How common are the Symptoms of Depression?
Depression can affect anyone and we all suffer from the blues from time to time. However, there is a progression from simply feeling miserable to a diagnosis of the full clinical illness with associated physical symptoms. Between 7% - 12% of men will suffer from a diagnosable depression at some time in their lifetime. The figure is higher for women, between 20%-25%. It is estimated that 5% of the population at any one time is suffering from depression at a level that needs support.
What are the Risk Factors of Getting Depression?
There do seem to be certain risk factors that make the problem more likely. These include:-
Childhood abuse
Severe trauma
Losing a parent or significant adult while young
Having a grandparent or parent with the problem
Family breakdown
Having a baby
Suffering a loss
Using EFT to help with Depression
However, everyone is unique, everyone’s life circumstances are different and EFT is a superb tool for treating depression because it deals with the emotional reasons why we become depressed in the first place.
By tapping and focusing on the various emotional and physical effects of the depression, such as feeling dead inside, the causes can be unravelled and the ‘charge’ or ‘hurt’ can be released and relieved in a gentle yet highly effective way. However, having treated many clients with depression, it is my experience that if antidepressant medication is being used, it can sometimes make it more difficult for clients to access where they are feeling their emotional state in their body and to feel subtle releases or shifts in their emotions. I often adapt my EFT treatments because of this and use muscle testing to evaluate progress. I have found that the best results are achieved when the client perseveres with the application of EFT, even though the benefits may not be immediately obvious to them and uses a subtle muscle testing sway test to guide them. I have also found that incorporating a combination of Reiki and the Balance Procedure to the treatment also appears to be very beneficial.
Balancing the energy of the body makes it easier to move out of the depressed state of withdrawal and protection into one of growth. Growth is where we heal and it is where we start to move forward again in life with joy, happiness and gratitude.