Zen Meditation to Alleviate Depression

Regular meditation can help us burn off the neuroses and anxieties that have built up over our lifetimes. It can help us in times of crisis. In the video below, a Zen abott introduces us to Zen meditation and how it can bring us great and genuine relief in terms of freeing us from neurosis and depressive ways of looking out at what is around us and in us.

Zyprexa Depresses the Pharmaceuticals

Zyprexa, an antipsychotic drug approved for the treatment of schizophrenia and bipolar disorder, has been used by over twenty million people in the past ten years. But now Zyprexa is in the headlines because it looks like serious side effects were downplayed and not reported. These include diabetes and weight gain.

So far Eli Lilly has agreed to pay $1.2 billion to 30,000 people who are part of a class action suit and claim that Zyprexa (Olanzapine) caused or aggravated their diabetes and weight gain and other complications.

Zyprexa is Eli Lilly's largest revenue maker. In 2006 they made revenues of $4.2 billion from Zyprexa.

Listen to a podcast about the Zyprexa story here.

The Happiest Man: Matthiew Ricard

Who is the happiest man alive? We don't know the real answer to that but of all the people US neuroscientists have tested, Matthiew Ricard came in happiest by a large margin.

Matthiew Ricard, age 61, a Buddhist monk, was initially a biologist but discovered Buddhism in his twenties. He has just written a new book; Happiness: A Guide to Developing Life's Most Important Skill.

Britney Has a Psychotic Breakdown?

It looks like Britney Spears is in the midst of a psychotic breakdown. She showed up at a tattoo parlor with her head completely shaven last night. Employees at the tattoo shop said she seemed very distraught. She said she had shaved her head because she didn't want people touching her and because she didn't want to be 'plugged in'.

It's an individual decision to shave your head and if it was just that then there would not be a problem but her behaviour seems to indicate she is experiencing some psychotic mental disturbance, possibly psychotic and manic depressive behaviour. It's very likely she is suffering from post partum depression that's been aggravated by her recent separation from her husband and her divorce proceedings.

Here's a video of her at the tattoo parlor last night, surrounded by police and crowds of onlookers. I very much hope there is someone empathetic and close to her who can help steer her out of this escalating and frightening path.

Getting Enough Tryptophan?

Dr Emmons has written a book about a natural way to alleviate depression. His cure emphasizes dietary changes as well as partaking in regular meditation. In his book, The Chemistry of Joy he differentiates between three different kinds of depression;

Anxious Depression is characterized by low levels of serotonin and feelings of inadequacy and excessive worry, together with insomnia and potential carbohydrate cravings.

Agitated Depression is said to result from an excess of dopamine and norepinephrine resulting in restlessness, anger, irritability and digestive problems.

Sluggish Depression is characterized by increased sleep, withdrawal and passivity due to low levels of dopamine and norepinephrine.


It's possible to be a combination of all three types but your depression will most likely be primarily one of these types.

His book recommends different eating plans for these three different types of depression.

He recommends a diet high in tryptophan (the precursor to serotonin) together with 5-HTP. If you have a deficit of dopamine and norepinephrine then he recommends dopamine/norepinephrine enhancing foods.

Success despite Clinical Depression

Alastair Campbell has begun to speak openly about his experience with alcoholism and clinical depression. Last month he revealed that aside from a "work-induced, drink-induced, pressure-induced psychotic breakdown" at the age of 28 while working as an editor at a newspaper which led him to enter recovery from alcoholism, he also recently suffered recurring episodes of clinical depression while working at No.10 Downing Street.

It's good to see more and more highly functioning, incredibly successful people come out and speak openly about their clinical depression and their trials with mental illness.

The Truth is Less Stressful

There's been a lot of lie detection research going on, mostly funded by the military. One of the more interesting findings is that "the truth is always simpler. To make a lie you have to know what is true, and you have to distort it. That is the extra work that goes into lying." It lights up the parts of the brain that control behavior, watch for mistakes, and create physical reflections of your thoughts such as blushing.

It sounds like the days of the polygraph lie test are almost over. Scientists have developed a much more accurate machine, the fMRI, (functional magnetic resonance imaging) which can scan your brain to see if you're telling the truth. This could have some frightening implications.

See the full story at the Washington Post here.

A Boost for Cognitive Therapy

Cognitive therapy has just received a prestigious boost as it's founder Aaron T. Beck has been awarded the Lasker Award.

Dr. Aaron T. Beck is the psychiatrist who developed cognitive behavioral therapy and thus helped to transform the treatment of depression.

It's a counseling technique where patients learn to let go of negative thoughts. Cognitive therapy has been shown to reverse serious depression if pursued a couple of times a week over two or three months.

See more about cognitive therapy at an earlier post here.

Depressed kids need more Omega 3's

As a natural alternative to antidepressants for children, Gwen Olsen recommends a diet high in Omega-3 essential fatty acids, including foods such as flax, krill or fish oils. She also recommends eliminating refined carbohydrates and aspartame form your children's diets.

Gwen Olsen used to work as a pharmaceutical rep. She made her living promoting anti-depressants to doctors. But she has major regrets about this now and has written a book called Confessions of an Rx Drug Pusher: God's Call to Loving Arms. She feels she had a moral responsibility to tell people everything she knows about the dangers of prescribed depression drugs for children. She says children are more vulnerable to the side effects of these medications because of their developing organs.

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The photo above is by zachklein.

Masako's Depression

Masako may be a prime example of someone who's vitality has been worn down and who has succumbed to depression and a 'nervous breakdown' due to life circumstances that she feels she is powerless to change.

Masako is the Crown Princess of Japan. She married relatively late in life by Japanese standards. Her husband, the Crown Prince of Japan, proposed to her twice and she declined because she was afraid she could not live the rigid life of royalty and all the lack of privacy and independence it would entail. But the couple were in love, and she did agree to marry him on the third proposal. She turned thirty during the year of the wedding, and the pressure was on immediately to produce a male heir. The pressure was intense because there had been no boys - and nine girls - born to her husband's royal family since 1965.

Before marrying, Masako was an independent, widely-traveled and successful diplomat with a degree from Harvard University. After marriage, she was no longer allowed to travel outside of Japan and essentially had to give up her career. Everyone expected her to focus fully on the task of bringing male heirs to the world.

The couple were very publicly unfortunate in not being able to conceive for many years. There could have been other miscarriages, but one was highly publicized in 1999. Then in 2001, after rumored in-vitro and intensive fertility treatments, Masako gave birth to a baby girl -'Aiko'. This birth was not seen as an altogether celebratory and joyous event in the eyes of much of the media and all the royal traditionalists. On the contrary, people was blaming Masako for not producing a male heir. As Masako was 38 at this time, the speculation focused on the low likelihood of there being a second child-and a boy at that.

Since then she has succumbed into depression and fatigue and is rarely seen in public. Her husband seems to have been loving and supportive of her all along. But one can understand her feeling of entrapment in this predicament and for anyone with any empathy and imagination it is easy to see how her life situation almost calls for resignation into depression and avoiding fully embracing every-day public life.

What could possibly be the cure for this kind of predicament?

Now that her sister-in-law, Kiko, has given birth to a son (as of today) maybe this will take a huge deal of the pressure off Masako. Now that the media attention may be focused elsewhere she might find life much more bearable.

But it seems to me that this type of depression has its roots in the kind of character who takes their responsibilities very seriously and cannot bear the thought of disappointing, even if the outcome is really not in their control. In addition, there is the dismal knowledge, that there doesn't seem to be any way out for future happiness; that even if she divorced her husband, she would never be able to live her life privately and spontaneously again.

What would be the best cure for Masako's depression under these circumstances?

Depressed Children of Narcissistic Parents

Are people who were raised by narcissistic parents more likely to experience depression as adults?

Alice Miller thinks so. She wrote a bestseller The Drama of the Gifted Child: The Search for the True Self about this a couple of decades ago and the book continues to be popular today.

In the first months and years of a child's life it's especially important for the parents to show their love and respect and to be able to mirror the child's responses. If the parent is emotionally needy or even just rather narcissistic, the child, who always wishes to please and wants love, will start to provide the emotional support the parent needs. The roles will be reversed.

Children who on average are more alert and sensitive than their peers will suffer more as they will be able to pick up more on what is needed of them and they will not get a chance to develop a sense of self as they are too busy working on pleasing their parent. Because they have not had a chance to build their own sense of self, they are much more likely to experience depression as adults.

Miller says one can only be free from depression "when self-esteem is based on the authenticity of one's feelings and not on the possession of certain qualities."

Did Pink Floyd Abandon Syd Barrett?

Syd Barrett founded Pink Floyd in 1965. Within two years his schizophrenia made it impossible for him to continue with the band. (See more about his schizophrenia here.) Pink Floyd went on to make hundreds of millions in royalties over the years.

When someone has a serious accident or physical illness people are usually sympathetic. But when it comes to mental illness quite often people just go away and break ties with the person who is sick. Syd Barrett's illness was no doubt made worse by his heavy use of LSD and by his stressful quick rise to fame but it would have got him either way.

What I wonder is - did the other Pink Floyd band members look after Syd Barrett financially when he slid into serious mental illness?

There are conflicting answers out there about this. Syd Barrett died a few days ago and most of the reports are saying that "his former bandmates made sure Barrett continued to receive royalties from his work with Pink Floyd."

The question I wonder about is, when did they start paying him royalties and were they paying him a relatively fair share based on his early contribution to the band, or were they paying a very tiny amount that may not have been enough for him to live independently?

Barrett made two solo albums after being replaced on Pink Floyd. Apparently he sold the rights for these back to the record company and lived in a London hotel room until all his money ran out in 1981. On that day he walked from London to his mother's home in Cambridge. He has lived there, in his mother's basement, for the past twenty five years.

The Guardian notes that while his former band partners were multi-millionaires 'he existed on invalidity benefits and fluctuating royalties.'

Ivalidity benefits? Would someone be eligible for these if they had a good source of independent income? This is what makes me wonder whether Pink Floyd paid a decent level of royalties to Syd Barrett.

Update September 13th: Syd Barrett's house is up for sale for $300,000 pounds (about 650,000 dollars). Apparently he used all rooms of the house, did some eccentric carpentry throughout and painted the walls various shades of discordant colors. So, it's not true that 'he was living in the basement' while sharing the house with his mother. But it's not clear whether it was his house or his mother's. His mother may want to move out now that she no longer needs to care for him. It could be her house for sale?

The most interesting thing about this house sale I believe is that it also includes his art works. That could be a very wonderful investment for whoever buys this house.

The Judgmental Brain can cause Depression

A recent study has shown that people who can turn off the judgmental part of their brain are less likely to suffer from depression. This part of the problem-solving, judgmental part of the brain is closely linked to depression.

After eight weeks of practicing meditation the study participants were more likely to use the part of their brain that relates to body awareness. "And this move is very calming. It's like moving into the eye of the storm. You're actually turning off the judgmental part of your brain."

See more about how meditation can cure depression at an earlier post here.

Self-Medicating Depression with Alcohol

The Mental Health Foundation in the U.K. has just released a study about the relationship between mental health and drinking alcohol.

They note that the idea that people 'self-medicate' their depression or other mental health problems using alcohol is well known and documented. They note that as far as this notion goes,

"the basic premise is that the psychopharmacological properties of alcohol help individuals deal with negative effects of mental ill-health by altering the chemistry of the brain, which in turn counters the negative feelings. The prevalence of alcohol dependence among people with psychiatric disorders is almost twice as high as in the general population."

"..Little has been said in public policy documents about the way the general population relies on alcohol - a legally available drug - as a mood-altering substance that is used to mask other problems, or to deal with emotions. "

The study is relatively bland in its pronouncements. I mean, I think what you will find here would seem obvious to most people who drink. But if you want to dig deeper into the interesting connection, see this book: The Thirst for Wholeness : Attachment, Addiction, and the Spiritual Path

Pharmaceuticals depressed over 'Sicko'

Some pharmaceuticals are showing signs of feeling anxious about an upcoming movie due to be released late this year. It's a new Michael Moore film and it's called "Sicko".

According to The Independent, at least one drug company, GlaxoSmithKline, is training its 8,000 US workers to become public relations ambassadors in preparation for the outfall that may result from this film.

Sicko is Michael Moore's examination of the American pharmaceutical and larger healthcare industry. Moore is a famous documentary filmmaker whose previous films include Fahrenheit 9/11, Bowling for Columbine, and Roger and Me.

Apparently Moore is still seeking real life stories from people about their experiences with the pharmaceutical industry. I wonder if he's already been alerted to one incredible example; this ubelievably crazy story where the pharmaceutical lobby commissioned some authors to write a horrific fictional 'best-seller', (involving terrorism, poison and beautiful supermodels) hoping that it would scare people away from buying their prescription drugs from non-US sources online.

Help for Troubled Teens

The TeenHelp.org forum has over 23,000 members and a helpful thread on teen depression here.

If you need to speak to someone immediately for help, there is a free phone line for teenagers in North America here. It's sponsored by the non-profit Covenant House. This service is available 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

The Covenant House also offers live phone help for teenagers who are feeling stress, anxiety, loneliness, grief or anger. See their page about this here. They have some very helpful information on their site for all types of teen problems.

Other free help lines are listed on this page here.

Angelina Jolie's Cure for Depression

Angelina Jolie was depressed as a teenager. According to the website Religion Facts, she was a

"troubled and intense young woman. She has openly spoken of her teenage self-loathing, which led to cutting herself with knives, early and intense sexual experience (at 15, her boyfriend moved in with her), her fascination with death (she planned a career as a funeral director in her teens), thoughts of suicide, and undefined feelings of frustration. Looking back on this period in 2003, she explained:

I used to think I was unstable, because I had this thirst for something. I could never figure out what it was. I couldn't sleep at night, and I always wanted to be somewhere else, and I have a window tattooed, this little box, and it's because wherever I was, I wanted to be somewhere else. And, I always saw myself, wherever I was in life, staring out the window."

Religion Facts discusses how her current activities are helping her become a happier person. These quotes were taken from several different sources;

Question: Have you learned any important lessons since you became an ambassador, and if so what are they?
Angelina: I've become a better human being. I've learned the strength of the human spirit. I see different aid workers in camps helping each other from everywhere - people who have come together from all over the world to help people in Africa. It's changed my view of what is important. I'm not so concerned with things I used to be so concerned with. I care now that my son is healthy. I feel that I'm of some use to other people in the world.
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I've been traveling for the last three years and the last two I'vee been goodwill ambassador. I initially set out because I wanted to learn about what's going on in the world and wanted to become a better person and simply educate myself. When I found I could be useful in communicating what I had learned and maybe inspire other people to educate themselves and do some good, it made me so happy and gave me a sense of purpose. I've learned more about life from refugees and people that are the survivors from around the world than anywhere else. I admire them. I've learned about family and just respect them so much and have seen so many horrible things and seen so much survival and so much beauty in these people. So they've changed my life and I hope to keep working with them and do what I can to raise awareness.

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I want to fill my mind with valid issues in the world. I'd like there to be less refugees. I'd like all girls to go to school. That's what we need to be thinking about, and working on making our own families good and strong and our own kids happy. Not to cloud our minds with things that don't matter."

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"I've been crazy in my life, and I've been wild in my life, I've never been a bad person. I've never intentionally hurt other people just to hurt them. And I'm trying to do a lot of good things with my life."

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I love films, but I'm more aware of being a parent now and I'm more aware of the world now. I spend as much time as I can in a day trying to educate myself and travel whenever I possibly can. I'm grateful to be able to live in both. It's increasingly harder to come back into a world that is focused on material possessions...when you've just spent time doing something you feel is much more important.

Paxil Withdrawal Anxiety

If you've been taking Paxil for a while and your doctor now believes you are ready to wean yourself off this anti-depressant, be prepared that the going may not be a smooth one.

There is a very good summary at The Anxiety Community about the withdrawal effects you may experience as you go off this drug. Here you will also find dozens of notes from different people about their personal experiences with weaning off this drug.

Paxil began being sold as an antidepressant about 15 years ago. Ten years ago the FDA also approved Paxil for the use of panic disorder, and in 1999, for social anxiety disorder. In 2001 it was also approved for generalized anxiety disorder and post traumatic stress disorder.

Three years ago the FDA began to warn that people under the age of 18 should not take Paxil.

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The art print above is 'I think of you' by Walasse Ting