| T O P I C R E V I E W |
| Hilary |
Posted - 11/20/2008 : 16:30:22
During a recent depressed phase, I came across a book by Dr Tim Cantopher, a UK psychiatrist with many years experience treating depressive illness, called "Depressive Illness - Curse of the Strong". I read bits and pieces of it and it's written with a lot of compassion and humour - really a very good and gentle book for someone who's very depressed. What's more, it jolted me out of my depression - but not, probably, for the reasons the author intended.
Cantopher sees stress-related depression as an illness. I'm not going to criticise that - I'm pro-medication for treating depression, and anyway I'm not a doctor - and besides, this diagnosis can actually be very helpful to someone stuck in the throes of depression. However, what struck me as particularly interesting - and what shocked me and brought me straight back to reading Sarno - is the following passage. Cantopher is unknowingly talking about TMS; but I would imagine he's never read Sarno, and can't make the TMS connection:
One more important fact: depressive illness, or at least the commonest form, which is that caused by stress, nearly always happens to one type of person. So much so, in fact, that it allows me my little party piece in interviews with patients, which is to tell them their personality before they tell me...He or she will have the following personality characteristics:
- (moral) strength
- reliability
- diligence
- strong conscience
- strong sense of responsibility
- a tendency to focus on the needs of others before one's own
- sensitivity
- vulnerability to criticism
- self-esteem dependent on the evalutaion of others.
This person is the sort to whom you would turn if you had a problem to sort out upon which your house depended. She is a safe pair of hands and you can trust her with your life. Indeed this person is usually admired, though often somewhat taken for granted by those around her. People are usually very surprised bwhen she gets ill; indeed, she is the last person you would expect to break down.
If that's not a description of a goodist TMS personality, I don't know what is.
Cantopher's theory is that sensitive people, and people without a solid sense of self-esteem, can't stop taking on more and more because they worry about people being disappointed with them; and that, after a while the fuse blows, i.e. the limbic system goes haywire. He does touch on anger-turned-inwards as a cause of depression, but stops short of identifying repressed rage as the primary cause of depression.
Anyway, when I read that passage, something clicked. I've known that my on-and-off depression was TMS, but this was another kind of confirmation. Suddenly, I'm paying much more attention to the tiny moments of residual depression, and thinking much more about the unconscious rage that triggered them. And always finding something. That awareness is making a remarkable difference.
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| 3 L A T E S T R E P L I E S (Newest First) |
| Hilary |
Posted - 11/27/2008 : 11:48:55
cgjohnson, Cantopher takes the approach that antidepressants and identification and elimination of the stressors, coupled with a lot of rest and talk therapy, are the way to go. He is mainly addressing people who have been bedridden with depression, rather than the walking wounded, I think. No miracle cures, unfortunately.
I have another tip. Let yourself feel as depressed and anxious as you need to, in the moment that you feel it. Do not stop it, or shy away from it. I find that when I commit myself to feeling as depressed as I possibly can, the depression lifts. Go into those feelings very deeply, allow yourself to feel them, and see what happens. A good book for this is "The Mindful Way Through Depression" by Jon Kabat-Zinn which really helped me understand what is meant by "feeling your feelings". I, like many TMS people I think, have a problem with understanding this concept intellectually but not emotionally. You have to go into the physical bodily sensations that come with depression, stay with them and see what else comes up. Part of the problem with depression and anxiety is the endless internal rant in which the mind tries to explain the depression / anxiety to itself, and ends up making itself even more depressed / anxious. When I can just submit to feeling awful there is sometimes a real shift in the feeling - I suddenly feel very sad, for instance, but feeling sad is a much more straightforward emotion and very different in quality freom depression.
There is a good free e-book that I'd recommend here http://www.join-the-fun.com/ - the site looks cheesy as hell but ignore that and the video but download the book. It's about this very subject, feeling your feelings, going through them and out the other side, including journaling. I thought it was very much in line with Sarno's approach and very helpful.
Good luck!
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| dockerpt |
Posted - 11/26/2008 : 10:00:36
IT WILL GET BETTER TRUST ME!
The pattern that proves it is my depression hits when im not in pain and vice versa!
Clock watching will hold you up! Its like watching an empty room fill up. one minute its empty then its full you never notice the transition. I went from not being able to saw a piece of wood to restoring a 6 bedroom victorian house. I have aches and pains who doesnt. BUT IT WILL WORK! |
| cgjohnson |
Posted - 11/21/2008 : 10:08:26
Interesting find, Hilary.
Does the doc have a different treatment plan from Sarno-type treatments? I've been doing Sarno work for a few months and have just found myself sliding deeper... my soreness symptoms haven't changed, but my depression is worse and I'm also feeling anxiety like I never knew you could. If this guy has some new treatment ideas I've love to hear them. |
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