0Note that anti-convulsant drugs can increase functional depression, and that if
antidepressants are used, instead of proactive healthy interventions such as new
activities and exercise, post awakening depression will be radically deepened and
extended. For establishing new growth in the substantiation phase we need an
appropriately enriched environment. That means people who care, and activities
one enjoys. Remember—spiritual acceleration necessitates conscious incarnation,
for if the awakening process does not become increasingly conscious negative
outcomes will occur.
Depression often sets in through an internal/external conflict that remains
unresolved for an extended period of time. No matter what the original cause of
the conflict, it eventually affects our decisions and every part of our life. Endurance
in the face of a stressor eventually leads to depression because no positive action has
been taken to change our attitude or circumstances. Consequently our chemistry
then mirrors the adverse conditions through the raising norepinephrine and
dopamine and lowering of serotonin. When low serotonin is maintained overtime,
we have the biochemical basis for chronic depression.
Depression and chronic anxiety are conditions appear more often in women
than in men. Research with PET scans show that women have a greater number of
the most common serotonin receptors than men. They also show that women have
lower levels of serotonin transporter (SERT), the monoamine transporter protein
that transports serotonin back into the nerve cells that secrete it. It is this protein
that common antidepressants (SSRIs) block. Also it was found that in women with
serious premenstrual mental symptoms their serotonin doesn’t respond as flexibly
to the hormone swings of the menstrual cycle as that of symptom-free women.
It doesn’t matter what age you live in, there is always going to be some
contemporary lion at your door. These days it just wears a different face than
it did 20 or 2000 years ago. The trick is to allow the lion to wake us up, rather
than make us numb or asleep. As soon as we define one lion and deal with that,
there will be another lion around. The thing to stay focused on to help us remain
open and not dissociated is our contribution. To keep on defining and refining
what it is we are here for, might be the major panacea of all ages. Apparently
it is greater connection and Presence that wins the fight against depression, as
stated here by John Horgan: “The researches reported in the April 1998 American
Journal of Psychiatry that “intrinsic religiosity” was the best predictor of recovery from
depression in both the treated and untreated groups. There is no evidence of
significant benefits from psychotherapy, drugs, or a combination of therapy.” 121 The
Undiscovered Mind.
Drugs like Ecstasy might be good once or twice in our youth to give us a sense
of expanded perception beyond this facade we living in. Our culture can be so
miserable, people use drugs to “get out of it” not “into it.” Therefore the chances
of the drugs contributing to enlightenment are very slim unless the individual
already has a disciplined sense of their shamanic soul. Those people that try the
drug option would be better off to first use raw food and fasting as a means to alter
their condition, for fasting is a sure fire way to tune “in” and not “out.” Fasting