Depression not a disease but symptom of disconnection from emotional self

Today 4 February 2016 I heard several times on the radio that it is ‘National Time-To-Talk Day’. They are an 'anti-stigma' campaign run by the leading mental health charities Mind and Rethink Mental Illness.

(http://www.time-to-change.org.uk/timetotalkday)

They quote: “Mental health problems affect 1 in 4 people every year, yet too often people are afraid to talk about their experiences because they fear it will affect their jobs or relationships. That’s not right and it’s why we need your help to break the silence and end the stigma”.

I agree...

As someone who has experienced depression on and off since childhood, I do not think of depression as an illness. I think of it as an inability to come to clear conclusions about feelings and emotions. In this world that is led by intellect, my feelings were never acknowledged and I did not trust them. This causes major confusion inside and I had to do a lot of work on myself in order to get a better sense of what I felt and thought, which has made me a happier and stronger person.

People who are prone to depression tend to be deep feeling individuals – but what happens if you’re never taught to express these feelings or they are never acknowledged? You don’t know they’re there. One becomes disconnected from ones’ self.

Signs of being disconnected from yourself:

Your head feels in a spin from constant stress.
You often feel overwhelmed by your emotions.
You have a sense of emptiness inside.
You feel out of touch with others.
You feel a lack of meaning or purpose.
You consistently feel uncertain of yourself.

The last 3 people I saw in my practice this week all had emotions or feelings that were not acknowledged by society such as doctors, spouses, family or even best friends. These lovely people had feelings or symptoms that were not heard. This tends to invalidate a person and robs them of their confidence to trust their inner senses and subsequently creates a lot of stress and illness in itself! And I do really know what I am talking about. I have always felt everything inside my body, each emotion within me, and sometimes even within other people, I have tried to verbalise it to doctors in my worst state, but it was not met with an intelligent response. I can identify these feelings now and verbalise them very well, but I have taught myself. I used to feel mad at times but I knew I was not. I now know that I have to validate myself as a feeling individual and will not receive acknowledgement from most of the outside world as they operate differently from me. Knowing this is a game-changer and gives back the power where it had been lost.

I think there are two kinds of people in this world. The ones that are ruled by intellect and thought, and the ones that are ruled by their feelings, emotions and senses. I am the latter and found out the difficult way. I have seen my way out of it luckily, as I have had guidance of experienced and emotionally intelligent people. I find that one of my main jobs now as a homeopath, is to not only help people with their physical disease, but I help them understand what it is they are sensing and acknowledge them by validating and explaining what is happening inside them.

The response I mostly get, which is so liberating and healing for my patients: SO I AM NOT MAD THEN?

Homeopathy helped me to piece myself together. Homeopathic remedies can help bring out emotions when they are put deep away in some recess but does so in a gentle way.

Please share this blog, and let people with depression know that there is a way out.