Depression and Anxiety are NOT Caused by a Lack of Serotonin!

Depression has become an illness; something that you must go to the doctor to solve. The definition of depression, according to Psychology Today “Depression is not a passing blue mood, which almost everyone experiences from time to time, but a complex mind-body illness that interferes with everyday functioning…….Despite feelings of hopelessness and worthlessness, depression is a treatable condition. It can be treated with psychotherapy or medication, or a combination of both. ”

Yet, as most who suffer depression know, taking antidepressants doesn’t solve the issue, it only places a blanket on the issue and numbs out our feelings.

Harvard professor Irving Kirsch writes of the “serotonin myth” in a peer reviewed paper entitled ‘Antidepressants and the Placebo Effect‘, which was based on many clinical trials. According to Kirsch, it’s not serotonin that affects depression at all: “The serotonin theory is as close as any theory in the history of science to having been proved wrong. Instead of curing depression, popular antidepressants may induce a biological vulnerability making people more likely to become depressed in the future.”

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The truth is, every human behavior has a benefit, even if that benefit seems ridiculous to most people. Everyone feels down at some time and some feel down a lot of the time. However, as even depression sufferers will testify, it can’t and doesn’t last ALL of the time. Sufferers go in and out of depression — and the reason is simple. Depression suffers have perfected that way of feeling, and use it as a place of withdrawing from the world and giving self-comfort from unresolved issues. Once this pattern has begun, it becomes very difficult to withdraw from this emotional response as a method of dealing with issues that arise in life.

One of the biggest challenges for depression sufferers, is the inclination to “defend” their depression. Being depressed meets a lot of their needs — needs which others will not or can not meet — so they defend that they are “sick”, further keeping them trapped in a cycle of despair and anger, which all depression suffers go through.

Is there a solution?

Yes, the solution is to awaken to this reality and take control over the pattern — by recognizing that it is a pattern of behavior, and something that is actually within our control. Depression can seem unsolvable and unmanageable and therefore people feel stuck with it. But you can take control of it and recognize that whilst you may experience depression, it is not the best way to comfort yourself.

To recognize how beautiful you are and to move away from that internal voice — which tells you the opposite — is the solution. This involves awakening to who you really are. A beautiful soul who can think, feel and make a contribution to the world. That you have something of value to give and that you are not a victim to it.

(For more information, please read the article: Overcoming Negative Thinking – The #1 Cause of Chronic Depression.)

The way you think and feel controls the physiology of your body, and the interconnection has now become well known to mainstream medicine. It is therefore ludicrous that the connection has not been made when it comes to psychology and medical treatment of depression. In reality, it is persistent negative thoughts that cause chemical changes in the brain (including serotonin levels) and not the other way around. So, whilst drugs may have a stabilizing effect in the short term, they are not designed to cure the root cause of depression.

In concluding his study, professor Kirsch explains:

“[Of all available] treatments, antidepressant drugs are the riskiest and most harmful. If they are to be used at all, it should be as a last resort, when depression is extremely severe and all other treatment alternatives have been tried and failed.”

You can get free!

To be free of depression and anxiety takes self awareness and mental stability, all of which can be addressed using various mindfulness techniques and spiritual practices. Begin your practices with learning to meditate and becoming self aware. Listen to and observe the internal dialogue you use to speak to yourself, and take control of your inner dialogue. Combine this approach with Tai Chi, Qigong or EFT practices daily to move the Chi energy within your body. This will begin your path to freedom.

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About the author:

Brett is a writer, mystic, a father of 6, an adventurer, lover of people, and the author of The Awaken Book. After spending three years sailing around the globe with his beautiful eternal partner Marie he penned Winds of Change. He has since written two more books; Forgotten Secrets of Lasting Forever for those who believe we are meant to be in a relationship forever and his latest book Awaken. Which is a deeply spiritual tome on connecting with the divine nature we all hold within and bringing it into our daily lives.