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Professor Mark Williams A Talk On Mindfulness Based Cognitive Therapy
Shoshin1
Veteran
in Mindfulness
MBCT is just one of the tools which some therapists used so just to make it clear...
"IF YOU ARE CLINICALLY DEPRESSED PLEASE SEEK PROFESSIONAL HELP"....
Sadly depression is the fastest growing dis ease in the world....At the moment I have at least two friends plus one of my client's who are suffering from depression..."clinically depressed"
Some may find this talk interesting/helpful...I certainly have...
May we all be well both mentally and physically
Metta 
The most essential method which includes all other methods is to behold the mind...The mind is the root from which all things grow...If you can understand the Mind...Everything else is included
~Bodhidharma~
2
Comments
The Crazywise documentary says that around 25% of adults have to cope with a mental health problem during their lifetime. So that’s quite a lot of people.
Yes sadly it is quite high...and when I think about it, two of the staff/friends where I work are also on antidepressants....
The covid lockdown has added to the increase in people seeking help..
When you are as crazy as me, a therapist (crazy specialist) is as much use as a cold shower. In fact probably less so.
In dharma all members of humanity are considered crazy to a greater or lesser degree. How then to attain an uncrazed condition?
https://www.oxfordmindfulness.org/learn-mindfulness/resources/
Don’t say, “I am depressed.” If you want to say, “It is depressed,” that’s all right. If you want to say that depression is there, that’s fine; if you want to say gloominess is there, that’s fine. But not: I am gloomy. You’re defining yourself in terms of the feeling. That’s your illusion; that’s your mistake. There is a depression there right now, but let it be, leave it alone. It will pass. Everything passes, everything. Your depressions and your thrills have nothing to do with happiness. Those are swings of the pendulum. If you seek kicks or thrills, get ready for depression. Do you want your drug? Get ready for the hangover. One end of the pendulum swings over to the other.
Anthony de Mello
Thanks @pegembara, exactly right.
How then to enter a swing free mood?
Here is one way …
http://www.buddhanet.net/oxherd1.htm
I never trusted the "professional help" industry enough to seek the help others kept telling me I needed. Maybe it was the stigma I worried about but whatever it was, I was and still am unwilling to be tested for bi-polar.
I feel funny and on-the-spot even bringing it up here. In fact it was only just over a week ago that I was able to admit to my common-law wife that I have always known about it. It had come up and so she had asked me if I ever got tested for it which I did not.
My practice has helped tremendously with keeping it positive and more or less anger free but there are still the heavy highs and lows. The depressive and manic cycle. I've had to keep check in myself more lately because I am on amitriptaline and from what I've gathered, if I am bipolar, I am supposed to compliment amitriptaline with a mood stabilizer to flatten manic episodes. That would mean talking to my neurologist about testing and I don't want to do that really.
If I was not on this path, I think I would have had no choice by now but as it stands I am very grateful for the chance to hear, study and practice the dharma as well as happy to be a loving partner and Dad. I don't really want to screw with that.
I would never have been able to cope long enough to form a family without hearing of and practicing the dharma, I don't think. One thing that helped is changing jobs to be in line with Right or harmonious livelihood.
@David, a lot of artists were bipolar in the past, they would be tremendously productive while manic and would do almost nothing while depressed. I’m not surprised you don’t want to get tested, those medications are no picnic.
When it comes to professional help, be it therapy or medication, it would seem it's different strokes for different folks...
It's important not to throw the baby out with the bath water, therapists and or the use of medication have helped many desperate people out of dark places, dark places which meditation alone may not be able to reach...
Similar to MCBT is NLP. May be of interest.
https://www.goodtherapy.org/learn-about-therapy/types/neuro-linguistic-programming
Very interested in @David comments.
Shows that change (neuroplasticity) is within our reach.
The first thing is a recognition rather than a hiding of impediments …
The danger of taking a mood stabiliser is that it would flatten your natural emotional landscape, which would come on top of potential side effects of amitriptyline, which I read are usually considerable.
If depression is the major symptom that you struggle with, I would check to see if treatment with psychedelics is available in your area. I hear it has been very succesful in recent studies in the UK and California, and that it works just as well as a good antidepressant, with a lot less side effects.
I agree and imagine that would be especially true for those without a practice or discipline. I do imagine however that many therapists go into the profession because they need help too.
You're kind of preaching to the choir here, haha. My first introduction to Buddhism was listening to Alan Watts on mushrooms and have had many psychedelic experiences over the years. I won't be recommending drug use because it creates many victims but will agree that it helped my depression immensely. What did not help was all the closest people to me dying. I still fear outliving my current wife and daughter if I am being honest. I'm guessing that's common to most of us.
I don't think I will be taking any mood stabalizers. It would affect my life in a negative way, I think. My lows are somewhat better now because I've made a life that seems to be bearing positive fruit. My lows are also cared for by my own mindfulness and the love from my family. My highs are tempered by my training and my logic. If I were to put a mood stabilizer in there, it could really play havoc with my balance.
I am not ashamed to stay that I have worked hard on my progress and will continue to do so.
I want everybody to be happy and feel loved and useful so I try to create a life that is loving, happy and useful.
Often I find myself failing in one way or another and that used to send me into a very downward spiral as I sank into despair. Finding Buddhism helped a lot but aside from the books, there were no other Buddhists to influence me.
So I was very encouraged when I found this site and then eventually the live Sangha.
So yeah... To all reading this and all beings, thanks for the path you are on and may it lead you to feel at ease.
Yes most therapists I know (there are a lot living on the island) either got into the profession due to their own mental issues or due to a family member/ loved one's suffering....
Came across this guy Gabor Mate and his take on Trauma...Some may find this interesting....
"The Wisdom of Trauma"
"How Childhood Trauma Leads to Addiction"