When I was a teenager, I went through a suicidal phase of depression where I was silently crying inside throughout the day, and hit the deep dark lows when night fell. I tried to take my life for an entire year with overdosing on tablets and even ate rat poison but I miraculously lived through it all. One final fateful day, I was determined that I had to die because the depression waves were striking me so hard. I took loads of tablets along with a bottle of red wine because I had read that red wine with medicines would invade the heart and take a life quickly. After taking it, I was very drowsy, and in that moment, I realized that if I slept, I would never wake up. For the first time, when faced with the cold jaws of death, I was scared and did not want to die. I told my mother to take me to the hospital, which was very far away in the town in Darjeeling, but our school had a small infirmary. The brave nurse like a warrior tried to save my life that night, and as I was fading away, I saw a place looked very gray and eerie. If people take their lives, they leave the earth with the same sorrow to the next life, there is no escape. As I was dying, I had a heightened awareness of something beyond the earth. I could almost read the nurse’s mind. It was a strange contrast, here, I was dying, but on the other hand, I was aware of another realm, and I was frightened of the place I was seeing.
I realized then that nothing on earth was worth taking one’s own life, because that torment will follow us if we take our lives in suicide. No problem on earth is worth suicide.
I felt a deep sadness for a wasted life and I started praying to God for the first time in my life, almost bargaining with Him to give me back my life. Shortly after this, I started to get better, the danger passed and the nurse made me tea. She was clearly relieved. I was exhausted and fell asleep that night in the school infirmary. The next day was the most peaceful day I experienced the whole year since that depression. The depression was gone, lifted up and flew away and never came back again in that attacking intensity. That suicide attack never came back in my life again. Suicide is designed by the devil to take people away from Earth before their time without fulfilling their purpose on Earth.
Depression returned to me years later, but not in the form of suicide. During this time, I learned how to fight it and I will share what I learned with you.
Before that, I would like to share that depression can be triggered by circumstances under a long duration of stress and troubles. However, there are times in our lives when we have everything in the world with no worries and people still get depressed and even take their lives or attempt suicide. In this case, it could be related to medical illnesses which affect the hormones which in turn suppress the neurotransmitters so the levels of neurotransmitters in the brain are very low and this leads to depression and suicide. In this case, it has nothing to do with another person or a circumstance; it will need immediate medical attention and correction.
Please never call anyone depressed or suicidal weak or mental. Just as one needs medicine for any illness such as blood pressure meds for high blood pressure, the same goes for depression when serotonin levels are low in the brain, then one meds to raise up those levels. And depression is not schizophrenia, which is a completely different branch of a mental illness pertaining to psychotic delusions. It is important to know the differences because our ignorance will take the lives of others at our cost.
Here are some of the things that combat depression:
Be Positive: Stage 1 depression can be cured with positive thinking and good happy atmospheres and right connections and change of situations etc. Simply positive thoughts and a right atmosphere can help you wash away depression. Good positive thoughts and warm sunlit atmospheres help. If you feel lifted up by positive quotes, verses, songs, messages and people, you are on the first limb of depression and will easily conquer it by receiving powerful positive thoughts. Soak yourself in atmospheres of positivity. This is what happens, as you do so, the brain starts to release the feel good neurotransmitters such as serotonin, endorphins, dopamine and oxytocin and remove elevated levels of cortisol which lead to stress . Some of the things that help are good sleep, meditation, prayer, your favorite music, warm golden early morning sunlight, which releases vitamin D into your body which fights depression, laughter, jokes, books that lift you up with humor and flood you with joy with energy to dare to do greater things, and food supplements to elevate your mood. If staring at the stars gives you joy, do it. If going for walks lifts you up higher, go for it, and if singing lifts up your spirits, keep singing. If you love joy rides, drive out. If writing releases a positive flow in you, keep writing. All these things work to releasing the great mood elevators serotonin, endorphins, oxytocin and dopamine, reduce stress by keeping cortisol the fight, flight steroid hormone in balance. Pray much…prayer connects you to God who created you…He brings in healing as you connect with Him.
Food and supplements: Stage 2 depression can be cured with a right diet. This is the stage 2 of depression, where you would need a brain food diet to obliterate depression as stage 1 was not enough. Food greatly helps to elevate the feel good mood elevators and neurotransmitters in the brain.
Serotonin in the brain is thought to regulate anxiety, happiness, and mood. Low levels of the chemical have been associated with depression, and increased serotonin levels brought on by medication are thought to decrease arousal.
Dopamine is a hormone associated with happiness and serotonin regulates our mood. All animal products release dopamine and also coffee, almonds, apples. avocados. bananas. beets. chocolate.
Oxytocin is often called the “love hormone,” a hormone that reduces pain perception and increases the emotional connection we have with the other in bonding with loved ones. This hormone can also help promote trust, empathy, and bonding in relationships. Raising oxytocin levels build up physical affection and intimacy. You can raise up the “love bonding” hormone oxytocin by eating more magnesium as it boosts oxytocin’s action. Eat bananas, spinach, pumpkin seeds, lima beans, tuna, and brown rice, vitamin C to stimulate oxytocin secretion. Eat Lactobacillus reuteri: This probiotic stimulates brain oxytocin. It is found in cultured foods, such as cheeses, yogurt, kefir, etc.
Endorphins interact with the receptors in your brain that reduce your perception of pain. Endorphins also trigger a positive feeling in the body, similar to that of morphine, to increase pleasure and happy emotions. Chocolate raises endorphins. Endorphins are your body’s natural pain reliever, which your body produces in response to stress or discomfort and raises pleasure.
Omega-3 fatty acids: These essential fatty acids are needed to build the brain’s neural connections as well as the receptor sites for neurotransmitters such as serotonin. Eat more oily fish such as salmon, tuna, mackerel and sardines. Flax-seeds, Seven Seas capsules which has cod liver oil, and walnuts are also good sources. Flax-seeds can be ground in the mixy and mixed into food and eaten.
Take vitamin B complex or Becosule Z. Vitamin B5 supports the adrenal glands, which reduces stress and anxiety levels. Vitamin B9 (also known as folate or folic acid) and vitamin B12 are important in balancing out depressive moods. Take Chyawanprash
Tryptophan, an amino acid is also needed to produce melatonin, which is vital for getting enough sleep. Eat more – If you eat meat, eat chicken, turkey, mutton, brown rice, fish, milk, eggs, cheese, nuts, potato, bananas, peas, pumpkin, corn and spinach.
Trace minerals like selenium, zinc, vitamin D, calcium, magnesium, etc. along with antioxidant-rich foods too play an important role in the development of brain and helps keep depression at bay.
Many times, doctors will start mild anti-depressant medications in the second phase of depression to prevent a person from reaching stage 3 and that is perfectly acceptable, wise and a really good decision.
Medicines: Stage 3 depression can be cured with anti-depressant medications. If you have tried positive thoughts, and all the food supplements, but the depression keeps returning like a surging hungry wave and you find it difficult to concentrate on reading a book, watching a movie or doing any activity, then you are in the most dangerous stage of depression, stage 3. This is the stage where a person cannot logically assess their situation, or use mind control any more. They are too disturbed to think, they are barely aware of themselves, how they look, or what they eat, and nothing makes them happy. Their senses are dulled, and they cannot feel the joys of what they normally love to do. Music is noise to them, they cannot write, read, or do any activities of creativity, have no concentration to sit through a movie, or do any fun activities, are very restless or very sleepy, and are so depressed they lose their appetite and they lose their strength to hold on. In this stage, don’t wait. Run and see a doctor. It is very important not to delay because delay will deplete the levels of neurotransmitters in the brain. When levels fall low, this is the phase where a person will take their lives. This is the stage where a person cannot logically assess their situation and they lose their strength to hold on. This is the stage where a person cannot understand any positive pep talk, because inside, they are shaking and trembling like a leaf, their brain triggers with fearful energy and the power of reason and receiving information is leaving them. Shivering inside with pain, sorrow, and terror, they only think of death as a place of solace and silence where their troubles will end forever.
There is Hope: Depression is easily curable, it is not a life-long illness, but with nurturing the mind with positivity, mood-enhancing foods and for some people, anti-depressive medications which may be taken for a year to five years, depression can be cured forever. The problem remains when we ignore it or down play it. And remember, if you start on medications, it may take a week to adjust to the new feeling. It usually takes up to three weeks to actually feel it working and lifting up your mood to give you a happier feel to life, so hang in there, be strong, be positive, never give up or give in, and great things will happen!
Rita F. Kurian
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