A Simple Cure For Anxiety And Depression

Our innate desire is to be happy, and when we move away from it, we experience fear.

This fear is actually millions of years old, for it arises from the biological programming of our species.

While we may not have to contend with a sabre-toothed tiger on any given day, we still use those very reactions to deal with events looming ahead.

We think, "Will I be fired for making that mistake at work?" or "Will I be able to meet the mortgage after I fix the car?" or "Will my health continue to decline?" or "Will my relationship fall apart after that argument we just fell into?"

Running questions with this type of urgency and helplessness trains our brains to prepare now for future danger by loading our bodies up with the stress hormone cortisol.

Anxiety is our anticipation of a dangerous future. We imagine having even less of the little that we have today.

This anxiety does not help us in any way to meet the future any better. In fact, it weakens and exhausts us. We usually worry most about things that we can't even control. Worrying about your dental visit, for example, will not make the visit better.

Anxiety, in fact, is a silent killer. It is enervating, and it drains you of purpose and hope, faith and initiative. It fogs up your thinking. And it makes the body susceptible to illness.

When anxiety--a fear of an event in the future--is high enough then you feel a deep sense of helplessness. This, in turn, translates into depression. You even begin to view the past as disappointing.

Caught between a miserable past and a frightening future you create a pattern of emotions that can lead to a variety of mood disorders, including manic-depression.

How do we escape from this vicious cycle?

Here is what I did 20 years ago and I have never since suffered from any serious mood disorder.

I started to cultivate my awareness of my mood swings--from elation to black despair.

I did this by basically watching myself when I was manic, and watching myself when I was depressed, and watching what I did to turn on these states. For example to get depressed, I used my love of literature to focus on dark, morbid, and unhappy stories about life. And to get elated, I would talk a lot, move very quickly, and do things in a dramatic way.

An interesting thing happened when I made my unconscious behavior conscious. I could not take my mood shifts seriously.

This is what I learned from that experience: when you are able to observe yourself over the course of a few weeks, you develop a curious detachment.

A paradoxical situation developed for me: I found it difficult to stay anxious and depressed when I was observing myself feeling anxious and depressed.

Ultimately, anxiety and depression are culturally-induced patterns of thinking that can be overcome through a deliberate cultivation of awareness. When you become your own observer, you weed out the unconscious habits that afflict you.

Despite the billions of dollars spent to heal anxiety and depression, and all the mood disorders and behavioral anomalies that arise from them, the cure is simple, quick, and free.

Resource Box

Saleem Rana got his masters in psychotherapy from California Lutheran University, Thousand Oaks, Ca., 15 years ago and now resides in Denver, Colorado. His articles on the internet have inspired over ten thousand people from around the world. Discover how to create a remarkable life

Copyright 2005 Saleem Rana. Please feel free to pass this article on to your friends, or use it in your ezine or newsletter. It's a shareware article.

---

Ebooks, Scripts, Websites, and more...

Adsense websites

Vagus Nerve Stimulation and Depression

Vagus Nerve Stimulation for Chronic or Treatment-Resistant Depression About Vagus... Read More

Acidity Depresses Thyriod Function

THE RISKAccumulation of acids in your body, due to insufficient... Read More

Neuromodulation Is Now The Mainstream Therapy For Chronic Depression

The cover of the March 7, 2005 issue of Business... Read More

Beating Stress, Anxiety and Depression

Why are these illnesses on the rise? And why do... Read More

FDA Approves Vagus Nerve Stimulation as a Treatment for Depression

On July 15th, 2005, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration(FDA)... Read More

Disability is NOT a Life Sentence

On September 30th 1998 I was crossing the street in... Read More

Depression After A Heart Attack

There are several factors can lead to depression after heart... Read More

Psychiatrist Begin Training About Vagus Nerve Stimulation for Depression

The manufacturer of the vagus nerve stimulator has begun face-to... Read More

Learn To Take Control of Depression

While depression is a growing epidemic in western society, it... Read More

FDA Deems Vagus Nerve Therapy Approvable as a Treatment for Depression

On February 3, 2005 the U.S. Food and Drug Administration... Read More

Chronic Fatigue Syndrome And Depression Are Not The Same Thing!

Chronic Fatigue Syndrome is a... Read More

Manic Depressive Episodes And Scientology

Scientologists believe that chemical imbalances do not exist. In their... Read More

Depression is the Number One Cause of Disability in the United States

According to the World Health Organization, 4 of the 10... Read More

Use Alternative Medicine to Ease Depression

Depression is a problem that faces many of us, young... Read More

Depression Mantra

Depression is the most prevalent of all the emotional disorders.... Read More

Depression in Teenagers: Now What Can We Do?

No doubt you have seen the recent news headlines about... Read More

When Your Fears and Depression Have the Best of You

What do you do when your fears and depression are... Read More

More Than You Can Handle?

There's a dangerous illness afflicting women everywhere across the nation.... Read More

Are You Someones Puppet? Four Ways People Manipulate Others

With the current interest in mental health topics, a mental... Read More

New Treatment for Chronic Depression

Vagus Nerve Stimulation for Chronic Treatment-Resistant Depression About Vagus Nerve... Read More

How to Get Rid of Your Worries: 5 Golden Rules and a Warning

Suresh was a worried person when he came to me... Read More

Are the Benefits Worth the Costs?

Schizophrenia suffers around the world have benefitted greatly with the... Read More

A Look at the Different Depression and Anxiety Medications

While it may be easy to recite the various brand... Read More

Control Your Own Level of Motivation

When I first mention this to most people, they really... Read More

Cure Against Depression and Low Self Confidence

Depression strikes most of us and it can make us... Read More