STRESS AND DEPRESSION

STRESS AND DEPRESSION

'The reasonable man adapts himself to the world: the unreasonable one persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore all progress depends on the unreasonable man.'

George Bernard Shaw

A state of depression is said to exist when the brain, in confronting a stressful emotional problem, finds it difficult to cope with other attention-demanding actions at the same time. This phenomenon can become so all-absorbing as to incapacitate the person. In the long run, such a stressful drain on brain activity can produce different manifestations that are labeled according to the person's outward behavior pattern.

Ten million Americans are said to be suffering from one form or another of such conditions. Infinitely greater numbers are experiencing, or will at one time or another experience, the milder forms of depression. Some form of depression is a natural phenomenon in the process of development and progress of any individual. It is in these states of consuming mental activity that characters are developed and the inner mettle of the individual is forged. Naturally, coping with different aspects of one's negative feelings is part and parcel of the process. Almost always, the state of depression is a passing phenomenon if love, care, and empathy are available to nudge the individual in the direction of a resolution of negative inner thoughts.

Unfortunately, some people will not be able to cope with the fear, anxieties, and angers associated with depression. In seeking professional help, they are given some form of medication. At the onset of chemical treatment of depression, the medications were less harmful. Today, they are very powerful and sometimes dangerous. Some form of them will strip from those treated the ability to emotionally feel for themselves, as well as for others. Some of these medications can destroy empathy and fix a negative idea in particularly vulnerable persons. They may more easily become suicidal, as well as antisocial and homicidal.

What I am explaining in this chapter is the reason for the inefficiency of the physiology associated with stress and depression. What I propose is the way to increase the efficiency of brain power to cope with extremely severe emotional stress and its outward manifestations of depression. I, myself, have experienced, and have observed in many others, all of the positive aspects to what I am proposing to you readers.

Pathology that is seen to be associated with 'social stresses'fear, anxiety, insecurity, persistent emotional and matrimonial problemsand the establishment of depression are the results of water deficiency to the point that the water requirement of brain tissue is affected. The brain uses electrical energy that is generated by the water drive of the energy-generating pumps. With dehydration, the level of energy generation in the brain is decreased. Many functions of the brain that depend on this type of energy become inefficient. We recognize this inadequacy of function and call it depression. This 'depressive state' caused by dehydration can lead to chronic fatigue syndrome. This condition is a label put on a series of advanced physiological problems that are seen to be associated with stress.

If we understand the events that take place in stress, we will also understand chronic fatigue syndrome. In any case, after a period of time of correcting for dehydration and its metabolic complications, chronic fatigue syndrome will improve beyond recognition. The following pages define the physiological events and the possible metabolic overrides that can lead to depletion of certain body reserves that may be the basic problem in chronic fatigue syndrome.