Let's demolish
these five popular misconceptions about depression:
Myth #1 - You Can "Snap Out Of
It"
Don't you just hate it, when you admit to feeling down, people
tell you to "snap out of it?" Isn't it amazing, the
impatience that develops in those that are up and don't
want to be bothered with someone who is down?
To them, your pessimism, your anxiety, your timidity (and possibly
your full-blown depression) seem a perverse personality quirk
that you yourself could easily correct if you just tried to "rise
above it." In other words, they see your low mood level
as a personal failing of yours.
That's because despite overwhelming scientific evidence to the
contrary, people still believe that dysthymia and depression
are psychological disorders - are "all in your head".
They think that "mood is a state of mind" and
therefore must have a purely psychological cause - for which
a psychological remedy must be found. Even you yourself may have
held that mistaken view on occasion. In effect, they assume that
you're "programmed wrong" - and they suggest
you go and have yourself reprogrammed.
This makes it hard to open up to anybody about low mood levels
such as depression (although depression is a serious and possibly
life-threatening affliction). It makes it even harder to admit
to the lesser condition of being dysthymic (shy or timid, just
slightly depressed) because "come on, no one ever died
from it!" On top of it, haven't we ourselves bought
into the story that how we feel is our fault? That we would simply
"snap out of it" if we weren't such wimps?
Let's get really clear about this: You cannot snap out of it.
To "snap out of" dysthymia or depression is a physical
impossibility. It makes about as much sense as asking someone
to "snap out of" diabetes or an underactive thyroid
gland.
Myth #2 - It's "All In Your Head"
Mood levels have biochemical, that is physical, origins. That's
proven by the fact that low moods can be successfully overcome
with purely physical interventions - such as medication or nutrition.
This becomes painfully obvious once it's pointed out. Look, if
your low mood were "all in your head," how could
a mood-elevating diet or an antidepressant drug - both physical,
biochemical things - make you feel better? On the other hand,
how could a diet of eating nothing but certain low-amino-acid
foods - again, something purely physical - make you feel worse
to the point of depression?
Now we are not interested in mood elevation through prescription
drugs with their side effects and dangers - see The
Dark Side of Prozac and Prozac
Horror Stories. We are only interested in mood elevation
through "No-Zac" --- natural dietary methods involving
foods and food supplements. But both methods, drugs and food,
are physical methods that work on your body's biochemistry. They
are not psychological interventions that work on the mind. So
does the mind have a role to play in all this?
Yes, it does, but not the leading role. Because the interaction
between your mood and your mind is a two-way street, your mood
influences strongly how you think and feel about life, and your
thoughts and feelings in turn have an influence on your mood.
For this reason you do need to exert some control over your thoughts.
Learn to dismiss fruitless worrying - as a substitute for action
- from your mind. As an old Canadian millionaire once told one
of us, "How're ya doin'? Workin' or worryin'? Because ya
can't do both at the same time."
Obsessive and destructive thoughts could spiral you down to where
self-directed planning and action become impossible. Keeping
your "inner dialog" optimistic and dynamic will become
far easier once you have laid that biochemical foundation. Your
mind will be more positive and balanced once your brain chemistry
is right.
Myth #3 - Your Problems Are Making You
Depressed
Whether dysthymic or not, everyone is dealing with problems of
one sort or the other. In this you are not alone. Yet well-meaning
friends are often quick to claim that your low mood may simply
be caused by your problems: "You're depressed because you
lost your job" or "You're depressed because your kid
turned out bad." Et cetera.
Don't get sucked in. When you stumble, it isn't gravity that's
causing you to stumble (although we grant you that it will make
your fall worse). And it isn't the problem that's causing your
low mood. But your low mood may make the problem worse by tying
your hands as you attempt to work on it.
So when you try to confront a challenge while your brain chemistry
is off, you are already at a disadvantage because you'll perceive
everything as harder and more complicated than it actually is.
Once you achieve the proper chemical balance in your brain, your
whole outlook will change. You will no longer feel stuck, you
will be better able to deal with your problems, and you will
probably have the strength to work with and resolve seemingly
impossible situations. If you do it by natural means you will
also gain greater physical and psychological energy and endurance.
So whether you are now challenged by problems or not, getting
your brain chemistry in balance must be the first step. And keeping
it balanced - through careful management of your food intake
and lifestyle - will let you handle whatever challenges life
throws at you.
Myth #4 - You Have To Accept Your Inherited
Low Mood
There are some people whose brain chemistry is predisposed by
heredity to low mood levels while others, when exposed to the
same physical or psychological triggers, will manage to maintain
their positive outlook and "up" mood.
A predisposition to dysthymia may be a heritage of our distant
past because it may once have had survival value. Anthropologists
think that in bygone ages the survival of the tribe, or gene
pool, might have been enhanced by the presence of many members
with low mood levels - dogged, quiet individuals with cautious,
methodical and plodding temperaments. Of course these virtues
are no longer rewarded in the fast-paced business world of today
which favors a bold, confident operating style.
On the other hand, mood disorders may be part of your immediate
family's genetic heritage. If you have a "first degree relative"
(parent, child or sibling) who is dysthymic or depressed, there
is a 20 to 25 percent chance that you too will be dysthymic or
depressed. If your ancestry is one-quarter or more Celtic, Irish,
Scandinavian, Native American, Welsh, or Scottish, chances are
you've lived with lower-than-normal mood levels from birth. And
the latest research (Dr. Mirko Disic, McGill University, May
1997) found that women (on average) have significantly lower
levels of the neurotransmitter serotonin
than men, on average about a third less. This may help explain
why more women are diagnosed with depression than men.
You can't control your genetic inheritance. That doesn't mean
you are stuck with low mood disorder. It merely means that you
have to adjust and customize your nutrient intake to deal with
your body's non-standard requirements. So remember - you didn't
inherit a low mood. You inherited greater-than-average nutrient
needs.
Myth #5 - You Can Psych Yourself Into
Boldness
What if you're part of the 80 or 90 percent of people that are
born with a naturally low-key mood level? How can you acquire
the sparkle of boldness that seems to pay off in sales, in business,
in life? Can the seminars, books and tapes of the billion-dollar
inspirational/motivational industry teach you how to be bold?
Can you train and study yourself into a more dynamic operating
style?
Somehow it's not an unreasonable expectation: If timidity were
really "all in your head" a seminar could help you
get rid of it through mental training and exercise.
If dysthymia - your low mood - were just a matter of attitude,
you should be able "snap out of it" with tapes that
teach you how to change your attitude.
If boldness could be learned, all you should have to do is study
bold people and imitate their actions. This is the "bold
man see, bold man do" learning method which the motivational
writers and presenters call "modelling."
With such hopes and expectations in mind you may have spent hundreds
and even thousands of dollars on seminars, books, tapes and videos.
And when they don't produce results you may believe it's all
your fault. You'll blame yourself for not studying hard enough,
for not listening to the tapes often enough.
Please stop beating yourself up right now. There is a lot of
evidence that study and preparation - by themselves - are not
enough. This evidence is of course not widely publicized. You
can't expect a motivational publisher to advertise that their
books and tapes "will teach you useful facts, amuse you
with uplifting slogans and anecdotes that you can incorporate
into your presentations, but they won't give you an aggressive
spark nor cure your call reluctance."
There are motivational speakers who may really inspire you.
They'll make you feel moved and motivated. You'll walk out of
the seminar two feet off the ground. So don't get us wrong, we
are not making light of it - even a temporary improvement in
your inner climate is something to be grateful for. Look, if
it lifts you up for a day or two, at least it proves to you that
there is such a state as "up."
But the change is all in what you know, not in who you are. Study
and training produce no lasting physical change in the biochemical
underpinnings of your mood, in the power of your inner engine,
in the foundation of your soul, in your being.
Do we have evidence for the fact that study and training won't
do it? Let's go back to the one study we mentioned before - it's
the most painful example: Remember the two groups of salespeople
studied by Dudley and Goodson,
where the two groups were perfectly matched in all aspects of
capability - intelligence, education, health?
And where the bold group made five times as much money as
the timid group? We saw how call reluctance separated the winners
from the losers --- the bold group averaged $200,000 in annual
commission income, the timid group $40,000.
Back there we didn't tell you the
whole story. Here's the heartbreaker, in the words of the authors:
"Without exception, the members of the timid group had spent
far more time and money in preparing themselves." Let it
sink in: The timid ones spent more and studied harder - and yet
they made less money. So does study and training work? Obviously
not.
We found further proof in a most unlikely place: The authors
of the study we just cited, George W. Dudley and Shannon L. Goodson,
recently published a 424-page volume titled Earning
What You're Worth? subtitled The Psychology of Call Reluctance.
In it they define twelve different types of call reluctance and
prescribe remedies like "Thought Realignment,""Threat
Desensitization," "Negative Image Projection,"
"Fear Inversion" and "Thought Zapping." And
after all these head games there's this curious
footnote (Page 40 in the book), stating in so many words
that the actual answer is "better body management."
Enough already. If you've read this far you know that the reason
the big bucks have escaped you is not ignorance. Not lack of
training. Not insufficient study or preparation. You know that
you know enough. You know you are trained and prepared. Matter
of fact, you're probably overtrained, like most of us are.
So what's holding you back? Remember that what's betraying you
at bottom always is a feeling, a mood. The famous sales
trainer Zig Ziglar says: "You gotta wanna!" When something
stops you, it's a lack of wanna.
Please take these insights with you from this web page:
Mood is NOT a state of mind.
How you feel is NOT your fault.
Your problems do NOT cause your low mood.
You can NOT "snap out of" a low mood.
You're NOT stuck with the low mood you think you've inherited - it's just an inherited requirement for greater-than-average nutrient levels.
You can NOT "psych" (=learn/train/study) yourself out of dysthymia and depression into boldness.
How then do you elevate your mood? How do you become bold? Click on.
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The Dark Side of Prozac | Five Popular Myths about Depression The Painful Link between Mood and Money | Scientific Backup Data Executive Summary | Table of Contents | Prozac Horror Stories Contact InnerNet Research |
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