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Depression and Gloom

Help with Depression and Gloom

The grueling battle against a growing dark tunnel…

Sinking into depression is very different from feeling unwell for a while. And you would probably like to make that clear - also to those nearby whom don’t always understand this (sometimes including your own family).

Depression can go very deep. My treatment is suitable for situations where you can still take care of yourself, but any mood changes no longer go away by themselves.

What Often Happens With Depression?

  • You have had unpleasant, traumatic experiences .
  • You foresee more difficult moments in the future.
  • You would rather turn off your feelings, because they overwhelm you.
  • You worry a lot about painful moments.
  • You trouble concentrating.
  • You feel gloomy andd down.
  • You feel tired and exhausted most of the time.
  • You find yourself sinking into a dark tunnel, fighting hard not to sink deeper into it.
  • You no longer have room to be attentive to others.
  • The mountain of unfinished work makes you restless.
  • You don’t really know what you like anymore.

What Causes Depression?

First of all, I would like to inform you that depressive symptoms are rarely caused by a “chemical imbalance”. The serotonin theory has been refuted many times, but it keeps coming back (see psychologytoday, nature, frontiers ).

Psychologist Jonathan Shedler PhD very aptly compares depression to fever; it is a symptom of many possible causes. So there is no one pill or one solution for depression. Just like with fever, we must first identify the cause.

This cause can be due to a physical illness, or to many psychological and social influences. You could say that this persistent difficult situation demands the utmost from the brain, after which it is no longer possible to maintain a stable mood.

Treatment

The power of an advanced VortexHealing® Energy Healing treatment makes it possible to break through the roots of patterns. First, the healing becomes generally focused on the gloom/depression, and this makes it more visible what’s going on. We then address specific causes that become visible (below I have described some typical patterns/causes).

We address all patterns through VortexHealing®, and sometimes simply by naming them. With the new space that is created, the underlying reasons for your depression can be broken through. We also evaluate in between how the situation changes, and when the focus needs to change.

You can easily combine this treatment with regular forms of treatment such as CBT, EMDR or schema therapy.

Results

Dismantling the inner situation, clears the way to do things differently, and less likely enter the tunnel of depression. This also translates to more joy in life, cheerfulness, self-expression, putting things into perspective and creativity.

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When to Treat/Not to Treat?

For proper treatment, it is important to know the depth and severity of the depression. For a serious depression I am not allowed to give VortexHealing® before a healthcare psychologist / psychotherapist is involved. For example: no longer being able to take care of yourself / being a danger to yourself / mental health care admission. The treatment must be done extra carefully in that vulnerable situation.

When depression is caused by a physical illness, that medical condition must be addressed first. Additional VortexHealing® sessions can be given to enhance that treatment.

Using medication is not a problem; it can help take the edge off things making treatment easier.

What Can Cause Depression?

There are many paths to depression, and sometimes several are at play. In treatment we discover what is going on with you. Examples include:

  • Deeper processing for childhood traumas, especially around violence and abuse.
  • Difficulty expressing your own needs.
  • A negative self-image / not being ‘good enough’.
  • A lot of anger and criticism directed towards yourself.
  • Self-criticism/self-disapproval (situations from childhood are now replayed internally).
  • Not being able to stop worrying (this relives negative feelings).
  • Having an inner wall against the ‘scary’ outside world.
  • Avoidance of emotional nourishment / social situations (makes the world small).
  • Avoidance of emotions (you can’t turn off one emotion; you’ll turn off all emotions, including fun, creativity, love and self-expression).
  • Big dreams full of success/fame/talent/recognition that never came true after many years.
  • Seeing yourself or others in extremes of all good or all bad, and experiencing that to the fullest.
  • Being highly suspicious; feeling surrounded by nothing but bad things.
  • Endless suffering, for example due to a chronic illness or problems that you don’t know how to deal with.

(based on Shedler (2021) en treated situations)

Mania, Bipolar, Dysthymia…?

There are many names for mood disorders, with varying depths.

When the mood sinks less deeply than a depression, it is called dysthymia. If the mood also flips to a mania (extreme cheerfulness, hyperactivity, feeling super good), it’s called bipolar. In the past, that used to be called manic-depression. When the mood disorder grows even deeper, it can develop into psychosis; a loss of reality full of delusions, hallucinations and fears.

Variations in mood. Yellow (euthymia) is regular fluctuation.

The “Dark Night of the Soul”

In spiritual circles, people sometimes talk about the “dark night of the soul”. Often you can think of this as a depression or even a bipolar episode, which occurs because repressed hurt comes to the surface. This can also happen on the path to spiritual awakening. The deeper clarity and insight brings repressed trauma to light. The healing can support you well in this and help you process it.

I do want to urge to you not to give such situation only a spiritual meaning. Treating the ‘ordinary’ depression/mania and the underlying trauma is crucial for healthy spiritual growth.


Sources

Regarding “chemical imbalance” and psychological causes:

Borgogna, N. C., & Aita, S. L. (2022). Is the serotonin hypothesis dead? If so, how will clinical psychology respond?. Frontiers in psychology, 13, 1027375.

Moncrieff, J., Cooper, R.E., Stockmann, T. et al (2023). The serotonin theory of depression: a systematic umbrella review of the evidence. Mol Psychiatry 28, 3243–3256.

Shedler, J. (2021). The personality syndromes. In R. Feinstein (Ed.), A Primer on Personality Disorders: Multi-Theoretical Viewpoints. Oxford: Oxford University Press.