Health News: Top Stories

Addressing the root cause of depression in women
by Nancy Liebler, PhD

TM.org/blog - Transcendental Meditation Program, USA Translate This Article
24 May 2010

Nancy Liebler is a psychotherapist, teacher, and writer. Her expertise in clinical psychology extends to Family Therapy and the treatment of psychosomatic disorders. Former Director of Training at Oakland University, she co-authored a book on natural medicine titled Enlightened Medicine; she is author of a second book—Healing Depression the Mind-Body Way—about natural interventions for the prevention and treatment of depression.

In a new blog entry on the official Transcendental Meditation website in the US, she writes that women suffer from depression twice as often as men; and explains how the deep rest gained during Transcendental Meditation practice dissolves the stress that is at the roots of the disorder, which is not usually removed through medication and 'talk therapy'. Dr Leibler writes:

'Women suffer from depression twice as often as men. This statistic has been shown to be true, not only for American women, but for women in eleven other countries as well. This high statistic for depression among women exists regardless of racial and ethnic background or economic status.

'Can depression in women be prevented and treated? Of course it can, but we need to shift our thinking away from medications and talk therapy toward more workable solutions. We need to make this shift because approximately half of all people treated for depression with only the conventional treatment methods (medications and talk therapy) show virtually no improvement.

'In addition, of all Americans who experience a major depressive episode during their lifetime and use only medications and talk therapy to deal with them, 50 percent will have a recurrent episode. Seventy percent of those who experience a second episode are likely to have a third.

'It seems that pills and talk do not address the root cause of depression.

'In order to prevent and treat depression we need to utilize a technique that tugs and pulls at the intertwined roots of the disorder. These roots are created by stress, which can be triggered through genetic predisposition, individual situations and the difficulties incurred in everyday living. Stress is basically ''gunk'' in the nervous system, which blocks the flow of life energy. It is like weeds in the garden. Just as we remove weeds to allow flowers the freedom to flourish, we must weed out the stress which blocks the free flow of our energy, intelligence and creativity.'

Global Good News will feature the second part of this article—in which Dr Liebler discusses removing stress through the deep rest gained during the Transcendental Meditation Technique—in the coming days.

© Copyright 2010 Maharishi Vedic Education Development Corporation

Global Good News comment:

For the good news about Maharishi's seven-point programme to create a healthy, happy, prosperous society, and a peaceful world, please visit: Global Financial Capital of New York.

Translation software is not perfect; however if you would like to try it, you can translate this page using:

(Google)
(Altavista babelfish)