meditation as treatment for depression

[peanutbrittle]

not sure whether this has been linked to previously but I think is worth bringing up again even if so

report in guardian about link between meditation and reducing/managing depression

I've been meditating for the past year and am finding a huge difference in how I can cope, am still on ADs but hoping to start coming off them in the spring and will be reallu utilising the techniques I've learnt then

I came across this approach through this book which I can quite honestly say has changed my life (and I am not one to say such things about books, or much else, really)

I hope this can help someone out there

am happy to chat further about it if anyone is interested

[can you tell I feel quite passionately about this???]

also this article which talks about it more fromm buddhist perspective - which shouldn't put anyone off as there is no need to be a buddhist or change any beliefs at all to follow the techniques

Thanks fo those links peanut,am interested in meditation (mindfulness and Zen practise).

Got the old monkey mind though and find it super difficult to allow my mind to be.

I know what you mean poshwellies - it is very hard indeed, but with practise gets easier, or easier to accept the monkey mind anyway perhaps...and that's what it is all about...acceptance, particularly of self (or non-self perhaps, if you are of the buddhist persuasion!)

Hi peanutbrittle,

Yes, meditation changed my life too after 5 years of pnd...Check out the Brahma Kumaris website. Amen!

Hi peanut - really interested to hear that it's been helpful for you.
I did some mindfulness work with my therapist after birth of DD, but I could never engage with it... I'm sure I was doing it wrong, but it felt like it was saying I just had to accept how I was feeling! But I felt crap... I just couldn't accept feeling so bad, so felt I was fighting against it. Maybe I was too ill at that time to get the most out of it. So now I am a bit better, I am intrigued by it again...
How do you begin?

Hi Getdownyouwillfall - sounds like you might have just been in too much of a low place to get started that time. In teh book that I leant all about it from they recommend you don't get started when actually in a properly depressed state. I suppose the thing is to learn the tools and techniques when feeling ok and then you have them to draw on if a depression hits. I've certainly found that to be the case personally. But apart from that, even if a depression doesn't hit, the techniques are such that they enhance your every day (non-depressed) existence too, and probably make liklihood of a relapse lower.

So, how do you get started - wow, what a great and difficult question. Speaking for yself I bought the mindful ways through depression book and went through that, I also started going to a meditation group once a week which I found REALLY helped. I started meditating as often as I could, often not "official sitting" meditation but say when sitting on a bus, just closing my eyes and concentrating on my breathing, In Out In Out Deep Slow Deep Slow etc etc letting my (usually horribly tensed) body relax, letting my brain just be. Its hard to explain but I found it so helpful. Also, when doing little tasks, unloading the dishwasher (my pet peeve) for example or settng the table I would just remind myself of what I was doing "I'm unloading the dishwasher, the plates are lovely and clean, they feel warm in my hands..." as I was doing it, rather than having my old running commentary "goddammit I wish someone else had unloaded this, why is it always me doing it? why do I end up doing every goddam thing around here? how many bloody loads so we need to do a day anyway?...". Sounds ludicrous perhaps but for me it made a huge difference.

Another book I can heartily recommend is a Buddhist Monk (but don't let that put you off - its not all evangelical at all) Thich Nhat Hanh's peace is every step it's a lovely simple book, not at all heavy (like the mindful way through depression is a bit) and full of tips and techniques

another book I've heard recommended is a life with full attention but I haven't read that myself - I'll direct Katie123 over here - I know she has used it...

if you fancy joining a group of us who are trying to bring mindfulness more to bear in everyday life we are on this thread

good luck!

thanks peanut that is so helpful! I read about half of the Mindful Ways Through Depression book (it was leant to me by the counsellor), but gave up as I was feeling so low and could hardly concentrate on it.

I totally relate to your example of unloading the dishwasher, and how swapping those negative "doing" thoughts for just observant, experiencing "being" thoughts must feel very liberating. I tried to do a similar thing for a while, e.g. concentrating on feeling the air on my skin when outside, or crunch of leaves etc. I also try and practise my deep breathing when I'm driving as I do get quite anxious driving. It's just so hard to remember to do it all the time!

Now that I'm feeling quite well again I will have to give it another go.

Thanks for taking the time to explain it a bit to me.
xx

HI PB
Thanks for all the links to the articles - really interesting.
XX

GDYWF - DEFINATELY worth giving it another go now you are feeling better - I'd be really surprised if you don't find it helpful (and a very different experience from trying to do it while actively depressed)

pop over to the other thread if this one goes dead and you have any further questions or need a bit of support. They are a lovely bunch over there and I am usually not far from it to answer anything (but most of the posters on there use similar techniques anyway)

Hey PFS [waves] yes, those articles really are interesting aren't they. It was a very sceptical RL friend of mine who'd I'd been telling about the benefits of mindfulness who told me about them. Don't think she is quite so sceptical now

Hello All
I can only second whole-heartedly what Peanut has said above - I recommend 'the mindful way through depression' all the time to patients (am a part-time GP) but often warn them they might not be able to concentrate on it in one fell swoop initially as it is indeed a bit dense and full-on especially for those in the throes of an awful, deep, dark depression, with the way it robs you of concentration and motivation an' all. There are mindfulness groups springing up all over the place - even in The Sticks where I live - so it might be worth looking for one locally eg via the local GP surgery - I suppose it's still very patchy, the distribution of said groups I mean, but worth a try!
The 'Life with full Attention' book is, so far, engaging and down-to-earth and well-written, but I have been distracted (non-mindfully ) to other things of late so have not read it in full. However it is very worthwhile picking up and has lots of exercises to help sharpen one's focus on doing one thing at a time, losing the multi-tasking we women are so very famous for (though how to get through school mornings WITHOUT multi-tasking no childless, school-run-free monk has ever yet explained to me)
It is GREAT to see that meditation may soon be available on the NHS!!! maybe not next month...but it's definitely a step in the right direction!
Metta to all
X

Hi there

I have done a mindfulness course, and attend 'maintenance' classes every month. I have found it really really helpful with my anxiety. It offers hope and clarity when so much of the mental health system just brands you as 'depressive' or whatever and that's your lot.

However, I'm now 23 weeks pregnant and losing it again - sometimes it's hard to believe/remember when you're in the midst of a turn. Do you think it's a skill you can have, and then lose, and then regain?