Health Articles
What About Drugs for Anxiety and Depression?
by: Margaret Paul, Ph.D.
As a counselor, I am often asked, “Can drugs be helpful
for anxiety and depression?” The answer I give is
“Yes” and “No.”
Yes, drugs may be useful for short-term help. No, drugs
are not a good long-term solution.
Anxiety and depression are not caused by a lack of drugs.
Drugs do not heal the underlying causes of anxiety and
depression. However, when drugs are temporarily used to
give a person a window of relief to do the inner work
necessary to heal the underlying causes, they can be useful.
Anxiety and depression generally have two major underlying
causes - emotional and physical.
THE PHYSICAL CAUSES OF ANXIETY AND DEPRESSION
Our bodies go into imbalance when we do not eat well or
have enough healthy exercise. Our bodies are not made
to handle the unnatural substances found in processed
food. When we overload our bodies with chemicals, pesticides,
sugar, and devitalized foods, our bodies become depleted
of vital nutrients and go into stress. Anxiety and depression
can be the result of this physical depletion and resulting
stress.
Our bodies are designed to thrive on the food and water
that God gave us – pure, clean, organic, unaltered
food and water. If you take drugs for anxiety and depression
and do not clean up your diet and get proper exercise,
you are just using a Band Aid for a gaping wound.
THE EMOTIONAL CAUSES OF ANXIETY AND DEPRESSION
Emotionally, anxiety is caused by dysfunctional thoughts
– thoughts that are not true. For example, if you
tell yourself that you are not good enough or you have
to be perfect, you will likely feel anxious. Thoughts
of not being good enough and having to be perfect are
generally focused on our outer qualities of looks and
performance, rather than on the inner qualities of kindness,
compassion, and gratitude. When we choose to be kind,
loving and compassionate with ourselves and others, we
feel good about ourselves. When we choose gratitude for
what we do have rather than dwell on what we don’t
have, we create inner peace. Kindness and gratitude are
wonderful antidotes to anxiety!
Anxiety is always a sign that we are telling ourselves
a lie. The truth creates peace inside, while lies create
fear and anxiety. This is a sure-fire way of knowing what
is true and what is not true!
Emotionally, depression is caused by not taking good care
of ourselves. If we ignore our needs, don’t speak
up for ourselves, judge ourselves, and make others responsible
for our feelings, the result may be depression. If you
have a child whom you ignore and judge, that child will
likely be depressed. The same occurs on the inner level
when we ignore and judge our own inner child. Putting
yourself last and taking care of everyone else but yourself
may cause you to feel unworthy and depressed.
There is little point in taking drugs for anxiety and
depression without attending to your dysfunctional thinking
and to how you are treating yourself. However, if you
take drugs for a short time and give yourself the opportunity
to do your inner work, they may be helpful. Many of the
people I work with find that as soon as they start taking
good care of themselves, they don’t like the effect
of the drugs. They don’t like the fact that the drugs
take the edge off their feelings. They find that, rather
than wanting to be numbed out, they want to feel all of
their feelings deeply, both the highs and the lows. The
more they learn to take responsibility for their feelings
by attending to their thoughts and needs, the more they
want to feel all of their feelings. They discover that,
while drugs may take the edge off pain, they also take
the edge off joy.
Most of the people I work with can avoid drugs completely
by learning to take loving care of themselves, both physically
and emotionally. Many of the people who practice the Inner
Bonding process that we teach find Inner Bonding to be
far more powerful in healing anxiety and depression than
drugs.
If you are a person who does not want to learn to take
personal responsibility for your pain and joy, then drugs
may be a way out for you. But if you want to feel true
peace and joy, drugs are not the answer.
About The Author
Margaret Paul, Ph.D. is the best-selling author and co-author
of eight books, including "Do I Have To Give Up Me
To Be Loved By You?" She is the co-creator of the
powerful Inner Bonding healing process. Learn Inner Bonding
now! Visit her web site for a FREE Inner Bonding course:
http://www.innerbonding.com or mailto:margaret@innerbonding.com.
Phone sessions available.
margaret@innerbonding.com |
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