Depression is often described as a disease. It’s something, so they will tell you, that happens to the brain chemistry. Your doctor will tell you that you need to take a pill to ‘fix’ this imbalance in brain chemistry. Like much of what doctors tell you as fact actually has very little, if any, science behind it. The argument goes that the brain is depleted in a neurotransmitter called dopamine which gives you an uplifting feeling and so the antidepressant rectifies this. Actually, if you talk to the researchers they will admit that they don’t really know how antidepressants work and in most cases they are no better than a placebo – a sugar pill.
When you label depression as a disease, it removes responsibility from the individual. Many people like this – they can take a pill and don’t have to do anything different. But the reality is that that changing habits with meditation and mindfulness exercises is far more effective and people often say that it is life changing. Instead of seeing depression as overwhelming, see it as an opportunity to change.