BEAUTY KLINIC

Different types of depression can have different causes. If you can pinpoint the cause, it goes a long way in helping you figure out how to treat it.

Genetically Inherited

In early ‘06, Rockefeller University researchers–with the help of an international team of scientists–identified a “depression gene” called ⯋. Evidently this gene controls serotonin transmission in your brain. And in case you didn’t know, serotonin is the main ‘mood chemical’ in your brain; if you don’t have enough floating around your brain, you will be prone to depression.

But just because your ⯋ gene is faulty doesn’t necessarily mean you’ll be depressed; it simply means you’re more susceptible to depression. This is because depression is a complex disease intertwined with psychological causes as well as physical:

For example, someone who has a faulty ⯋ gene may do fine until the death of a loved one. An event like this may send them into a funk that lasts longer than what most people would consider normal…they are “depressed” and not just in mourning. These are the folks who stand to benefit the most from a SRI (Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitor) like “Prozac.”

However, anti-depression medication will not bring back a deceased loved one, which was the event (a.k.a. the “precipitating event”) that got the depression started. And this is why it’s important to treat depression with therapy such as cognitive therapy, in addition to taking medicine.

What’s another option to deal with this type of depression? Self help. Reading a step-by-step plan on overcoming depression. (More later…)

Anxiety From Stressful Event(s)

As in the above example, sometimes a single stressful event can cause someone to get depression (even though their serotonin levels may be normal). And a series of stressful things can cause you to be clinically depressed…

When I was just 16, I was so depressed that I tried to kill myself by driving my car as fast as it would go into trees lining a two-lane highway. (You will not believe I survived when you read my story.) But my suicide attempt was the culmination of a couple years of stress that included flunking school, getting in trouble with the law, girlfriend breaking up with me, and wrecking my car.

Miraculously surviving my suicide attempt was a turning point in my life if there ever was one. I started looking for natural cures for depression because, for one thing, there was no such thing as depression medication like “Zoloft,” and I just knew it was up to me to figure out how to outsmart depression. This was something that–at least in my case–could not be solved in a pill, no matter how “high-tech” the medical technology.

Normally You’re Taken Down By Many Stressors

Usually, it’s a series of events over time that gets people depressed. Take divorce, for example: Even though the word “divorce” describes a single event, it can lead to multiple highly stressful things happening to the divorcee all at once:

- Loss of companionship

- Financial security gives way to financial worry.

- Loss of a higher standard of living: The nice car is replaced by a crappy one, nice home replaced by a fleabag apartment.

- Daily contact with your kids is no more.

- Being forced to move. (Moving–by itself–is one of the most stressful events a person can endure–forced or not.)

…You get the idea.

Taught To ‘Enjoy′ Depression

It is strange, but some folks actually enjoy the sadness of depression… They are ‘at home’ with this feeling because they feel it’s the most appropriate way to react to the death of a loved one or some other stressful event.

When in reality, they are embracing depression for two reasons: It enables them to escape daily responsibilities and it gets them the personal attention they crave from caretakers and friends (who would otherwise basically ignore them).

Psychologists tell us one theory is that they are “taught” this behavior as toddlers:

If your parents rarely paid attention to you unless you cried, you learned that “the squeaky wheel gets the grease,” as the old saying goes; as long as you were in distress, people paid attention to you and comforted you.

Herbs have been used for centuries in the treatment of anxiety and panic attacks. Even today’s anxiety prescription medication often contains an herbal component. That’s because these anxiety herbs have well known abilities to strengthen our body’s response to stress and also to promote relaxation and calm.

Herbs for anxiety treatment offer an effective alternative to today’s drugs. They’re usually available without a prescription, they’re less expensive, and they’re nonaddictive. On the other hand, herbs for anxiety or any other affliction will work much slower than prescription drugs. Their effects are milder so you’ll need to exercise more patience when taking them. But this is an acceptable trade-off for the minimal side effects.

That doesn’t mean that herbal remedies come with no side effects at all. These anxiety herbs definitely do have side effects, they’re just more mild. Still, you should be cautious whenever you start to take any new supplement. Talk to your doctor or your pharmacist before you take anything new.

Valerian

Valerian has a strong reputation as a sleep aid. It can help you get to sleep faster and stay asleep for the whole night. It can also be used during the day as an aid in calming and controlling the effects of stress and anxiety.

Kava

Kava was first used in the South Pacific islands where it grows easily and abundantly. There it was cultivated into a relaxing beverage used in nearly every household. From there, it made its way to Europe and the West where it is used as an effective treatment for anxiety and insomnia.

St. John’s Wort

St. John’s Wort is a medicinal herb that dates back over 2000 years to the days of Hippocrates. He used it to first treat depression but in today’s world, it has been found to be an effective treatment against the effects of moderate levels of anxiety. It comes with certain side effects though as it may increase your sensitivity to sunlight and also interfere with the effectiveness of other drugs you may be taking.

Passion Flower

This herb, native to the new world, was found to be both a useful aid to digestion as well as a strong sedative. The early pilgrims to America used it as a natural tranquilizer and today it works just as well.

Wrapping Up

Most health food stores carry these herbs for anxiety so they′re easy to find. They′re sold in different forms too…teas, capsules, or liquid extracts, so you have many choices. It will probably take a little trial-and-error before you find the right form that works for you.

Capsules are convenient. Extracts are very flexible. And teas are the best tasting and most enjoyable. But in any case, these best herbs for anxiety can become a significant tool for you to use to help manage your anxiety.

People who suffer with social anxiety, sometimes known as social phobia, can find situations that most of us consider everyday to be overwhelming. Different people will have different levels of anxiety in similar situations.

All anxiety disorders are not equal, different people find different things cause them to have anxiety attacks. Men will find different situations cause their anxiety disorder to come to the fore than women do.

People with social anxiety fear that they will make mistakes that everyone will notice, they fear that they are always going to be judged by others, they have the fear of being embarrassed or humiliated by themselves in front of others, they think that everyone’s attention is on them, and they think that other people are more capable of doing something in the same situation.

In situations that cause fear, people who have social anxiety disorder will feel intense anxiety. The anxiety they feel may lead to trembling, pounding heart, blushing, nausea, and sweating. For many having this anxiety will turn into a panic attack.

These symptoms of anxiety can often lead to embarrassment for the person that has social anxiety. Some people that have social anxiety disorder are comfortable being only with close family and friends. Others people with social anxiety only fear certain social situations. Some people become anxious when they are dealing with people in higher positions such as their boss.

Speaking in public is a common fear of people with social anxiety disorder. Other fears can be eating in restaurants, using public restrooms, and using telephones. People that have social anxiety disorder worry for days and sometimes weeks before going to a social situation that they are fearing.

Many more women than men suffer with social anxiety disorder, possibly because they feel extra pressure to be perfect in social situations, but no one seems to really know. It is not uncommon for people to have social anxieties, there are certainly hundreds of thousands if not millions of people who suffer with it to various degrees in America alone.

If you have any form of anxiety it is very easy to have your life taken over by it. Our social interactions are what help us to find a partner, friends and the relationships formed outside of the home make up a big part of peoples happiness.

Your daily life may be causing you anxiety, or maybe a specific event causes you to feel anxious. Not everyone has the same type of anxiety disorder, Panic and anxiety are often considered the same thing unless you are the one suffering.

If you are suffering from shortness of breath, chest pains, dizziness and have a ongoing fear of death and levels of distress that are higher than your friends or associates then there is a good chance you are having a anxiety attack. The best known anxiety disorder is post traumatic stress disorder, it used to be solely associated with soldiers who have returned home from war, that is changing over time.

If you are washing your hands constantly even though you know they are clean, or doing some other repetitive behavior that you are unable to stop then you may well be suffering from a obsessive compulsive disorder.

If you have anxiety coupled with either a social phobia or a specific phobia it can feel like the world is coming to an end. Social phobias usually display as a fear of embarrassment, humiliation and anyone looking at you. Specific phobias are as they say a phobia of a specific item, person or action.

A vast number of people suffer with generalized anxiety disorder, constant worrying about their daily routine and events that are happening to them. These events will often seem of no consequence to others but they will cause huge anxiety to the sufferer. This anxiety can display as fatigue, tension and even constant headaches and nausea.

Anxiety disorders have traditionally been treated with a mixture of drugs and psychotherapy. People often have years of treatment and some people never recover enough to enjoy a full life.

Antidepressants and benzodiazepines are two of the most commonly prescribed drugs for anyone who suffers from anxiety. Your Dr will try one then the other, make sure you let him know about any other medications you may be on before you start any medication.

While there are some very effective ways of treating anxiety with psychotherapy, including behavioral therapy and cognitive behavioral therapy, there are also a wide variety of new medications coming onto the market. Talk to your Dr about therapy first as it may have less side effects than any medications.

In addition to the behavioral therapy techniques, cognitive behavioral therapy will teach patients how to understand and change their thinking so that they can act differently to the situations that cause anxiety to them.

Anxiety disorders are terrifying and they make life miserable for the person going through them. Not only does anxiety make daily life almost unbearable, it is also confusing and usually leaves the sufferer thinking no one else, not even the family doctor, could know what he or she is experiencing.

Most people will try to hide their case of anxiety disorder from everyone they know. This happens because people don’t realize they are experiencing a disorder that is relatively common. Therefore, they think nobody will understand their anxiety and may actually believe they are somehow weak because their nerves have gotten the better of them.

Self Help for Anxiety

It is important the anxiety sufferer understand anxiety disorder, with its awful spells of panic is not an unusual disease. Many people have experienced it and in every case, it is considered a condition that can be beaten.

To overcome anxiety disorder the first thing the sufferer must realize is, anxiety and panic are adrenaline driven. So, it is actually adrenaline that causes the strange and disconcerting feelings which accompanies anxiety. The sufferer must also realize when he or she tries to fight these disconcerting feelings, more adrenaline is pumped through the bloodstream. So, overcoming anxiety actually requires accepting these awful adrenaline-produced feelings because fighting simply creates more adrenaline flow and so, more awful experiences.

The counterpart to fighting anxiety is running away from it. This doesn’t work either. Trying to ignore your symptoms or pretend they are not there is akin to running away from them. Trying to fight anxiety or running away from it will make more adrenaline flow and therefore cause more and more of these disquieting feelings.

Trying to Fight it Off

Not running away or fighting the symptoms of anxiety means you are fulling realizing these symptoms are occurring. So, to realize they are happening, studying the feelings anxiety and panic brings on is helpful because this is the opposite of fighting or running away. When we don’t fight anxiety and we don’t run away from it, we will not be adding any adrenaline to our bloodstreams. Therefore, we will not be manufacturing more frightful feelings anxiety is known for bringing on.

I say this with one caveat; if you are experiencing alarming sensations such as chest pains, don’t play around with them. See a medical professional who can administer the proper treatment for such a thing. He or she can tell you if anxiety/panic attack is what is bringing on the symptoms you are experiencing, or if it is something else.

Without Fear, Anxiety Cannot Survive

In conclusion, when an panic suffer learns how to prevent making the panic more intense, he or she is in recovery. The recovery won’t come overnight. However, the anxiety and panic will quickly lessen in severity because without additional fear of anxiety’s symptoms, adrenaline flow will be dying down instead of flaring up.

The bottom line is, recovery will be in full swing at this point. So, the importance of not fighting or running away from panic and anxiety cannot be overstated. It is a necessary part of beating an anxiety disorder. Then, you must also let occasional attacks come back as they will and receive them as passively as you can. Realize you cannot control these symptoms and the anxiety disorder will die of natural causes.