Depression is one of the most frustrating ailments.
It feels like a curse of lethargy and numbness has been cast on you. Fortunately, there are ways to curb and even heal your depression. It’s an intensive process, but even working away from it can improve your life drastically.
So let’s talk about why your depression keeps coming back and what you can do about it.
You Are a Closed System
We are each a closed system made up of the mind, body, and spirit. In order to understand depression, it’s very important to understand and accept this concept of being a closed system. This is because we have to treat depression on all levels at once.
Viewing yourself as a closed system involves thinking of yourself as a self-contained entity with distinct boundaries. What are the boundaries? Well, your body, your organs, your brain, your emotions.
You receive inputs from the world around you (food, oxygen, retaining information) and you produce outputs (bodily waste, behavior, speech).
While matter is not exchanged with your surroundings, energy flows across these boundaries, like getting vitamins from sunlight.
The closed system perspective emphasizes the importance of maintaining internal balance, or homeostasis, to ensure proper functioning and adaptability to the world around you.
However, despite being a closed system, you and I are still intricately interconnected with the larger systems, like ecosystems and societies. We influence the larger system, and it influences us.
But the focus is on taking care of your closed system, finding balance within yourself regardless of your inputs and outputs.
What To Expect When You Start Your Healing
Before we dive into how to treat your depression, let’s talk about what you may notice as you start your healing journey.
It’s good to remember that healing is like peeling an onion. You peel off one layer at a time, not all of them at once.
There are many defense mechanisms in the psyche and because of that, it’s impossible to immediately cancel all old habits and beliefs and start new ones. You won’t be able to snap your fingers and make your depression go away. This is a process that requires patients and persistence.
So you may very well notice that you make progress away from depression only to notice a decline. This is normal.
Picture is like a line graph that has ups and downs, but overall the trajectory is upwards toward full healing. You just need to continue on the path and treat yourself with understanding and compassion.
How To Treat Depression Holistically
Because we’re a closed system, we have to take care of each aspect of our individual system. And there are three main aspects of you: mind, body, and spirit. So when we treat depression, it has to take into account these three things.
Here are some ways to treat depression holistically, which will help you ward it away in the future…
Mind
First and most obvious, you need to do your best to stay mentally healthy. There are three main ways to help your mind so it can resist depression: tackling negative beliefs, meditation, and positive affirmations.
- Focusing on your beliefs: Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy (CBT) is a widely recognized therapeutic approach for depression. It involves identifying and challenging negative thought patterns and beliefs. By recognizing and altering distorted or unhelpful beliefs, individuals can work towards a more positive and balanced mindset.
- Meditating: Mindfulness meditation encourages you to focus on the present moment without judgment. That’s it, nothing more than that. Regular meditation practices help foster a sense of calm and peace – the opposite of depression.
- Positive affirmations: Affirmations are when you repeat positive statements to yourself, aiming to challenge and replace negative self-talk. They help you find more self-compassion, boost your self-esteem, and cultivate a more optimistic outlook on life.
Body
It’s easy to forget that the body is where emotions happen, including the sensation of depression. So in this holistic approach to treating depression, it’s important to take care of your body.
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Proper Nutrition: A balanced diet that includes a variety of nutrient-dense foods can help bring up your mood and reduce symptoms of depression. Start with omega-3 fatty acids, B vitamins, and antioxidants because they all have been associated with improved brain health. And then including whole grains, fruits, vegetables, lean proteins, and healthy fats are essential nutrients you need to stay healthy.
- Exercise: Regular physical activity has been shown to be an effective supplemental treatment for depression. Exercise stimulates the release of endorphins, which are neurotransmitters that make you feel happy. Ideally, you would get 150 minutes of moderate-intensity exercise per week, but if you go for a quick walk around the block every day, that’s better than nothing.
- Yoga: Yoga combines proper postures, breath control, and meditation, all of which helps you relax and reduce stress. It can also enhance mindfulness and self-awareness, which improves your overall emotional regulation.
- Supplements: On top of eating well, taking supplements can boost your overall health. Specifically, Omega-3 fatty acids (improved mood), Vitamin D (resists mood disorders), and B Vitamins (brain function).
Spirit / Psychology
Your psychology (what we call the spirit) definitely affects your mood and symptoms of depression.
Childhood trauma can run deep within your system, and can even be inherited from previous generations. That’s why only an integrated approach – an approach that looks at all of you – can help treat depression.
One of the best ways to help your mind, body, and spirit is to consume sacred-plant formulas created for specific issues.
For depression, I highly recommend The Complete Set from Soul Drops. Yes, I’m biased, but we’ve helped tons of people along their healing journey from depression.
These four herbal supplements are made from adaptogenic formulas meant to balance mental clarity, physical vitality, and emotional harmony.
Your mind will function more precisely. Your body will feel calm and serene. And you’ll feel more connected to yourself, your inner system, and the world around you.
And you'll be able to make progress toward a life free of depression.
