I’m inspired to present what may be a challenging or mind-expanding view of depression driven by the research of Dr John Demartini. This may contradict your current perceptions, that of the pharmaceutical industry, and what you may have been taught to date about your emotions. I’d love for you to have an open mind and a willingness to look at depression from a different perspective – something not to be avoided or judged as being bad, but instead seen as valuable feedback response to your mindset in your life.
There has been a release of a recent study dealing with the widely held belief that serotonin and biochemical imbalances are the likely cause of depression.
In brief, the study reports that there is no evidence to support the idea that depression is caused by low levels of serotonin, one of the so-called “happy hormones”.
It also asserts that the result of 17 studies indicates that individuals with depression don’t appear to have different levels of serotonin in their brains to those without depression.
The article has since gone viral and raised a number of questions around the diagnosis and treatment of depression and so-called chemical imbalances in the brain. Pharmaceutical companies may try to tell you that you have a biochemical imbalance, which may be true. Still, those imbalances may not be CAUSAL but instead CORRELATIVE and the RESULT of imbalanced perceptions.
So have an open mind and let’s look at depression from a different perspective – one where we consider Dr Demartini’s work based on the following points;
Scepticism towards the biochemical model due to evidence of many individuals resolving their depression without having to take any chemicals.
Evidence of biochemical changes (changes in the neurotransmitters released) in the brain occurring by changes in ratios of perceptions and expectations.
So, the question is: Is depression really a condition?
This may be shocking to you if you believe that depression is a condition that needs to be treated chemically instead of feedback to let you know that your perceptions and expectations are likely imbalanced and off-centre, resulting in off balanced brain chemistry.
With every emotionally charged perception that you have, your mind births a pair of opposites. Suppose you perceive someone or something you are drawn to, infatuated with, or seek. You will simultaneously, but probably unconsciously, be withdrawn from, resent or avoid someone or something perceived to be its opposite. An in each case, you will also experience a simultaneous fear of LOSING the former (admired) and fear of GAINING the latter (resented).
The opposite also applies if you perceive someone or something that you are repelled from or wish to avoid. You will simultaneously, but probably unconsciously, be attracted to, or drawn to, or wish to seek someone or something perceived to be the opposite. You are likely to experience a simultaneous fear of GAINING the former (resented) and fear of LOSING the latter (admired).
The fear of loss of that which you seek, and the fear of the gain of that which you try to avoid, are the two primary biological DISTRESSES that you respond to in the amygdala of your brain.
What you desire to seek, is assumed to have more advantages than disadvantages and can be a relative fantasy, of which you fear the loss. You have a gut impulse towards this fantasy. What you desire to avoid, is assumed to have more disadvantages than advantages and can be a relative nightmare, of which you fear the gain. You have a gut instinct away from this nightmare.
So, the fear of loss of that which you seek and the fear of gain of that which you try to avoid are spontaneously emerging with every contrasted perception.
Now how does that relate to depression?
Depression is a comparison of your current reality to a fantasy that you're seeking or even in some cases addicted to, that you fear the loss of. Depression is also a compensation for that unrealistic expectation. It is designed to help you break your unrealistic expectation or fantasy.
From Dr Demartini’s decades of work it has been found that one or more of the following common underlying unrealistic expectations or fantasies are present in most individuals with clinical depression.
These include:
An unrealistic expectation of others to be more or only one-sided where they are more positive than negative (you are likely to be let down as a one-sided human being doesn't exist).
An unrealistic expectation on others to live in your values or outside their own values ("You're supposed to read my mind and be who I expect you to be.").
An unrealistic expectation on yourself to live a more or only one-sided life where you are more positive than negative (there are no one-sided individuals. Creating this false expectation of yourself can result in self-depreciating feelings of anxiety or depression. Instead, it is wise to appreciate the reality that there are TWO sides to life. It is unrealistic and delusional to expect yourself always to be positive, kind, cooperative and peaceful.)
An unrealistic expectation that you are to be living outside your own values or in somebody else's values and be somebody you're not (Trying to live in other’s values is self-defeating and futile).
An unrealistic expectation to live in a one-sided world or that the world or society, in general, is to be more or only one-sided – more peace than war, more support than challenge, and more praise than criticism.
An unrealistic expectation that the world or society is to live according to your set of values.
An unrealistic expectation to have mechanical objects (computers, phones, cars, electronic gadgets…) to be more or only one-sided.
An unrealistic expectation that mechanical objects are to live according to your set of values.
Again, anytime you expect yourself/people/the word to be one-sided, you are more likely to experience symptoms of "depression" – symptoms that are feedback to let you know that you have unrealistic expectations or fantasies of life.
Every time you have an unrealistic expectation, or fantasy, when you have expectations that are different than what is actually happening, you can you are likely to experience negative emotions, often symptoms of depression: Anger and Aggression; Blame and Betrayal; Criticism and Challenge; Despair and Depression; Desire to Exit and Escape; Futility and Frustration; Grouchiness and Grief; Hatred and Hurt: Insanity and Irritability.
These emotions are feedback responses to let you know that you're pursuing something unrealistic - they are by-products of comparing your sensory reality to fantasies and unrealistic expectations and are your mind/body's response, displaying them often referred to as "depression".
As such, we can re-label depression not as an ILLNESS but instead a BIOLOGICAL RESPONSE TO AN UNREALISTIC EXPECTATION that's stored in your subconscious mind and that you may not always be conscious of. In other words, there is a fear of LOSS of those fantasies or the fear of GAIN of things perceived to be nightmares.
Every human being has periods of cycles of ups and downs in mild or moderate degrees with aa spectrum from mild (daily ups and downs), to moderate, to extreme (bipolar, manic and depressive states). Most individuals have periods of highs and lows.
So, what throws the balance off? What results in these high and low mood swings?
They are the result of subjectively biased interpretations of reality and unrealistic expectations that have been programmed into you by injected traditions from outside authorities and moral hypocrisies.
Anytime you have unrealistic one-sided expectations; – for example, that the world's supposed to be peaceful and not warful, kind not cruel, or that others are to live in your values, or that you're supposed to live in other’s values. you are highly likely to experience one or more of the negativities of depression as a result.
Depression isn’t so much of an illness as much as a feedback system emerging where you compare your current reality to an unrealistic expectation, fantasy, or delusion about how life is “supposed” to be. It is a feedback system so you can get back into equilibrium, realistic expectations, and authenticity. But it seems to have become a label that has allowed the pharmaceutical industry to sell drugs to individuals for so many years.
SO, WHAT TO DO?
By asking some very specific questions, it can be revealed how an individual continuously compares their life to how they perceived it “should” have happened, was “supposed to” have happened, or wished it “would have happened”.
By asking these specific questions, the mind is more likely to become conscious of unconscious information. By bringing the ratios of perception into balance, the autonomics balance, the neurotransmitters balance and depression dissolves.
Anytime there is a comparison of a current reality to a fantasy of how it “should have been”, “would have been”, or “could have been”, there is not likely to be appreciation towards life the way it is. And, if you compare it to what it isn't, then you're likely not present with, nor appreciating what is. The questions asked help crack the fantasy, and also find benefits of what is currently being experienced.
As the Buddha said, the desire for that which is unobtainable and the desire to avoid that which is unavoidable is the source of human suffering.
Depression is feedback to let you know you have unrealistic expectations of life, and it doesn't need to be your reality - you have the ability to govern your life and transcend states of depression.
You can change your life by changing your expectations, perceptions and attitude. If you have a more realistic expectation, and a more objective or balanced perspective, you are less likely to have mania or depression, be infatuated or resentful, proud or ashamed.
Instead, you will tend to be centred, authentic, and empowered.
If you would like help in taking your power back and balancing your perceptions, brain chemistry and physiology, please reach out and contact me here
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