I’ve suffered from depression for quite some time now. The past few days have been really bad. I “slept” for about 16 hours yesterday and missed work.
I was watching a program on the Discovery Channel a couple of nights ago about Tzu Chi. She is a Taiwanese monk who started a charitable organization that does work all around the world. tzuchi.org/
While watching the progam and the accomplishments that she has made I felt better.
Then just a few hours ago I was coming back from 7-11 and I saw a stray kitten. It looked a bit ratty and it was meowing at me but when I approached it it wasn’t scared of me.
I picked it up and was going to take it into my apartment but when I opened the door downstairs it freaked out. I put it down and went upstairs to get some canned tuna cause it looked hungry.
I came back down with the tuna and the kitten was still there. I gave it to him/her and stood there for 5 minitues while it ate it.
To make a long story short while doing this my depression subsided. My only concern was for the well being of this poor kitten.
I think the approach to ending suffering by Buddism and people like the Dalai Lama and Tzu Chi is directly applicable to people (Like myself) who suffer from clinical depression. I am not talking about going to temple and the like. Just doing simple compassionate things make you/me/he/she/it/we/they feel better.
Of course medical asisstance is often needed but sometimes even getting out of bed to get to the doctor is difficult.
Try helping someone/something and I think it might help you get up, get out and make you feel better.
Doing something–perhaps anything–significant or meaningful–whatever the scale, great or small–can have a very positive effect.
Victor Frankl, a psychologist who survived the concentration camps built an ‘existential psychotherapeutic’ approach called logotherapy around the idea that we require meaning in our lives in order to be satisfied with our lives. His book, Man’s Search for Meaning, discusses the history of his approach and is quite a good read. You may want to check have a look at it. You should be able to find it in any decent bookstore. I’ve got a couple of copies back home–somewhat out of reach–but I also have it here as an audiobook on cd. PM me, you’re welcome to it.
Whatever you do, get out of bed. Feed the cat, do something well at work, make some random person’s day. Make a small act of excellence a daily activity. It helps.
It can have a positive effect, but if there is a basic chemical imbalance in your brain, fixing THAT will have a far more lasting positive effect, after which time you can help others just the same.
I’m not saying not to help others and not to concentrate on others, but I was with a man with clinical depression for many years, and he ended up actually caring for several handicapped persons for free (I mean live-in, 24 hours a day) for a number of years in an attempt to alleviate his depression. Didn’t work. He did a lot of good, undeniably – one of the guys he helped is a US attorney today, and he probably wouldn’t have gotten out of high school otherwise – but it did NOT cure his depression. Everyone’s case is different, but it’s important to find out whether your own problems are primarily chemical, primarily emotional, a combination, or what, and adopt the most effective means of dealing with it possible.
[quote=“ironlady”]It can have a positive effect, but if there is a basic chemical imbalance in your brain, fixing THAT will have a far more lasting positive effect, after which time you can help others just the same.
I’m not saying not to help others and not to concentrate on others, but I was with a man with clinical depression for many years, and he ended up actually caring for several handicapped persons for free (I mean live-in, 24 hours a day) for a number of years in an attempt to alleviate his depression. Didn’t work. He did a lot of good, undeniably – one of the guys he helped is a US attorney today, and he probably wouldn’t have gotten out of high school otherwise – but it did NOT cure his depression. Everyone’s case is different, but it’s important to find out whether your own problems are primarily chemical, primarily emotional, a combination, or what, and adopt the most effective means of dealing with it possible.[/quote]
[quote=“ironlady”]It can have a positive effect, but if there is a basic chemical imbalance in your brain, fixing THAT will have a far more lasting positive effect, after which time you can help others just the same.
I’m not saying not to help others and not to concentrate on others, but I was with a man with clinical depression for many years, and he ended up actually caring for several handicapped persons for free (I mean live-in, 24 hours a day) for a number of years in an attempt to alleviate his depression. Didn’t work. He did a lot of good, undeniably – one of the guys he helped is a US attorney today, and he probably wouldn’t have gotten out of high school otherwise – but it did NOT cure his depression. Everyone’s case is different, but it’s important to find out whether your own problems are primarily chemical, primarily emotional, a combination, or what, and adopt the most effective means of dealing with it possible.[/quote]
For sure.
All I am saying is that compassion is a starting point. Maybe a cure for people who’s problems aren’t very bad/advanced.
Above all it can be easily applied in the short term.
If I was in Canada then getting help would be easy. But living here is more difficult as far as access to psychological help goes.
Tzu Chi is the name of the organisation. It was founded by a nun known as Master Cheng Yen.
I also agree with what ironlady said. Several years ago I went to a talk by a Buddhist nun in Australia. She told about how often people suffering from depression or other mental illnesses would come to the meditation centre hoping to be cured. She said that while the environment there could provide good support for them it was important, in the initial stages at least, that they took their medication. Later when they had made some improvement in their condition they could then benefit from meditation and the Buddhist teachings.
