“Who Says You Can’t Teach an Old Dog a New Trick or Two”

Yesterday was National Depression Screening Day. Yup they would screen you for free.

Sounds like a no brainer to me, because if you ended up going chances are you’re already depressed. I mean you don’t see many social drinkers going to an AA meeting.

I guess the real question is: what do they hope to learn from this and more importantly what will they do with this information?

From my perspective this is more band aid Western medicine. We already know depression is a huge problem; depending upon the study it ranges anywhere between 20% and 60%. What we need to address is the problem – WHY are people depressed and what can we do to combat the source.

My suggestion would be to start teaching children in school that if they are feeling down it’s not the end of the world and that we all have these sensations. Yes, in most cases it’s just a sensation – a passing sensation and that can be addressed by becoming active (go for a walk, exercise etc) or better yet helping someone else (to quit thinking about themselves and focusing on what they don’t have) and for the most part their lives will improve.

Maybe if we could just slow down, those closest to us wouldn’t feel the need to go to all this trouble just to get a little attention and love.

Yesterday I was listening to Dr. Norm Shealy. He stated that 40% of Americans are clinically depressed, 20% of Americans are one or two points away from being clinically depressed and that 80% of all American’s are unhappy.

YIKES!! No wonder marketers make a fortune selling superficial products that provide a moment of happiness. If we keep buying we can at least feel as if we are staying ahead of our unhappiness.

He goes on to explain multiple causes for our depression from difficult child births, religious belief that we are born in sin, anger, guilt to mastering our own demise.

He then goes on to explain multiple ways in which we are able to reduce our depression; working out, having a massage, listening to relaxing music, eating natural foods, sex (beer commercials have this one down.)

He also states that studies show that the majority of people who have died from cancer or heart disease suffered from depression.

Then he goes on to say that there is a cure for depression – a changing of the way we process our thoughts.

If you wish to dig a little deeper here is his website: http://www.normshealy.com

I’m not sure if this is still available – listen to Dr. Norm Shealy here: http://attendthisevent.com/?eventID=13578420

“It is not death that a man should fear, but he should fear never beginning to live.”
~Marcus Aurelius