Are Anxiety & Depression Simply Diseases That Need To Be Medicated?

Lately I’ve seen a lot of social media posts that declare, “Anxiety and Depression are Diseases!”

Okaaay.

If that’s true, then what are your options?

If you experience anxiety and/or depression, does this mean that you can’t help yourself? Does it mean that you will need to be on medication…maybe for the rest of your life? Does it mean you are a victim? Does it mean that there’s nothing else you can do, so why even bother trying?

Does using the label “Disease” help you feel Empowered or Powerless? There’s a big difference.

Feeling Empowered gives you strength and resilience. You feel like to can do something. You have options. Your body makes healing chemistry when you feel empowered.

Feeling Powerless leaves you stuck. You can’t see your way out. Nothing works. Why bother trying. Your body makes harmful chemistry when you feel powerless.

If labeling your anxiety or depression as a “disease” leaves you feeling powerless or like a victim, I invite you to change the label. Change the word. Change your story around what you are experiencing.

How does “message” sound? Or how about “transition?”

What if your anxiety or depression were trying to get a message to you? What if the message had to do with bringing balance back into your life? What if you needed to transition or make adjustments in certain areas of your life?

What Causes Anxiety & Depression?

In our world, we like to look for cause and effect.  What causes anxiety and depression? Chemical imbalances and nutritional deficiencies are two popular theories. Most of the science I’ve come across reports stress as the cause of anxiety and depression.

So, what is Stress? Think of stress as your body’s ability to adjust or adapt to people, things or situations.

Negative forms of stress would include: Divorce or break-up, being fired, being bullied, death of a loved one or pet, fighting with loved ones or friends or co-workers, moving, being too busy, etc.

People’s reactions to stress can vary greatly. Some people can be very easy-going in stressful situations, while others can suffer a complete break-down.

When confronted with anything that someone perceives as stressful, the body goes into “fight-or-flight” mode. This creates a chemical chain-reaction in the body that helps you fight or quickly run away.

The biggest problem is that many people remain in this fight-or-flight mode for too long. It’s easy to get stuck in this mode, which then begins to harm your body. Your body begins to suffer. You begin to experience a host of physical symptoms like stomach/digestive issues, fatigue, racing heart, achy joints, metabolism issues, then reproductive issues.

What if...you could Learn To Heal Yourself?

In my world, stress creates emotions & physical symptoms that we don’t like. I really don’t care whether you lump anxiety & depression into the stress, emotion or physical symptom category.

I only care about how to teach you to pull yourself out of it so you can get your energy, health & life back.

Once you learn to pay attention to your thoughts and to question ALL of your beliefs, then you will be equipped with the information you need. You will KNOW what needs to change.

The next step is learning some simple tools & techniques to change your thoughts, beliefs & perceptions. This is easier to do than most people believe.

Anxiety is caused by fear-based thoughts

Begin paying attention to your thoughts when you notice your anxiety flaring up. What were you just thinking about? What were you just doing?

Most likely, your mind was playing a tape on autopilot. You were probably thinking an endless litany of worry-based thoughts that keep you in fight-or-flight mode:

• What if this happens?
• What if that happens?
• What if I get sick?
• What if I get in an accident?
• What if I can’t pay my bills?
• What if the kids get hurt?
• What if I die?
• What if, what if, what if……………..

These are just thoughts. And thoughts can be changed. You can learn to identify which thoughts are true, and which thoughts are just your ego running off the cliff.

Depression is caused by self-defeating thoughts and hurt feelings

If you pay close attention, you will find that depression is a combination of self-defeating thoughts and buried hurt feelings.

The self-defeating thoughts go something like this:

• Why bother even trying?
• Nothing works out for me
• I can’t do anything right
• Everything is difficult or takes too long
• No one helps me; I’m all alone
• I’m not worthy or deserving or lovable
• I’m not important; I don’t matter
• I’m not good enough (or smart enough or strong enough)

Hurt feelings usually stem from taking things personally. We judge other people’s behavior. We think they are intentionally being mean to us. We think they are attacking us.

Sometimes other people really do wish us harm. But most of the time, this pattern developed when we were kids. We read the energy of our parents, but we didn’t understand it.

Our parents came home, they had a bad day or they hadn’t slept well or their boss yelled at them. Whatever it was, our parent wasn’t as loving towards us as we wanted or needed them to be. They were in such a funk that they just couldn’t act lovingly towards us.

So we made up a story. I must not be worthy of love. I can’t do anything right. I’m not important. I'm not good enough.

These stories get buried, along with all of the hurt feelings. We take the pain inwards and shut down. We have trouble getting out of bed. We don’t want to be around other people.

Anger is taking hurt feelings and lashing outwards

Anger is the opposite of Depression. Anger takes these self-defeating thoughts and hurt feelings and lashes out at others.

Other people are to blame. Other people are attacking us, so we need to attack too.

Health Issues

Did you know that if you stay in any of these states (Anxiety, Depression or Anger) for too long, the energy creates a cascade of negative chemical reactions in the body? The body begins to break down. Lots of different things can begin to go wrong.

Anxiety typically affects the digestive system (stomach ache, diarrhea), kidneys and can cause a racing heart or high blood pressure.

Depression & Anger typically are associated with things that boil and burn. Fevers, sore throats, infections, hot flashes. Gallbladder & heart issues can also develop. Long-held resentment can lead to tumors.

It’s also typical to experience insomnia, headaches, and general aches & pains with Anxiety, Depression & Anger.

If you have spent a lifetime of burying hurt feelings, you will likely experience sensitivities (chemical &/or food) or unexplained rashes. This happened to me -- see my other blog post to learn how I healed my chemical sensitivities: https://www.drjoanntully.com/blog/me-and-mon-paris-my-story-of-healing-from-chemical-sensitivities 

The Good News

The good news is that you can be trained to identify the thought-patterns that are causing your emotions & physical symptoms, and you can learn to release them.

Your body only heals when your mind is calm. This is when it can create healing chemistry.

Do you want your energy & good health back? Do you want your life back? Then do the only thing that works long-term…Learn To Heal Yourself by cleaning up your self-defeating & fear-based thoughts and beliefs, and learn to let go of your hurt feelings.

I can help you learn ALL of this and more! This is what finally allowed me to heal completely from Lyme Disease and sail through the rest of menopause.

Ways I can help you

1. If this resonates with you and you are ready to move through all of this, I would love to help you! I'll teach you my best tools in my next online workshop series, Mastering Your Mindset - Introductory Workshop Series.
2. If you need to gather some more information on "the basics" of how you can use your mind to heal your body, your emotional stress & your relationships, click here to check out my selection of Free and Low-Cost Mini-Courses.
3. You can also set up a $30, 30-minute chat with me to discover your #1 Roadblock to Well-Being and options that would be a good fit for you. Click here to schedule.

Many Blessings,

Dr JoAnn Tully, Mind-Body Doctor & Mindset Coach

Click Here to Visit my Website