Planting the seed for emotional healing and well-being…
Treating depression isn’t as simple as recommending St. John’s Wort or Albizia. Yet this isn’t another class on differentials of herbs for various types of depression.
There are several types of depression, each with clear indications and contraindications. Knowing how to differentiate the causes and types of depression leads to better treatment outcome.
There are two very basic causes of depression; organic (from the body) and psychogenic (from the mind).
Here are a few of the types of depression the class covers:
Secondary depression: Depression with an organic cause in the body. Many people are diagnosed with depression, told “it is all in their head”, and prescribed mind altering substances. In reality their depression is a signal that there is a physiological process in the body creating the depression. We will talk about the physiological mechanisms of secondary depression, their causes, differential diagnosis of those causes, and natural treatment options for the causes. Some of the causes may include:
· Hypothyroidism
· Systemic Inflammation (the cytokine theory of depression)
· Gut Dysbiosis
· Nutrient Deficiencies
Adjustment disorder with depressed mood is generally considered depression due to loss and grief. You’ve lost someone or something you value, and depression occurs as a legitimate compensation mechanism, to allow you to process that loss. We will talk about how to identify grief caused depression, and provide information on plant allies that may help people transition through grief, towards gratitude.
Bipolar depression: Majorly underdiagnosed in the medical world, and even less recognized in the herbal world. It’s essential to differentiate bipolar depression from Major Depressive Episodes because Bipolar depression is characterized by inflammatory changes and degeneration in the brain. People with Bipoar depression are more likely to develop neurological disorders like Parkinsons and Dementia. Many of the botanical remedies for Major Depressive Disorder can actually worsen Bipolar depression. Bipolar depression should be aggressively treated to prevent future complications.
Major depressive disorder: Classically considered to be “all in your head”. Yet there are normally organic causes (secondary depression) contributing to the disorder. Once organic causes have been treated there are a number of plant allies that can help people in the brain remodeling process that is necessary for relief of MDD.
