Do you think depression and anxiety can be healed without medication or seeking professional help? can it be healed by sheer willpower?

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10 Answers

Didge Doo Profile
Didge Doo answered

It probably depends on the individual. Some people are better equipped than others to deal with depression. That's not a judgmental opinion but just a fact.

It also depends on the type of depression. Reactive depression (eg a reaction to the loss of a loved one or the break-up of a romance will lessen more-or-less rapidly) while clinical depression will almost certainly need professional help.

It may also be possible to alleviate (rather than "heal") depression by adopting a different life philosophy, perhaps based on a more spiritual outlook. But "spiritual" rather than "religious" which may simply add to the problem. Buddhism and the more spiritual aspects of Yoga might help.

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Fortis Paradise
Fortis Paradise commented
Spot on! having a different philosophy is really beneficial when the problem is not serious.
Bikergirl Anonymous
Yes your are right. There is a difference between feeling sadness, sorrow or depressed and clinical depression. There are many similarities in terms of what to do to alleviate .. both levels .. like taking better care of general health ( like eating better, sleeping better, reducing stress) however clinical depression may also need to be further treated with medication to balance chemicals in the brain.
Didge Doo
Didge Doo commented
I didn't mean to minimise the need for medication. It's just that in some circumstances other possibilities MAY exist.
Bikergirl Anonymous Profile

Not clinical depression or anxiety. It is not a matter of choice or willpower .. It is a chemical imbalance in the brain.

It could be as plausible to "will" yourself "healed" as it would be to "will" yourself taller or to "will" your  eyes to change colour.

PJ Stein Profile
PJ Stein answered

It depends on the cause.  Depression or anxiety caused by an event or a loss of some kind, can be recovered from with time, and usually by talking to people, such as family, friends, or a support group.

There are those that have chemical imbalances, medical issues, or have huge traumatic events that will need more help. 

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Bikergirl Anonymous
Feeling sad or depressed is not the same thing as clinical depression. Feeling sad/depressed is emotional distress .. clinical depression is an imbalance in the brain. Two entirely different things.
Jann Nikka Profile
Jann Nikka answered

Unfortunately sadly NO😔.

Cookie Roma Profile
Cookie Roma answered

If the cause is situational, very possible  If the cause is clinical, not possible 

Thrice Gotcha Profile
Thrice Gotcha answered

ive been dealing with both my entire life and heres what i have learned there is defently a genetic component and your environment will make or break you if you are fortunate enough to be in a healthy and supportive environment it will make things far more easier

Virginia Lou Profile
Virginia Lou answered

Dear Fortis Paradise,

I actually looked through your profile, to see where your Q might be coming from...maybe you will be thirty next year?

Anyway, no - depression cannot be healed by willpower. You cannot even imagine unless you have been there, but NO.

Also, there is a kind of depression that no medication can even touch; just makes it worse, if anything at all. What seems to happen is that after, oh, maybe four or five decades of this, you come to make peace with your despair...but it is always there.

I have actually come to see this kind of existential despair as precious, giving you a fuller deeper experience of life - you are just seeing life very deeply.

* * *

And for an author who explores the idea that depression is an authentic and honorable way to be in the world, one of those would be the Swiss psychiatrist Viktor Frankl.

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Fortis Paradise
Fortis Paradise commented
Thank you for your answer Virginia, I tried to write the question in a way that made it seem like it wasn't about me, But you're right it IS about me and I'm almost midway through my 20s ,there was a major setback in my life 2 years ago which I still haven't recovered from. and I don't know what it is that I should recover from,depression or just sadness,etc..I don't know.

I've tried reading philosophy,about great minds,all sort of books and some of them have been very interesting and opened my eyes to new aspects of life.this is the path that I've recently taken.
Virginia Lou
Virginia Lou commented
Yes... I posted this on the chance it might be you.
We are each so utterly unique, and this is one more perspective for you to use in finding or making your own way...
Fortis Paradise
Fortis Paradise commented
It was definitely interesting,TY

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