Maca Root Blog

In the 21st Century, it is predicted that stress and stress related illnesses such as depression and anxiety will become the biggest killers. Despite significant advances in housing, standards of living, quality of food, and medical science, the pressures all of us have to face in today?s world are as demanding as any pressures experienced by our predecessors.
Why are these illnesses on the rise? And why do some people become so ill through these illnesses, they can find it hard to function?
Well they sure don?t happen overnight! You don?t suddenly wake up one morning and feel stressed or depressed. It?s not like flicking on a light switch! And by the same rule, if you?re suffering, you can?t just wake up one morning, flick off the switch and say ?Great, I?m better now.?
Many people who don?t suffer from these illnesses often say to sufferers:
?Come on, snap out of it.?
If only it was so easy! Should anyone say this to you, please forgive them as it?s just a lack of understanding. It?s very hard for people to understand how you?re feeling if they haven?t been there.
The fact that these illnesses don?t suddenly happen means we can draw some parallels with illnesses such as heart diseases, some cancers and strokes.
Because these illnesses don?t just suddenly happen either.
If we look at heart disease, it?s often the result of damaging behaviors practised over many years. Behaviors such as smoking, lack of exercise and a diet high in saturated fat. Strokes are a result of similar behaviors and cancers too, particularly heavy smoking and drinking as you know.
So how do stressful illnesses such as stress, depression and anxiety compare?
Stress is also the product of harmful mental habits and behaviors. These habits and behaviors are developed and practised over years ? since childhood in most cases. These are the mental processes that enable us to make sense of our lives and the circumstances we?re faced with. When we reach adulthood, we perform them automatically because we?ve learned these behaviors by repetition.
Think of it like learning to drive a car. Initially, the skills required to control the vehicle needed conscious thought. It seemed really difficult didn?t it? But once we?ve performed them for sufficient periods, we drive on auto-pilot. We?ve mastered the required skills by repetition.
Here?s the key: if we eat healthy food, take regular exercise, cut out harmful behaviors such as smoking and drinking, we improve our health and drastically reduce the risk of heart disease, cancer and strokes. We are repeating good habits, habits that will give our physical well being a huge boost.
It?s exactly the same for stress. What?s important to understand is that not everyone becomes stressed or depressed ? even when tragic and traumatic circumstances happen to them. Just like people who lead a healthy lifestyle and avoid harmful habits and behaviors, people don?t become stressed or depressed because they have learned effective habits and behaviors that prevent stress from arising.
This is very good news if you suffer from these illnesses. Because just as we can learn habits and behaviors which cause us to become highly-stressed, depressed or anxious, we can learn the habits and behaviors which stop these terrible illnesses in their tracks. And the more often we make use of them, we?ll soon begin to perform them automatically and our mental health will benefit enormously.
No more feeling stressed out. No more feeling unable to cope. No more anxiety and no more depression. EVER.
I?m living proof of this. For 5 years, a series of traumatic events sent me spiralling into an anxiety-induced depression nightmare. I came out of it by learning the natural skills that starve these illnesses. The more I used them, the less anxious I became. They?re now as natural to me as driving a car, and I?ve completely eradicated anxiety and depression from my life.
You can do it too.

About The Author

Chris Green is the author of the new book ?Conquering Stress?, a special program which will show you how to conquer stressful illnesses such as depression, anxiety, panic and worry permanently and without taking powerful drugs. You can learn more about this new book and purchase it at www.conqueringstress.com.
-

You?ll hear many times that single events can trigger a major episode of stress, depression and anxiety. The key word is ?trigger?, because that is all a single event is. It doesn?t actually CAUSE stress, depression or anxiety but it does trigger a sequence of behaviors that lead to mental trauma.

But how does this happen?

Descent into a stressful, depressive or anxious episode happens because of negative and catastrophic reactions to events you are confronted with. One event by itself simply isn?t enough. There are many chain-reactions that take place before a person becomes highly stressed or depressed or anxious, but I?m going to discuss one of the biggest ones: using one event to ascribe catastrophic meanings to all areas of your life ? I call it ?generalizing?.

Let?s take a look at two events that most, if not all humans, will experience during their lifetime:

1. Loss of a job. 2. Death of a loved one.

Loss of a job is a major event that can trigger depression. Please understand, the job loss itself cannot cause depression. It triggers a number of reactions, especially generalization and here?s how it works:

You lose your job and you start to think in general terms:

?Oh no, this is disastrous! How will I cope now? What will people think of me when I tell them? My job meant the whole world to me, now my world is falling apart. I?m nothing without my job! How will I pay the bills? I won?t be able to get another job and life will become a real struggle. Everything is going wrong and I?ll never be happy again!?

Now, this reaction is typical of how a depressive episode can be triggered by one event. Powerful words ? disastrous, nothing, struggle, everything, never ? will stir fearful emotions within you. Self-esteem is being hit, doubt about your abilities is raised, and a catastrophic prediction of the future is made. The job has also been used to ascribe meaning to your whole life and now it?s gone, a feeling that your life has no meaning is also present.

A similar reaction will happen when you lose a loved one:

?I?m devastated! He/She was my whole world, and now my world has fallen apart. Nothing will ever be the same again, I?ll never be happy and I feel empty inside. Life holds nothing for me anymore and I don?t know how I?ll cope without him/her. ?

Can you see the generalizations? Again, we have powerful, negative and emotionally charged phrases to ascribe meaning: whole world, fallen apart, nothing, never, anymore. And a catastrophic prediction for the future is present again.

In both examples, one event has been carried into all areas of your life. With a job loss, enormous importance has been placed on the job itself and now the job has gone, these general meanings cause you serious distress. It?s the same with losing a loved one. Meanings about your whole life have been placed on one person and their passing means your whole life is affected.

In generalizing like this, descent into mental trauma is inevitable.

To stop it, the key skill of keeping perspective is crucial. This means that you keep an event from one area of your life separate from other areas. For example, if the event is job loss, you react without generalizing:

?OK, I?ve lost my job, but my job is just a way to earn income. It doesn?t mean I won?t find a better job nor does it mean that things will change for the worst. My social and home life will still remain the same and I?ll carry on with my life just as I?ve always done. One chapter in my working life has ended and a new one is about to begin.?

Do you see the difference in how keeping perspective and not using powerful, emotionally charged words and phrases will prevent fearful emotions arising?

Please remember that no change is permanent as nothing lasts forever. Things will come into your life and things will move out of your life. It is the cycle of life. Keep things relevant to the area of your life they affect and you will maintain good mental health no matter what circumstances you are faced with.

Until next time.

Copyright 2006 Christopher Green

Former anxiety sufferer Chris Green is the author of ?Conquering Stress?, the internationally acclaimed program which will help you to permanently conquer stress, depression and anxiety without taking powerful drugs. For a free mini course, please click here => http://www.conqueringstress.com