What causes sadness and depression?

[AnthroHeart]

I have everything going for me.
I'm on disability so I don't have to work.
I have a dog that I love.
And anthros, they are so beautiful.

But why do I feel sadness and depression?

Is there a metaphysical reason?
Or is it a chemical imbalance in the brain?

I swear, I try to feel happy or joy, and I cannot.

A far cry from where I was just a few days ago.

Sometimes it makes my heart physically hurt.

And it disturbs my sleep to where I don't even get rest.

I feel like the Logos must feel with all the sadness and despair in the world,
and having to feel all that. And the Logos never gets rest.
It has to keep the physics of the galaxy working. It can't get a wink of sleep.

Even anti-depressants don't really work.

[Jade]

Hi Gem. Your journey is always very inspiring, and I really appreciate how much you share it with us. I know that you struggle more than the average because of the medications that you take - but I also know that that can't be helped. Your desire to persevere regardless is very brave and again, very inspiring.

I think I associate depression with the red ray, and also with a lack of vital energy. So my suggestions would be to meditate on the root chakra, and also to do some things that will help with your vital energy. This involves using your mind, body, and spirit in ways that serve the Creator. Carla liked to sing hymns. An easy/accessible one for everyone is going on a walk in a natural setting and admiring the second density beings. Creating art is effective as well. Dancing, yoga, and experiencing and appreciating real beauty/art can all also help increase the vital energies. For you, I think a good idea would be to visit and volunteer at an animal shelter. Offering your service to those second density entities that are in such need would be good for your soul, I believe.

[AnthroHeart]

Paradoxically I'm not good with animals. Just the one that I own I'm good with.

Thank you for your input Jade. I think I'll take a drive and get some fresh air.

[anagogy]

But why do I feel sadness and depression?

Is there a metaphysical reason?
Or is it a chemical imbalance in the brain?

I think you simply long for connections that 3rd density isn't really set up to facilitate. A common malady of wanderers (the desire to 'go home'). Thus, while there is both a mental, and physical component to your sadness, it is predominately a spiritual cause in my opinion. The mind reflects the inpourings of the spirit, and the body reflects the inpourings of the mind.

[Jade]

I wish you the best of luck! Roll down those windows and play some good music if you got it.

[AnthroHeart]

But why do I feel sadness and depression?

Is there a metaphysical reason?
Or is it a chemical imbalance in the brain?

I think you simply long for connections that 3rd density isn't really set up to facilitate. A common malady of wanderers (the desire to 'go home'). Thus, while there is both a mental, and physical component to your sadness, it is predominately a spiritual cause in my opinion. The mind reflects the inpourings of the spirit, and the body reflects the inpourings of the mind.

[Agua del Cielo]

Dear Indigo,
My assumption would be, that you actually deal with very old sadness.
Meaning, its root are probaly in your formative years.
I experienced the same for most of my life.
Only when i started to do some serious healing work the situation would improve little by little.

You cannot force yourself to experience joy, when actually your sad. That would cause seperation from your self. It would be superficial only and not authentic.

You could work on both ends, doing things that make you feel better like everything mentioned here and also try to "work" on the sadness (in this case) side.

If you re interested,let me know, i can further expand on this if you want.

[quote]
I think you simply long for connections that 3rd density isn't really set up to facilitate.
[\quote]

This could well be the root of it. I found however that this is a false assumption in a way.
I would live by that assumption for most of my life.
Until i discovered, that it was basically a belief i developed very early in my life.
It was true in these times.
My life, my surrounding and especially the people around me have changed a lot since then.
I would still hold on to that belief, not realizing it is a belief and not necessarily reality.
The effect was that i didnt even try anymore to connect on a deeper level.

After this realization i found that much more connection was possible than i ever thought!

[AnthroHeart]

Come Home by OneRepublic. I need some Oxytocin in my brain (the cuddle hormone).

[Manjushri]

I'm gonna say it's the anti depressants.

[AnthroHeart]

I'm gonna say it's the anti depressants.

The anti-psychotic is probably worse. It totally closes down my 3rd eye.
But it keeps me sane. With all I've been through I've learned a great deal, and probably could handle being insane.

But the other day I was freaked out by my window curtains. I thought they were going to fall down and wrap me up in them and trap me.

[sjel]

I'm feeling a complete and total lack of joy today, you are not alone

[Kaaron]

I was put on prozac when I was 16 for a while.
The Dr put me on Citalopram when I was 24 as well.
Then I was on Venlafaxine for a solid year around 2010-2011.
I can say that they are the problem you have with establishing a firm emotional grounding.
I felt like a zombie when I was on Venlafaxine.
Nearly all of them have side effects of homicidal and suicidal tendencies as well as all kinds of other stuff.

Maybe go to a Naturopath or Reiki healer. Try to find the inner issue and resolve it. I know you meditate and this will be helping you alot but maybe if you try tumeric, saffron, bee pollen, st johns wort and other natural alternatives you might find the combination of them with the meditation could be beneficial. Like a detox without the cold turkey. Have you tried anything like these more natural medicines before?
I've been on tumeric and saffron capsules and st johns wort with a high potency iron suppliment every day for about 2 months and I can feel the difference.
My natural resting feeling is alot more at ease.
I've taken bee pollen in the past and it is really good too.
Ra says that one of the most important things to pay attention to is what we put into our body and I feel that the medication is the biggest problem you face right now.
Don't believe what your Doctor or anyone is telling you if they say it's helping you. It's not.
Any kind of "ine", "pram" etc is just there to cut off your feelings about whatever life event has lead you do react in the way that has stifled you emotionally.
Look at the pain...accept it as you...love it...release it to the all.
This is the way you heal.
The natural alternatives are there to cushion the impact of doing work usually reserved for healing time, post incarnation.

[AnthroHeart]

I had to go to court when I wasn't on my meds. So it would be risky to get off of them.

And I've quit cold turkey, with no side effects in the past. But it took 6 months for my schizophrenic episodes to return.

[smc]

I had to go to court when I wasn't on my meds. So it would be risky to get off of them.

And I've quit cold turkey, with no side effects in the past. But it took 6 months for my schizophrenic episodes to return.

Gemwolf - do what works for you - you've been on a long, painful, trial and error journey with this - you're the best authority on this topic as it pertains to you
(- imo - it's highly irresponsible for anyone to advise you to stop your medication!)

I use/used every possible dietary supplement/nutrient, alternative healing form and yet 19 years ago I was so exhausted and desperate from being severely depressed (since 11 years old) that I tried sertraline.

WHAT A blessing!

It rebalanced my depleted brain neurotransmitters which were so low - after decades of emotional abuse, stress, trauma, assault and clinical depression.

sertraline SAVED MY LIFE

I went from being very suicidal - to being able to sleep, eat, not cry 24/7, and get out the front door to begin the journey to slowly heal and follow up with long term counselling, exercise, good nutrition, music, friends, etc etc etc

if someone here was a diabetic would people tell them to stop their insulin? - or an epileptic - to stop their anti-convulsion drugs...?

I lived with a friend with bipolar for 4 years - without lithium she would run into oncoming traffic ! 0_0

do people realise that Valium is derived from valerianic acid - which is found in the herb Valerian ? right?

LIFE IS CHEMICAL... it's all relative.... and unless you've studied medicine and psychiatry you don't get to advise Gemini (or me) what to do...

of course, certain drugs at certain dosages are wrong for certain people - but that's an individual truth - not a broad brush stroke about the drug itself.

Ideally you want to be as drug free as possible - but ideally you want to do what works best - rather than think you know enough to comment about others brain chemistry.

I have a lot of experience in working with mental health - as well as my own situation.

There are numerous threads over many years, where Gem discusses his mental health - and this anti-"pharma" 'advice' occurs every now and then -
I don't think it's what he's looking for in sharing his feelings and his situation

- (you can tell by his reply (in the above quote)...

also - members on b4 advocate the use of brain altering CHEMICALS (hallucinogens, weed, mdma, lsd and ayahuasca....) but diss drugs that help control schizophrenia and PTSD and depression.... (which are often caused by those recreational chemical drugs!)

talk about a double standard

:@

[AnthroHeart]

I have no doubt I would have developed schizophrenia eventually, but the DMT I smoked and ayahuasca I took sped that up to a matter of months.

[411 The Hawk]

Hi,

When I feel really depressed I meditate with binarual beats from youtube. It helps me to change my brain chemistry. I also suffer from SAD and use light theraphy or close my eyes and look at to the sun. Just a thought

[Kaaron]

I had to go to court when I wasn't on my meds. So it would be risky to get off of them.

And I've quit cold turkey, with no side effects in the past. But it took 6 months for my schizophrenic episodes to return.

Gemwolf - do what works for you - you've been on a long, painful, trial and error journey with this - you're the best authority on this topic as it pertains to you
(- imo - it's highly irresponsible for anyone to advise you to stop your medication!)

I use/used every possible dietary supplement/nutrient, alternative healing form and yet 19 years ago I was so exhausted and desperate from being severely depressed (since 11 years old) that I tried sertraline.

WHAT A blessing!

It rebalanced my depleted brain neurotransmitters which were so low - after decades of emotional abuse, stress, trauma, assault and clinical depression.

sertraline SAVED MY LIFE

I went from being very suicidal - to being able to sleep, eat, not cry 24/7, and get out the front door to begin the journey to slowly heal and follow up with long term counselling, exercise, good nutrition, music, friends, etc etc etc

if someone here was a diabetic would people tell them to stop their insulin? - or an epileptic - to stop their anti-convulsion drugs...?

I lived with a friend with bipolar for 4 years - without lithium she would run into oncoming traffic ! 0_0

do people realise that Valium is derived from valerianic acid - which is found in the herb Valerian ? right?

LIFE IS CHEMICAL... it's all relative.... and unless you've studied medicine and psychiatry you don't get to advise Gemini (or me) what to do...

of course, certain drugs at certain dosages are wrong for certain people - but that's an individual truth - not a broad brush stroke about the drug itself.

Ideally you want to be as drug free as possible - but ideally you want to do what works best - rather than think you know enough to comment about others brain chemistry.

I have a lot of experience in working with mental health - as well as my own situation.

There are numerous threads over many years, where Gem discusses his mental health - and this anti-"pharma" 'advice' occurs every now and then -
I don't think it's what he's looking for in sharing his feelings and his situation

- (you can tell by his reply (in the above quote)...

also - members on b4 advocate the use of brain altering CHEMICALS (hallucinogens, weed, mdma, lsd and ayahuasca....) but diss drugs that help control schizophrenia and PTSD and depression.... (which are often caused by those recreational chemical drugs!)

talk about a double standard

:@

I don't think many here are professors or shamans, yet most seem to offer their advice on a range of subjects that require a degree of some sort to be called an expert.
I'm not a medical expert but have alot of time dealing with mental anguish not wanting to be here and wanting to die alot.
I've been on anti-depressants.
I relate to this person n that's why I commented.
I'm not gonna provide links which prove how dangerous they are, that information is readily available.

I am giving my perspective on an industry that is out to do more harm than good. An industry that is linked to every mass shooting in the US.

But by all means...tell us more of how you found the cure for what *ails you in the form of a pill.

[smc]

if you re-read your reply to me Kaaron - can you see how you're patronising me?

But by all means...tell us more of how you found the cure for what *ails you in the form of a pill.

speaking to me like this ISN'T okay

it isn't behaving with love and respect

you're being aggressive, defensive, snarky and dismissing my experiences and feelings

that's not okay with me

if you've worked and studied in this area - you'll know that there's as much statistical information on benefits - as problems... there's no one correct viewpoint

people can cherry pick 'facts' till the end of time... I'm saying from direct personal experience that it's dangerous to advise a person to stop medication - particularly when it's keeping them out of jail or a psych ward (Gemini even tells us this!)

your reply is actually insulting his own ability to know what's right for him

could you possibly try to put your ego aside - put your own unique reaction to drugs aside - and look at how you're making sweeping generalisations about the supposed stats for shootings (for example: there are numerous stats also that mentally/emotionally ill people who don't take meds injure/kill people) - and stop telling people what to do!

I care about your life experiences Kaaron, I feel for your struggles, your pain, your personal situation

If something isn't the right thing for you no-one should insist that it is - and it goes the same way - don't make generalisations for others.

[Kaaron]

SMC: I feel you should take your own advice as I was merely mirroring your own judgemental tone.

[Kaaron]

If I feel that anti-depressants cause depression, I'm gonna say it...especially in a thread titled "What causes sadness and depression?" by someone who is on anti-depressants.
I won't and shouldn't be asked to retract an opinion on something that I have extensive knowledge and experience around.

[smc]

to say that I'm being the judgemental person (in drawing attention to people making judgements about Gemwolfs medications);
- is classic gas-lighting/obfuscation

nb: of course you have extensive knowledge and experience of the issue!
and I care about your experience
- but your experience is relevant
for YOU

why do you insist it's got to apply for someone else?

you're being told that it isn't the same for someone else -

lets substitute anti-depressants with peanuts...

you have an anaphylactic reaction - I don't -

but you're insisting I shouldn't eat peanuts...

my tone is strong - not judgemental - and I let you know I care about you also...

ffs

[Agua del Cielo]

I am not a big fan of psychotropic drugs (i hope this translation is correct) such as anti-depressants and stuff.
I think it can numb you to the point where its hard to further evolve, not speaking of other side effects.

hOWEVER, there are mental and emotional conditions, that make it almost impossible to live ones life. In such a case, such medication can be a great relief, enabling a mental and emotional state that makes it possible to live and work through all that stuff.
In such a case it would be highly irresponsible to just stop that medication.

It would be like "oh,there s too much stuff for you too handle? Great, just stop medication and lets see what happens, if you get even more of that stuff!"

Also, as much as medicines like for example ayahuasca can aid healing and spiritual growth if the conditions are RIGHT, i would clearly not advise this under no circumstamces to a person that is struck by a condition like schizophrenia or in an acute psychosis and has not (yet) the background necessary to deal with the material that is possibly being surfaced by those means.

Given a very stable "personality", a lot of experience with working through difficult emotional stuff and an experienced "sitter" as well as the opportunity to be accompanied in the following timespan by an loving and understanding entity, medicine plants can definitely aid in uncovering otherwise unaccessable material.
If these factors are not given, which definitely wouldnt be so in the case discussed, one would run into a very high risk of inviting much much more imbalances that could in any way be handled, thus worsening the situation heavily.

[smc]

the anti-depressant I take is very simple - it balances the levels of serotonin in the brain - it's akin to insulin balancing the blood sugar level of diabetes... I was completely nervous about taking it and frightened - but it was completely the right thing for me

with an SSRI - there's no "psychotropic" action ... I can't speak personally to use of anti-psychotics and big time tranquillising drugs... I'm very fortunate that sertraline (aka: zoloft) worked for me with no side effects, no sedation (it usually doesn't sedate), in fact - nothing 'happened' except the crushing sadness, despair, bleakness lifted enough for me to be able to physically move off a bed/couch - feel less despair and begin to do the work required emotionally to deal with my issues/abuse etc...

2 decades earlier a doctor prescribed me Largactil (Chlorpromazine hydrochloride) and I was turned into such a zombie I threw the rest down the toilet... so I'm no fan of indiscriminate use of "Big Pharma"

I understand/respect that some people have strong personal feelings - but my point is that it's their personal situation and it's a big deal to be advising people what to do - (if I had breast cancer I wouldn't want people to tell me to do- or not to do chemo (or whatever) - it's not peoples place to weigh in like that - and meds advice wasn't what Gem was looking for

[smc]

https://www.nytimes.com/2016/07/10/books...pe=article

I bookmarked this link a long while ago... it's an interesting article and speaks to a deeper assessment of anti-depressants...

conclusions: they're over prescribed

they should be used only for clinical and severe depression

they should be used as a last resort and prescribed conservatively (low starting dose)

...his decades of clinical work with patients, antidepressants work more often than not and that, most of the time, prescribing an antidepressant is not about making somebody “better than well” but rather helping to relieve a patient’s acute suffering enough that she can resume a semblance of normal life.

Kramer evinces such humility that no one could accuse him of being a pro-­medication ideologue. (He has never taken money from a drug company.) In fact, late in the book, after 200 pages of arguing that antidepressants work effectively, Kramer reveals that he himself is conservative in, if not hesitant about, prescribing antidepressants. “I rely heavily on psychotherapy, often postponing prescribing until I hit a roadblock,” he writes. “Even then, I tend, relative to the literature, to undermedicate patients, in every way — lower doses at shorter duration.”

Kramer tells three stories that are especially convincing. The first is about Osheroff v. Chestnut Lodge, a court case from the early 1980s. Raphael Osheroff, a kidney doctor who had been felled by anxiety and depression, ended up in a psychoanalytically oriented inpatient facility in Maryland, Chestnut Lodge, that eschewed medication. He deteriorated so dramatically there that a friend moved him to a different facility, which medicated him, allowing him to promptly recover. The ensuing court case — based on the failure of Chestnut Lodge to prescribe medication — played out over a number of years and was ultimately settled in Osheroff’s favor. It changed how the field approached prescribing; from that point on, the failure to prescribe antidepressants or other psychotropic medications could be grounds for a malpractice suit.

The second example involves Robert Liberman, who, as a medical student in 1961, published one of the first influential papers questioning the efficacy of psychiatric medication, “A Criticism of Drug Therapy in Psychiatry,” which argued (to oversimplify) that antidepressants like imipramine didn’t work — and to the extent that they did, it was due to the placebo effect. Liberman ended up as a psychiatrist at Johns Hopkins, where he became depressed. Talk therapy didn’t relieve his woes — but taking an antidepressant did.

The final story may be the most dispositive. When Kramer began visiting psychiatric wards in the 1970s, they were filled with miserable, hollowed out people who were in what was then known as “end-state depression”; the only thing that differentiated these patients from psychotically catatonic patients is that these depressed patients would wring their hands. Kramer — and everyone he’s talked to — have not seen such patients in decades, a development he attributes to the advent of aggressive antidepressant prescription to forestall such dire outcomes.

Kramer is out to win the “antidepressant wars” in favor of the antidepressants. Is he right? I can’t say definitively that he is. Nobody could, or these drug debates would already have ended. But in my judgment he is. One can question whether I’m qualified to make that judgment. I’m neither a psychiatrist nor a statistician. But as the author of a book on mental illness, I’ve read deeply in the scientific and historical literature, including all the books attacking Big Pharma. Perhaps more relevantly, I have copious experience with taking antidepressants. Can I say with 100 percent certitude that they’ve worked? No. In fact, some of those drugs definitively did not work for me, and sometimes made my anxiety worse, or created inconvenient and, at times, intolerable side effects. But I’m pretty sure that without the tricyclic antidepressants of the 1980s I wouldn’t have made it through middle school without inpatient hospitalization. And Paxil gave me the closest I’ve ever had to full remission from anxiety and depression symptoms for about eight months in 1997 before it lost its effectiveness. Could this all have been placebo effect? Coincidence? Or even something as ineffable as the quality of my personal interactions with my psychopharmacologists, which some studies have shown can have a significant effect on a patient’s response? Perhaps. But I don’t think so. And, as Kramer amply demonstrates, reams of clinical anecdote, as well as a proper reading of the statistical research data, suggest otherwise.

[smc]

1) - https://themighty.com/2016/02/45-message...gn=GENERAL

2) - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LCsX64x0...e=youtu.be

3) - http://eponis.tumblr.com/post/1137980886...estions-to

4) - http://philome.la/jace_harr/you-feel-lik...guide/play

5) - https://themighty.com/2015/12/video-for-...condition/

[Kaaron]

Ignore me...I'm having a moment.

[Minyatur]

Usually the emotions say it all.

You got best seat to know what your sadness is about, might require a bit of seeking and contemplation of the roots of your feelings.

[Kaaron]

Some s*** that I took way too personally cos I'm going through some stuff that spilled over here.

Sorry about that.

[Manjushri]

the anti-depressant I take is very simple - it balances the levels of serotonin in the brain - it's akin to insulin balancing the blood sugar level of diabetes... I was completely nervous about taking it and frightened - but it was completely the right thing for me

If you believe that, fine it works for you.

It's not true, though.

[AnthroHeart]

I've got a psychological issue with anti-depressants, on principle. Taking them makes me feel worse.
I feel some sense of freedom when I don't.
The one I'm on (Wellbutrin) is supposed to give you energy, but I still sleep 12-16 hours a day.