From: JC_Gilliam@fccc.edu (Jon C. Gilliam) Subject: Re: Antidepression Spell? Date: 17 May 1994 07:25:41 -0500 Here is a sure-fire, anti-depression spell. Note that this spell requires the daily involvement of the depressed person. 1. Mornings just after sunrise and evenings just before sunset are to be spent outdoors in silent meditation, eyes open. 20 to 30 mins is good. Concentrate on your breathing, and if the weather is inclimate, a spot in front of a east-facing window in the morning, west-facing in the evening. Your thoughts, if any, should be of the sun. 2. No more than 4 and no less than 3 nights per week, your evening meal should consist mainly of fresh shellfish -- crab, shrimp, oysters, etc. Your thoughts during these meals should be of the moon and the tides. 3. On those mornings of the days when you are not having shellfish as your evening meals, you should begin you day with the following tea: 1 tsp. feverfew tincture in alcohol (you can prepare this by soaking dried feverfew in vodka for 2 weeks, or buy it from an herbal store), 1/4 tsp American ginsing powder, 1 tsp lemon balm, 1 tsp green tea. Pour boiling water over all of this in a chinese tea-pot, and drink all the tea. 4. At least 3 days of the week, go for a 20 - 30 min walk in a quiet, outdoors, preferably wooded area. You should walk at a quick pace, and your thoughts should be on the harmony of nature, and your place in the natural world. 5. Avoid alcohol except very occassionally and moderately. 6. If this spell hasn't been effective after a month, schedule a visit to talk with your doctor. An addition to this spell that works even better is taking one Prozac a day. Your doctor can help you get ahold of this. Bright blessings, :jon === From: dalton@mantle.Geop.UBC.CA (David Dalton) Date: 19 May 1994 01:41:05 GMT In article <2.47527311.Livewire@thewire.com> Starlit@thewire.com writes: *' Would it be wrong to try a spell to help someone out of a depession? *' (referring back to "forcing someone to do something against their will") Are you sure that he doesn't want to break out of the depression? Does he recognize that he is in a depressed state? If so, then he must want to break out of it. He may not want you to try a spell, or believe in spells, but you wouldn't be "forcing someone to do something against their will" but helping their will. And he may actively participate in meditation exercises and maybe even sexual exercises designed to raise energy. Call it something other than a spell if necessary since some people have a funny notion of what a spell is. *' This would be my last resort to help this person since nothing I've tried *' seems to help... I know that he may not WANT help... but ??? You might get some good advice on the newsgroup alt.support.depression. The group sci.med.psychobiology also has some stuff, but is more geared to professionals. I recently re-posted a FAQ to alt.support.depression. There is also a very good mailing list called walkers for unipolar depressives and one for bipolars called pendulum, in which I am active. Subscription details are in the alt.support.depression FAQ. *' If it is not morally wrong, anyone out there have a suggested spell to try? Try spells or mutual exercises which will build up his internal energies and help him break free, and grow around the big rock of depression. But sometimes depression is a recharging period so be careful that the energies are not released too quickly, or he could go into mania and endless cycling. Maybe imagine pumping energy into his chakras, from base to crown, and visualize a stagnant pool of energy in the interior of his brain that you are trying to awaken. But be careful, and maybe do it with his participation and the help of someone experienced in magick or yoga or qi gong. See if you can get him to make lifestyle modifications in exercise, sleep, light, and diet. If not, then convince him to use an antidepressant to get himself to the level where he can break free and make those modifications and then come off the drugs. If he won't do that, talk to a local support organization for help. I think the FAQ lists national organization contact numbers and they would give you a local one. What I recommend to ward off recurrences: 1. get lots of morning light 2. do regular aerobic exercise, preferably in the morning 3. do regular soft exercise such as meditation or Tai Chi or yoga (I do Iyengar yoga) in the evening. I find therapeutic yoga poses such as the supported shoulder stand, gentle back bends, twists and savasana to be very good for depression, and I bet that more intense poses, including head stand. would be as well. And pranayama (breathing exercises) help too, poor breathing habits can lead to depression. Also, techniques of Kundalini yoga and Qi Gong can be used to carefully develop internal energy, with a teacher. Reflexology, if done properly, may help too. 4. drink lots of water 5. get his thyroid function and blood sugar levels checked out. If blood sugar is a problem (or maybe even if not) chromium doses may help. kelp may help the thyroid 6. some people try changing to a vegetarian diet, and maybe seeing if giving up sugar, bad fats, wheat or lactose (milk) makes any difference. I take extra vitamins and have heard that vitamin B-6 and other B vitamins are good for depression and are best taken two hours before bedtime as they regulate sleep. 7. eat meals near the same time each day, eat breakfast, and don't eat late in the evening. Also avoid caffiene after supper, avoid alcohol after 2 hours before bedtime or maybe all the time. 8. don't oversleep. If you are getting 8--10 hours and are depressed, reduce it to 6--8 hours. Sleep deprivation can break a depression but the effect may be temporary if it is just one all-nighter. I have heard that you should reduce your sleep to a few hours for several nights in a row, and do it by cutting back on the second half of the night, i.e., get up at 3 or 4 a.m. But that can be hard. 9. KEEP THE SAME WAKE TIME EACH DAY, within an hour. What I try to do if I am out late carousing on the weekend is to still get up by 8 or 9 a.m. the next day (I try 7 or 8 during the week) and then get a short nap in the afternoon or after supper. But that doesn't work for some people. 10. try moving to a different climate. Many people do best in a climate similar to where they spent their first two years. I get charged up on high winds and lightning and rapid weather variations, and depressed when the weather is super-humid and very long-lived. Plus some cities are very dark in winter and can contribute to S.A.D. 11. try moving to a different job, school or home location if you think there are air or electromagnetic or acoustic problems which may contribute to the depression. 12. strengthen supportive relationships, deal with personal problems, and get involved in lots of activities. This will lessen the possibility of a recurrence. 13. track his mood cycle and sleep cycle and figure out when he is most susceptible to mood changes and guard against them. For instance, I know that I am more likely to go high energy or maybe low energy (but not suicidal) the week leading up to new moon, and I am more likely to have alcohol-triggered mixed/dysphoric/psychotic twisted cognitive_high/emotional_lows or anxious/sucidal lows the week leading up to full moon, and take appropriate precautions. There is also a seasonal component, with more intense highs in the summer and lows in winter. But everybody is different. 14. figure out the early warning signs of a mood change, and nip it in the bud. For me, sleep is the best indicator, but often friends can see changes that I don't pick up. It may be easier to break free of a low level depression than one which is further along. 15. I seem to respond to solar magnetic activity, so when the sunspot number is high I may be a bit higher and when it is near zero my energy is a bit lower, although mood is OK. Thus maybe it would be easier to break out of a depression when it is high, but be careful to avoid going into mania. This is speculative, and may not hold for everyone. Some books might help: ~Title: "Questions and Answers about Depression and its Treatment" Author(s): Dr. Ivan Goldberg Publisher/Year: The Charles Press in Philadelphia/1993. ISBN: ISBN 0-914783-68-8 Comments: A 112 page FAQ on depression that has appeared in book form. Ivan is active on the mailing lists and sometimes the net and his book is highly recommended. ~Title: "Overcoming Depression" Author(s): Demitri F. and Janice Papolos Publisher/Year: Harper/Perennial/1992. ISBN: 0-060-96594-0 (paper) Comments: Good basic text on the various aspects of depression and and manic/depression. Considered by some to be a "classic" in the field. ~Title: "The Way Up From Down" Author(s): Priscilla Slagle, M.D. ISBN: 0-312-92914-5 Comments: It stresses a nutritional approach heavy on the ammino acid tyrosine, and a complete vitamin supplement program. ~Title: "When the Blues Won't Go Away" Author(s): Robert Hirschfeld, M.D. Publisher/Year: 1991 ISBN: 0-025-51825-9 Comments: Concerns new approaches to Dysthymic Disorder and other forms of chronic low-grade depression. ~Title: "On the Edge of Darkness: Coversations about Conquering Depression." Author(s): Kathy Cronkite Publisher/Year: Doubleday/1994 ISBN: 0-385-42194-X ~Title: "The Feeling Good Handbook" Author(s): David D. Burns, MD Publisher/Year: Plume/1989 ISBN: 0-452-26174-0 ~Title: "Good Mood: The New Psychology of Overcoming Depression" Author(s): Julian L. Simon Publisher/Year: Open Court Press/1993. ISBN: 0-812-69097-4 (cloth) 0-812-69098-2 (paper) More are listed in the alt.support.depression FAQ.