Meditation Kicks Depression�s Ass For Good
By Dreamcatcher
Depression is more than just a bummer. It�s a stone cold killer.
According to the World Health Organization (WHO) depression is now the leading cause
of disability in the world, affecting more than 350 million people worldwide. In fact,
1 in 20 people reported having an episode of depression the previous year in a recent
global WHO survey.
Even worse, depression is also the leading cause of suicide, which has now passed up
car accidents as the number one cause of accident related deaths in the United States, according
to the American Journal of Public Health.
Depression has also become a multi-billion dollar business for pharmaceutical companies
that produce antidepressant Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitors (SSRIs) like Zoloft and
Prozac, medications that supposedly correct a �chemical imbalance� of neurotransmitters
like serotonin in the brains of depressed people. We have all seen the ads.
But a 2008 study at Florida State University found that there was no real scientific evidence
to support the chemical imbalance story, no matter how widespread.
Instead, researchers found that the theory has been �misrepresented� to the public
by corporations and the media and furthermore that much of the perceived efficacy of SSRI
antidepressant medications is due to the placebo effect.
In spite of this and other similar findings, antidepressants continue to be the most prescribed
drugs in the country.
More than 30 million Americans take them even though their therapeutic value is dubious
and they are linked to a growing number of serious side effects � including, most recently,
birth defects in children of pregnant women who use them.
When it comes to the real cause of depression, many scientific studies have shown depressed
people actually have more asymmetry in their brain function than normal, especially between
the right and left frontal lobes; areas responsible for thought and emotional processing.
This asymmetry is even considered a marker, or a predictor, of depression in people and
is associated with depressive thought patterns like hopelessness.
And what causes this asymmetry? The answer is stress. Depression, like Post Traumatic
Stress Disorder (PTSD), is actually caused by brain damage from stress.
This explains why numerous aspects of modern life, including student loan debt, are linked
to depression � the higher the debt, the higher the levels of stress and depression.
This opens up a can of worms about how society is structured, but it also begs the question:
If stress causes depression, can calmness reverse it?
Meditation, the age-old technique of focusing on the present in order to dwell in a state
of tranquility � the ultimate stress buster.
Amazingly, a slew of recent studies have found that meditation does actually �shape�
the brain; it corrects damage from stress, enhances connectivity between the two lobes
and even promotes cell growth in key regions that are underdeveloped in depressed people,
like the hippocampus.
This means that meditators are changing the actual structure of their brains (see video
above), thereby rewiring their emotional reactions and thought patterns to a calmer baseline
on a physical level. This makes them more resilient to depression permanently.
Studies have shown conclusively that meditation is more effective than antidepressants in
preventing a relapse of depression, and a first-of-its-kind study last year found the
practice to be just as effective as one-on-one cognitive behavioral therapy.
But studies aside, the question remains: can meditation completely cure an illness that
is currently plaguing the entire world?
To find out, Reset�s Ocean Malandra contacted Spike Gillespie, author of the newly published
book: Sit. Stay. Heal. How Meditation Changed My Mind, Grew My Heart and Saved My Ass.
After suffering from depression off and on for much of her adult life, Spike decided
in December 2012 (in the midst of a particularly heavy relapse) to devote herself to meditating
every day for a year � an endeavor she also recorded online by posting daily on her blog
Meditation Kicks Ass.
Three years of daily practice later, Spike remains depression free.
A resident of Austin, Texas, she now teaches a simple non-sectarian meditation technique
based on observing the breath, bringing the mind back to the present and the breath when
it wanders.
Spike says that anyone with a desire to try can get started practicing meditation to reap
its benefits. Her story is an inspiration and a testament to the healing powers of our
own mind.
Reset: Let�s start at the beginning. I know you say you had bouts of depression since
your teenage years, but about what age was that? And when did you start practicing meditation?
Spike: I can only take an educated guess.
Based on the fact I started binge-drinking at fourteen, and also that adolescent body
chemistry changes began the year before, I�m thinking my depression started very early
in my teen years.
I want to clarify that I cannot remember any protracted bouts of being leveled by depression
in my early teens, but also remember this was in the �70s, before we had the sort
of common usage terms for depression, self-medication, and treatment.
Plus I come from a very blue-collar background where you aren�t �allowed� to be depressed
� you get your ass up and you go do what is expected of you.
My earliest recollection of meditation is these super mini-meditations � like a minute
long � we did in Taekwondo, which I studied for a couple of years in my mid-thirties.
That wet my appetite. I was on a road trip in the early aughts when I heard about a Vesak
Day celebration at a monastery outside of St. Louis.
I knew nothing of Vesak Day but was interested in learning about Buddhism. I went and heard
Thubten Ch�dr�n speak and meditated with a very welcoming community and that was the
start of it.
Reset: Did you feel benefit from your early practices? If so, how?
Spike: Memory is a funny thing. Again, I don�t have any keen memories of magical enlightenment.
And my practice now compared to the early days is a lot different and, I think, yields
more noticeable results.
But yes, I did benefit from early practices because for one thing, I think anyone who
sits will experience some benefit and also because the early sitting led to the sitting
I do now.
So it was foundation work, even if I had a hard time being consistent or sitting for
more than five minutes.
Those early sessions were, I think now, very much about learning what it means to set intent,
and over time my intent to dedicate myself to a serious practice took root.
Reset: Did you ever try anti-depressants? If so, what was the experience?
Spike: Yes. Very, very briefly I tried four or five different anti-depressants/ anti-anxiety
medications. The results were always, always disastrous. Prozac made me very speedy and
unable to concentrate and I lost a lot of weight.
I was also still a drinker then, which is a bad combination. Effexor I tried just once,
and immediately felt dizzy and a momentary fuzzy blindness and I wanted to puke.
Wellbutrin made me nuts. Zoloft gave me a horrific headache. It�s important to factor
in that while I believe my reactions were mostly physical, there was likely some psychosomatic
stuff at play.
Reset: In researching this article I found that a lot of Buddhists and meditation practitioners
are reluctant to say that meditation cures depression, although in my opinion that�s
exactly what the whole �End of Suffering Bit� in Buddhism is all about. What�s
your view?
Spike: I want to be careful here to speak only to my experience. And yes, in my experience,
I say with absolute certainty meditation cured my depression. Since I began a serious practice
at the end of 2012 I have not had a bout of depression.
That is astonishing. Well actually these days it�s not astonishing, it just is. But with
each year that passed � and I am well into my third year now � I was amazed. It�s
like those signs you see at train yards: �X Number of Days Since Our Last Accident.�
I�m going on a whole lot of days since I last fell into bed and could barely function
for weeks at a time.
I still have down days and last February my PTSD got triggered and I had a few very, very
hard days. But my practice saw me through that. I did not fall into the hole.
I cannot know the future, maybe one day depression will return. But it seems very unlikely to
me, barring some incredible external tragedy, that I will ever again suffer like I used
to.
Because now, even days when I suffer, I have a crystal clear awareness of impermanence
and I know my suffering will soon ease. It always does.
Reset: Science shows that meditators do effectively re-shape their brains, leading to lasting
change. But in terms of the subjective experience, can you tell me what the biggest noticeable
differences were in terms of your thought process and emotional reactions after your
now almost three years of daily practice?
Spike: I like to joke with my friends and meditation students that the biggest change
is that I have a tremendous awareness now of how messy I am, that the meditation hasn�t
�cured� anything, simply made me extremely awake to my tics and traits and neuroses and
bad habits and how many bazillion miles away I am from even spotting the trailhead with
the sign that says, �Enlightenment This Way.�
The reality though, is that my awareness, and my awareness of my awareness, is a fantastic
tool.
So let�s say I am on Facebook � I have an extremely active wall and I am a very opinionated
person and people love to show up and argue with me sometimes. I am the absolute queen
of taking the bait.
I am a troll�s online dream date. I�m not just fascinated by the way certain people
feel a need to get in my face, but I�m fascinated by my sometimes non-equanimity in response.
I don�t always post a smartass reply � but often I do. Still, I have an awareness in
my heart and mind that I am feeling angry or irritated by an offhand remark of a stranger.
This in turn leads me to step back internally and say, �Hey, what�s all that about?
Why are you focusing so much energy on this stupid remark when that person already forgot
making it?�
When I use my awareness to examine my reactions, I can see:
�Hey, this is flashing you back to being bossed around as a kid by older sisters and
an angry dad. You are reacting to the past. This defensiveness is life long and it causes
you suffering. Pay attention. Work on that.�
In this way, I have become less impulsive, less fly-off-the-handle. This not only allows
me to be less of an asshole in the eyes of others (not that I�m super worried about
what they think, but what I mean is I don�t want to cause others to suffer), it also brings
me a growing calm that informs my life now. My definition of happiness is calmness.
Reset: I really like that definition; it�s the opposite of stress and depression. So
do you think meditation should be taught in school?
Spike: I like to say when I am king (because I will be a woman king) everyone is learning
martial arts and meditation. EVERYONE. It needn�t be rooted in religious practice.
Mindful breathing for everyone. This past summer I led a couple of meditation camps
for kids.
I was beside myself with joy at how many of them showed up and already knew what meditation
was. I think if we included meditation in the curriculum it would help across the board
� it would help with communication, concentration, compassion, all of it.
Reset: Beautiful. Ok, last question: What advice and resources would you share with
someone that is suffering from depression and wants to try meditation but is not sure
where to start?
Spike: I would say to a depressed person, �Look, I totally get it. Depression is such
a beast. You feel like you can�t even function so how are you going to meditate?
I suggest you just sit up � in a chair, in your bed if you can�t get out of bed,
or on a pillow on the floor if you want. Close your eyes.
Breathe in and breathe out and as you do just note to yourself silently I am breathing in,
I am breathing out. At first you might only be able to manage a few breaths or a minute.
That�s okay. You are not doing it wrong. You are trying, so you are doing it right.�
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