Overcoming Depression
Carmen talks to Swamiji about how she saw a program while exercising at the local Gym discussing using anti-depressant drugs to help control negative emotions. She asks him what his thoughts are on this. Swamiji express that these drugs can help people initially to get over a crisis in order to settle them down, but not as a long term solution. It is important to understand how, and why, a person is in the situation in the first place.
He draws our attention to present modern day living where there is much demand on individuals to be a certain way. “Every time we watch a TV show, read a magazine, or view Instagram for example, they carry a subtle message of how one should be looking, how you should be behaving. So everyone’s self image is getting distorted. We are getting more and more in the periphery of, how I should look’ etc. It has got to the point where we now need to start looking after mental health. But there is a stigma here, because when we talk about mental health it implies ‘something is wrong with me’, but actually, according to the Sages of India there is something wrong with all of us – from the point of view that very few of us actually know who we are. People say, ‘huh? This is my name!’ But the Sages would say, ‘that’s just your name, who are you?’. ‘Well I’m an American. I’m an Australian. ‘No that’s just your nationality, who are you?’ Then you say, ‘Well, these are my parents.’ But Vedic philosophy explains that we have been in the wheel of birth and death and have had uncountable parents.
So the key really is to understand what it is that makes us who we are. The more you understand that, then mental health naturally starts to blossom.
Carmen then asks, “Swamiji, with your experience and knowledge, how would you manage depression and anxiety? Because depression is linked with anger and desire, and many other emotions?”
In reply Swamiji says, “One way is meditation. Just simply taking time out of whatever your schedule might be, breathing nice and deeply, calming the mind down and getting more in touch with your own self. Second is knowledge, wisdom, spiritual wisdom. Understanding what this world is that we live in. Why is my mind like this? What is the very thing that I want?”
Carmen asks, “How can we go from down here (indicating a low state of self esteem) to normal thinking. How you can start to improve?”
Swamiji replies by saying that, “First of all it starts with you. As in, thinking process, ‘I’m going to self improve. I’m going to take a good look at my local environment. What are the ways I can start my self improvement?’ In the West there is a blossoming phenomena called yoga. People like yoga because it is an alcohol free zone, it is an opportunity to be with people who care about good health. And from that, spawns the idea of ‘Well what are you going to have for lunch?’ Then people start saying, ‘I’m done with fast food. I like to have healthy, nourishing food like sprouts, vegetables, legumes, etc.’ And then from that, people start to think, ‘well you know, how I think determines how I feel about myself, including the decisions that I make in my life.’ I’m talking about one avenue in life that is yoga, for example. By associating with people like this, you naturally start to think according to the environment where you put yourself.
So the first step, I think, in moving towards mental health is to take a good look at your game plan. By that I mean, ‘What am I doing with my day? Am I exercising? Am I getting into the company of healthy, positive people?”. If not, what can I change today? Small steps can lead to big changes over time. Most importantly, be kind to yourself and others particularly during challenging times.