start to recede naturally.
6. Eating certain products nutrition and diet.

• Dosed consumption of sweets. All the same notorious endorphins. Only without fanaticism, from a large amount of carbohydrates, people begin to gain weight.
• Coffee, chocolate.
• Vitamin salad, with big amount red and bright vegetables ( bell pepper, tomatoes).
• Seafood. Shrimps.
• But if you have a tendency to depression, it is better to refuse alcohol. Alcohol is a powerful depressant for most people.

How to cure depression?

1. In order to cure depression, you first need to find a qualified psychiatrist. It is not worth delaying a visit to him, because time is not on our side. If you seek help earlier, then the treatment can be carried out on an outpatient basis, but if you delay it, you will have to go to the hospital.
2. Often medical care in the treatment of depression, it is not enough (I wrote about this above), so you need to find a good psychologist or a psychotherapist who can help you identify the causes of your depression.

• A person needs to be removed from under the flow of stress for a while. Do not take on yourself or loved one if he is sick, unbearable to him in this state of affairs, this can aggravate his anxiety. What is more difficult is to deal with the factors causing this anxiety. Anxiety should be reduced to a level feasible for his psyche.
• Further, it is very important to help a person look at himself and his life. Help him return to the deep values ​​hidden in him and help him begin to build his life based on them. To help a person find his life's work, to learn to distinguish in the world around him everything he loves and all his beloved, to let a person understand that he can do a lot of good and bright things with his hands and heart. It is important to teach a person to understand the self-worth of the people around him and, most importantly, his own self-worth. Filling with meaning and understanding the importance of your life is the most powerful antidepressant you can create for yourself.

This whole process is quite lengthy and can take more than one month, or maybe even a year, but it's worth it, because a person becomes much stronger during the process of his healing, he learns to feel himself, he can determine the degree of his anxiety and take responsible steps in his life in order to reduce this anxiety, which is especially important, he touches his inner essence finding his true meanings and values ​​​​in it and following them, which in itself is a powerful factor protecting him from both relapses of depression and many other problems that anxiety can bring with it.

This concludes my introductory article on depression. I wish you happiness and health!

Psychologist of the Center for Family Help "Family Energy"
Alkhimenko Ilya Alexandrovich.

Look around: how many sad, dead eyes without any interest in life, slow reactions, dejectedly shifted eyebrows, as if asking: “And what are you happy about?”

DEPRESSION IS A CONSEQUENCE OF KARMA?

Jyotish says that our life is a consequence of previous actions, we "experience" karma and develop new ones. Where does depression come from? Is it the fruits of karma, or our current state, which will still bear fruit in the future?

Depression is not a state of disturbed consciousness, not a consequence of neurosis. This is a disease of the subtle body. Depression completely deprives a person of will, weakens the mind, steals joy, devalues ​​values, takes away life priorities.

How to live with it and whether it is necessary to struggle?

Certainly, it is necessary. In a state of depression, people stop communicating - why? - arts die, love does not bring happiness ...

George Orwell with his "1984" - baby talk! Why a totalitarian state, why introduce pink and blue coupons for pleasure and love, when everything will soon happen by itself - quietly, calmly, gray.

And there will be no more Personality! All are grey.

Welcome to Reality!

Depression is not "English spleen" and not "Russian melancholy", it is an international disease that knows neither language, nor racial barriers, nor national characteristics, and which, like a fire, may soon spread in Russia.

Russian melancholy

From the point of view of an astrologer, Russia and all, without exception, "Russian" people, including post-Soviet space, are influenced by the sign of Aquarius.

In Jyotish, Aquarius is symbolized by a woman carrying a jug of water on her shoulder. A woman carrying a heavy burden.

And this burden is the selfishness of Aquarius. Egoism, which obscures other personalities, there remains only the material "I", the false ego, the "black dwarf".

The ego in astrology is symbolized by the Sun. We all live in the power of the Sun, our ego, in the kingdom solar system. And everything revolves in our world around our material "I".

Did you know that our Sun is a double star? Do you know that the dazzling, brilliant Sun has a double - a Black Dwarf, an extinct, invisible to the eye, black, dead, lifeless star?

And that is our material ego. The same black, gray, lifeless, indifferent.

I AM AN ILLUSION

Vedic philosophy calls the material person "false ego." And this is the most subtle of the eight material elements and the greatest identification. And this identification is with our physical body. We take ourselves for the body, we say, "My body."

"I" is not the body, it is an illusion. This body is only a “black dwarf”, an invisible twin of the dazzling, shining “Star called the Sun”, but it is it that is responsible for all the cataclysms on Earth (and astronomers already confirm this), it is its influence that causes terrible natural disasters, catastrophes, wars, epidemics, forest fires, tsunamis, volcanic eruptions and so on.

The question arises: “If the Vedas speak of a false ego, then there is also a true one?

WE ALL ARE INDIVIDUALS

The true ego is our true individuality, our highest aspect, our true Self.

We are all individuals, and personality determines our features - both external and internal. Personality determines what kind of life and how we lead, how we act in certain circumstances. We are created in the image and likeness of God. And God, of course, also has a Personality - Bhagavan, the Supreme, and the Name of His personality - Beautiful, All-attractive, Krishna.

We have not only our true, spiritual identity, but also our spiritual name. And this is the main quality of our personality, the way the Supreme knows and calls us.

What is most surprising is that the first letter in the name, which in Sanskrit is considered the leading and meaning-forming in the name, is transmitted from life to life, from birth to birth. Now our name is Michael, and in past life called Michael, or Michel, or Mine, or some other "M" in the Tumba Yumba language. And the Supreme may know us as Madhava (Sweet) or Mohana (Charming).

The mystery of the Russian soul

In Aquarius, the Sun is weak, it is in a hostile sign, therefore, it shows its not the best qualities: selfishness, conceit, arrogance, excessive independence and excessive love of freedom - to the point of anarchy. And all this is the “mysterious Russian soul”.

However, this is not the riddle of the Russian soul, but the possibility of a Russian person to realize his egoism, get rid of it, drink his cup to the bottom and be transformed. And then the water from this jug becomes soma - "the drink of immortality."

In India, Aquarius is considered the most mystical sign precisely because of this quality of its own - the ability to change.

And the merit in this is Shani, the owner of Aquarius, the God of the planet Saturn. He is our strict teacher, he is suffering personified. He crushes the false ego of those he favors. And he has a special love for Russia. How much suffering our country has endured!

“Do you prefer to die right away, or do you want to suffer?” - "I would like to suffer, of course." These words of Comrade Sukhov, which have become cult, perfectly reflect the mysterious Russian soul.

In India, they say about the influence of Saturn: "The mill grinds slowly, but surely." Shani, the name of the god of the planet Saturn, translates as "Slow". This is the slowest planet in the solar system, the planet that closes the septener - the seven main planets, showing the karma of man.

Our karma begins with a false ego, with a "black dwarf", and ends with Saturn, symbolizing humility and patience in astrology. And the path to the true ego, to the "Star called the Sun", lies through these qualities. That is why in Jyotish the Sun is considered atma-karaka, an indicator of the true ego, individuality, and also shows the ability of a person to realize himself as a soul endowed with consciousness and unique, only its inherent individuality and qualities, manifested in the Name of the soul.

It is the upbringing, cultivation of these qualities that Saturn achieves when a person goes through his periods: sade-sati ikalyani.

SATURN IS TOTALLY FAULT?

Maybe the cause of depression is the influence of Saturn, maybe it is he who is to blame for the fact that I suffer?

I want to say right away: do not believe astrologers who say that planets or stars influence you, or that they incline you to something. All this is nonsense! The stars do not influence and do not incline, they are only letters that are read by the elect.

If you are experiencing a period of Saturn, then this only speaks of your karma, that your consciousness is changing, and therefore changes are taking place around you.

Or are you a materialist who thinks that being determines consciousness?

No, we are idealists who are sure that it is consciousness that determines being. So they say scriptures so says the Supreme himself in the Bhagavad Gita.

Sade sati and kalyani are transits of Saturn on the Moon. The moon symbolizes the mind, it is a water planet. Saturn symbolizes cold. Thus, the transit of Saturn on the Moon can be considered as a "deep freeze" of consciousness, mind. Everyone knows that melt water is the purest, water that purifies everything it comes into contact with.

Often periods of depression coincide with periods of sade sati or kalyani, but this is not the rule.

TREATMENT OF DEPRESSION ACCORDING TO AYURVEDA

As I have already emphasized, depression is a disease that should be treated. Sometimes, when the disease has gone too far, it can only be treated with antidepressants, "poisons" from the point of view of Ayurvedic medicine.

Well, from the point of view of medical astrology, depression is a disease of Rahu, and Rahu represents poisons. One of the main principles of Ayurveda is “Like cure like”.

But, as the saying goes, "prevention is better than cure."

Ayurveda considers the occurrence of disease on three levels:

• first in the mind;
• then - in the subtle (astral) body, linga-sharira;
• and, finally, the manifestation of the disease on physical body, sthula-sharira.

It is believed that if the disease has entered its third, final stage, that is, it has manifested itself on the physical body, then it can be cured only with the help of poisons or special potions.

The first stage of depression is in the mind.

Hegel said: "The whole world is in the mind."

When we suffer, the world around us turns black. One way or another, this is a manifestation of the God-fighting consciousness, the consciousness of insubordination, the desire to change the world, turn the rivers back, make apple trees bloom on Mars, and so on.

We suffer as a result of our own actions, our karma, and karma can only be experienced, suffered, endured. If we do not cultivate the qualities of Saturn in our minds - patience and humility, if we do not accept everything that happens as God's mercy and love for us personally and do not see positive aspects in our position, at the level of the mind we get depressed.

And then a sacramental question arises, according to which it is possible to diagnose the onset of depression - “Why?”

The 19th century posed two questions for Russia: “Who is to blame?” and "What to do?". The 20th century was looking for answers to them and failed, and the 21st century poses a new question - “Why?”. The question, without finding an answer to which, humanity will inevitably plunge into a gray, lifeless, cold and indifferent space - depression.

If humanity does not find the meaning of its life and the answer to this question is in service and love for God, the Supreme, it will plunge into the Gray Reality. We are all souls, and the soul is a part of God, and the part, as you know, must serve the whole.

The second stage of the disease, according to Ayurveda, is its manifestation on the subtle body.

And here you need to understand what the subtle body is and how it gets sick. Esotericists of various persuasions call it "aura", " life energy”, “prana”, “chakras-macrams” and the like. There are no specialists in our country (and in modern India almost also not) able to see depression on the subtle body. However, we can also prevent its manifestation in the Linga Sarira here.

According to Ayurveda, "We are what we eat." If we eat lethal food, then we take all the power of fears, pain, despair into our consciousness, and our subtle body is painted with these gray and black colors. You all know that cows feel in a few days that they will be taken to the slaughterhouse, they suffer, they refuse food, they are afraid, they cry.

And we eat cows, and a cow, according to the Vedas, is one of the six mothers of a person.

So, the third stage of depression is its manifestation on the physical body.

Patients with depression complain of apathy, impossibility of movement, nervous itching or numbness of different parts of the body. At this stage, many subconsciously resort to poisons - they begin to take alcohol. It gives the illusion of joy, activity, activity, but only on a short time, and then the disease returns again, but already "enhanced" by the poison of alcohol.

And here you need to find the courage in yourself to admit: “I am sick,” and go to the doctor for medical treatment.

It is effective at this stage to combine this treatment with other methods, more humane: meditation, yoga, reading mantras. In yoga, there are special, antidepressant asanas. They are wonderful, but more effective in the second stage, in the third stage a person, as a rule, cannot even perform them - the body does not obey and cannot maintain the asana, and the mind is indifferent to the mantra.

Watch the video interview with Tanuja Limayo, in which she tells how to cope with the period of Saturn activity in your life and GET OUT OF THE INFLUENCE OF THE PLANETS

Edited by Olga Mashkaleva.

In this part I will talk about the causes of depression. There are many opinions on this matter, they call the most various factors. It is important to understand two things here.

First. It should be understood that identifying the cause is not an idle interest, but an attempt to find the very factor that must be eliminated or corrected in order for the disease to pass. Below it may seem that, naming reasons from various groups, I repeat. In fact, this is not entirely true, because we are talking about completely different approaches, involving completely different actions(for example, if stress is what causes a decrease in serotonin levels, you need to take a pill, and if stress is what leads to some kind of pattern and general negative mood, you need to talk to the patient).

Second. I do repeat myself. Since different points of view just explain different aspects of the same phenomenon and do not contradict each other, but complement each other. Which, by the way, allows the use of complex therapy or different types of treatment, depending on the stage of the disease.

From the point of view of biology , depression is caused by a violation of the level of concentration of neurotransmitters - such as norepinephrine, serotonin, dopamine. Roughly speaking, with the help of transmitters, brain neurons communicate with each other chemically and have the ability to “communicate”. The transmitters are found in vesicles, tiny intracellular organelles, membrane-protected sacs. In this case, we are talking about synaptic vesicles that are located in neurons. A synapse is a point of contact between neurons (or between a neuron and another cell receiving a signal). In a very rough approximation, this is the space between cells, although in reality the synapse is a rather complex structure that provides contact. When a vesicle breaks, the transmitters enter the synapse and are captured by another neuron - so they talked - and stored there until the next impulse. Antidepressants prevent the reuptake of transmitters - thus increasing their concentration in the synapse, which, in theory, should help cure the disorder. That's how most do it modern drugs, with the only difference being which of the neurotransmitters (or which of them) they are directed to.

The problem is that no one still really knows the reasons for the shortage of transmitters. Depression may occur on its own, may accompany some somatic diseases or be side effect when taking certain drugs. In addition, it is not known exactly what substance is missing in this particular case, so the medicine is chosen virtually at random: the doctor does not know in advance which drug will help the patient, so sometimes you have to try several.

I will not go into explanations of what serotonin, dopamine and norepinephrine are, here I lack theory. Read Wikipedia - there, among other things, the pathologies that cause a violation of the level of these substances are indicated; they include depression and bipolar disorder.

In terms of genetics A person's predisposition to depression is hereditary. How does this happen?

First, among other things, there is a certain gene that regulates the absorption of serotonin by a neuron - i.e. the work of a sort of "pump". Regulates - and okay, very good, however, depending on heredity, this gene can be in varying degrees stress resistant. The less stable it is, the higher the likelihood of violations and, as a result, the development of depression.

However, in itself, predisposition does not give anything; the difference manifests itself only in a combination of hereditary and external factors - i.e. stress. Here we are talking about epigenetics - changing genes under the influence of external factors. And what do we have? We have, for example, damage to the gene encoding the receptor for cortisol. Now I will try to explain. Cortisol is the hormone responsible for stress responses; it is produced by the adrenal cortex under the action of some other substances - in particular, the hormone corticotropin - that are secreted by the brain. After that, cortisol enters the bloodstream, and then into target cells (for example, liver cells), where, in interaction with the hormone-receptor complex, it “launches” the program of certain DNA sections. However, as a result of childhood stress, DNA, as mentioned above, can be damaged.

In general, if there is a history of stress in childhood, the level of corticotropin is elevated - therefore, more cortisol is produced, as far as I understand. A person seems to be constantly in a tense state, although outwardly this does not manifest itself. In theory, excess normal level cortisol should be a signal to the brain that it is necessary to reduce the level of trigger hormones for its production. However, their level in different people decreases with different speed. In addition, cortisol itself affects the level of transmitters (see the biological approach to explaining the causes of depression), and if it is exceeded for a long time, it can have a neurotoxic effect and disrupt the connection between neurons.

Secondly, there is such a thing - it is called a telomere. Telomeres are the ends of chromosomes that carry out protective function. Different people have telomeres of different lengths. There is an opinion that long telomeres correlate with a higher life expectancy, and short ones, respectively, with a low one. And with depression. But what's the matter, no one really knows.

From the point of view of psychiatry and psychology , depression is caused by painful situations that took place in early childhood and left an indelible imprint on a person's life. By and large, we all experienced stress and disappointment in childhood - we don’t mean comments from parents or the inability to have any special toy, but stresses, so to speak, are universal: the moment of birth, the moment of realizing that mom cannot be around all the time, the need to experience discomfort (for example, the child is hungry and must wait to be fed), and so on. Thus, a certain depressive potential is created. This is fine. But for some, all kinds of frustrations and dissatisfaction are added to this (problematic relationships with parents, the loss of someone close, for which the child can blame himself). Then there is a fixation on all this disgrace and - ready: depression.

By and large, we are talking about stress, which we have already talked about above. But the approach is fundamentally different. Genetics does not offer anything yet, only explains certain mechanisms. Psychoanalysis, on the other hand, does not consider hormones, but psychological trauma, pulls the unconscious into the light of day, helps a person to understand his experience and experiences that brought him to such a life, and thus heal.

From the point of view of sociology , depression is caused by the frantic pace of life (as a result, overwork), social instability and uncertainty about the future, difficult economic conditions, the inability to correspond to actively imposed ideals (in glossy magazines, for example, solid beauty-big-bosses of model appearance and glamorous girls with incorporeal a figure, an indefinite occupation, mysterious sources of a very good income and rags for a couple of bucks, and you are just a sales manager who was just accidentally forgotten during the last cut, and instead of 90 - 60 - 90 you have 80 - 70 - 100, and it's impossible to lose these unfortunate 5 kg, and a couple of bucks have long been set aside for a domestic-made car - that's the dissonance). Add to this bouquet disunity and high level migration and - you can safely go hang yourself.

All right, I do not argue. But this theory has two drawbacks. First, it does not explain, for example, the causes of postpartum depression. Or seasonal bipolar disorder. Or do preschool children have depression in general - do they also lack a career and social stability? Secondly, it is not very clear what to do, how to get rid of depression.

In terms of religion - By at least, Christianity - it's all about sins. Like, a person falls away from God, so he suffers. It's all naive, but, they say, religious people are less prone to depression. Either they have a different view of the world, or the level of self-discipline, or they poison themselves less with alcohol and nicotine, or there really is some kind of magical egregore ... Being an atheist, agnostic and a pagan in one bottle, for some reason I then I have almost no doubt about the benefits for those suffering from depression prayers, conversations with the priest and - who knows? - it is possible that baptisms.

From an esoteric point of view depression can be viewed in different ways. I am not sure that I will be able to give a more or less complete overview of the various ideas here, or give at least some idea of ​​\u200b\u200bhow various esoteric teachings relate to depression. They also talk about disappointment - well, yes, God is dead, there’s nothing more to believe in, it’s impossible to buy happiness with money, everything returns to normal, only without light at the end of the tunnel and faith in mythical happiness waiting for us somewhere there - in next life, in the afterlife - it doesn't matter.

Another concept: depression is a reaction to a lie. Surrogates are the basis of our life, we substitute concepts and feelings, we don’t even perceive ourselves adequately, and depression is a price.

And someone says that depression is the result hypersensitivity to the imperfection of this world. However, the root cause lies in their own worldview and the irrational use of energy. What is spent on creation is returned a hundredfold, and the energy spent on condemnation, complaints, destruction and simply senselessly, aimlessly, is lost forever, so harmony is violated ... Further, I think, is understandable.

Finally, one can generally deny the existence of any clear reasons whatsoever. Just karma. We were born and died many times, accumulated many impressions, including negative ones, and this is what happened. The boundary between the inside and the outside exists only hypothetically, so we are part of this world, and therefore part of its suffering, our memory is limitless, and in general - what's the difference? Better to meditate.

The means in this case are various practices. However, it should be borne in mind that the effect will not be momentary, let alone start exercising when everything is really bad, hard and, most likely, ineffective. This is not a pill, but a gradual change in lifestyle, thoughts, perceptions, a gradual change in oneself (but in fact it is work with the body, and with physiology, and with emotions, and with psychology, and with relationships, and much more with what ).

Finally, I will entertain you with a few words about Chinese medicine. In particular, about the Tong Ren treatment system. The main idea is that in the body from time to time - whether from incorrect posture, due to genetic factors, features of work and a thousand and one other reasons, “clamps” appear. On physical level they lead to disturbances in the functioning of the peripheral and autonomic nervous system. And then - simply. The connections between the organs and the brain are broken, the latter receives or sends the wrong signals, cannot figure out which hormones to put and so on. The clamps can be influenced (energetically, with needles, massage) and, thus restoring the normal operation of the conductor - the nervous system - get rid of the problem. Each disease correlates with blocks at certain points. For the treatment of depression, for example, it is necessary to influence the points associated with the left anterior lobe of the brain, and the projection point of the tenth pair of cranial nerves, the only ones that go not to the organs of the head, but to chest and abdominal cavity. In addition, it is not harmful to influence the auxiliary points in this disease, which are responsible for the cardiovascular system and the liver.

If somewhere I messed up something - correct it, supplement it.