How many of you have tried meditating, and find yourself trying to quiet your mind only to hear a little voice tell you that this is a waste of time? A recent article in the NY Times suggests that meditation actually causes positive changes in the structure of the brain, increasing grey matter in the area of the brain related to learning and memory, and reducing grey matter in the area related to stress and anxiety. Here is a link to that article:
Approximately 38 million Americans suffer with chronic anxiety or depression. One out of eight adults are currently taking antidepressant medications.
While these medications can offer support and benefit on certain occasions, there are indeed many people that do not respond well to this form of treatment. This can be due to a number of factors including:
Various side effects that outweigh the benefits of the medication
A developed tolerance to the medication that causes the benefits to diminish
Excessive sensitivity to the concentrated nature of these medications
A belief system that suggests that the depression is not due to a biochemical imbalance, or that this imbalance is the result of a deeper spiritual issue.
In our clinical practice, we have worked with a number of patients who were convinced that they had run out of options after finding medications and/or talk therapy to be ineffective for their needs. Many of these people try acupuncture as a last resort. Based on the experience we have had in working with numerous patients who suffer from chronic depression, we now firmly believe that Chinese medicine, nutritional supplementation, meditation, yoga and qi gong can offer tremendously helpful support in healing the root causes of this epidemic. This approach is much more comprehensive and much less invasive to the brain than using SSRI medications. It accounts for not only biochemical factors, but also energetic, nutritional, and spiritual influences as well.