A View on Buddhism
DEPRESSION
When we forget the real reason we are living for, the worldliness of life becomes like quicksand that sucks you into a spiritual vacuum. When that happens, we live less and less; we merely stay alive. Shian (TheDailyEnlightenment@yahoogroups.com)
INTRODUCTION
Depression can come in various forms, from a passing blue mood to a severe psychological condition like major depression or manic-depressive illness, which require extensive treatment. The more serious conditions require professional help with for example intensive therapy or medication, there seems to be no easy way to avoid that. General psychology has determined that depressive disorders are often caused by a combination of genetic, psychological and environmental factors, but can also be caused by other illnesses. Women experience depressive disorders twice as many as men, and hormone levels appear to have a significant influence.
Please note that this page deals mainly with aspects of the 'lighter' forms of depression, the techniques described here should not be considered in any way to replace professional treatment for a serious psychological condition. However, the discussed techniques may help to avoid the recurrence of depression, once one has come out of the 'black hole' again.
Buddhism generally approaches depression from a quite different viewpoint than modern Western psychology. The Buddhist perspective is that an underlying selfishness/egotism is often the basic cause of feeling depressed. Please realise that if this is upsetting you, basically this is considered the main psychological problem that everyone has according to Buddhist psychology, and depression can be an unexpected result of it. Also, this does not mean that the suffering person should be 'blamed' for the condition, but rather opens up a very different approach to the problem using medtitation and emphasis on compassion and loving-kindness. Even though these methods may neither be quick nor instantly effective, negative side effects are virtually unheard of; and who cannot use a bit of emphasis on loving-kindness?
A very interesting aspect of reflection on compassion and love is the point that we need to respect, forgive and have compassion not only for others, but ourselves as well.
One of the causes for depression can be a strong sense of dissatisfaction with ourselves; perhaps the page on lack of self-confidence could be helpful? In modern society, it appears that only 'being number one' counts, but this leaves out the other 6 billion people, including 'me'. Does that mean that I am worthless? Of course not!
Just look at the other end of the scale: many of our so-called great heroes of the past are admired for their power, courage and intelligence, but how many heroes can you think of that actually made it a point to create happiness and security instead of waging war and creating havoc? Simply being a loving and caring person tends to help the world a lot more than being 'number one'. One may admire pop-idols and moviestars, but many of them are (or will be) in a sorry state, addicted to drugs and 'life in the fast lane'; not understanding that happiness is a state of their own mind, not of their bank account, level of drugs, availability of sex etc.
If we can genuinely wish ourselves happiness and radiate that wish to others, our state of mind can change dramatically. If we change our mind, we can change our mood - a simple process, but not easy to achieve quickly. One of the most important things is to understand that we can change our own mind if we make a bit of an effort. If we would not be able to change anything in our mind, how did we ever learn to read and write?
Andrew Solomon wrote in 'Anatomy of Melancholy':
"When you are depressed, the past and the future are absorbed entirely by the present, as in the world of a three-year-old. You can neither remember feeling better nor imagine that you will feel better. Being upset, even profoundly upset, is a temporal experience, whereas depression is atemporal. Depression means that you have no point of view."
When we are in such a state, we probably need more than what is described below, but once we can see the way out again, it is possible to work on a more permanent change of our mind.
The great Buddhist sage Nagarjuna said:
If there is a remedy when trouble strikes,
What reason is there for despondency?
And if there is no help for it,
What is the use of being sad?
So come what may, I'll never harm
My cheery happiness of mind.
Depression never brings me what I want;
My virtue will be warped and marred by it.
