Some people consume medication, some get counselling advice, but others use religion or spiritual practices to help them battle depression.
According to the Science Alert website, “A study has found a curious link between our personally-held beliefs and the thickness of white matter in our noggins.”
In the August 2018 article titled, “A diffusion tensor imaging study of brain microstructural changes related to religion and spirituality in families at high risk for depression,” Xuzhou Li writes that people who have religious or spiritual beliefs have been linked to be protected from depression in the brain.
Today, we now know that the depressive disorder can be passed down through genes if one or more of the parents has been diagnosed with depression, according to a study done by Roselind Lieb in 2002.
However, depression is not always genetics.
Someone may become depressed through a loss of a loved one or another stressful life event, which means the spiritual process can have a positive effect on depression.
Trevor Potter, a leader of a meditation program at McKillop United church, said spirituality is following a way that helps people live life with gratitude and compassion for themselves and others as they work with stress, fear, anxiety and the normal twists and turns of life.
He said there are certain spiritual practices to help people find balance and transformation.
“It has been shown that some of the practices like yoga, chanting and even meditation, can help shift our energies, brain wave patterns and open our hearts.”
Jasmin Salmon, a Lethbridge College Kodiaks soccer player, has dealt with severe depression in the past to the point where she attempted suicide a few times and ended up in the hospital.
While she grew up in the Roman Catholic Church, she said she doesn’t look at going to church and praying every time she is sad as a solution to her depression.
However, she said that when she did attend church, she came out feeling good about herself.
When she is down, the Kodiaks soccer player will do something active like going for a run and she will occasionally just ponder her thoughts alone.
But, after the serious incident involving her being in the hospital, Salmon’s mom would force her to participate in yoga after she got worked up about something because she thought her daughter would spin out of control.
“As much as I hated going to yoga, it did end up helping. It made me feel a bit calmer and more collected,” Salmon said. “It’s tough to wrap your head around it if it’s something people are making you do but, once you’re there and you calm down, it just helps you take a step back.”
Potter said different types of spiritual practices like yoga can affect the heart, mind and spirit continuum in distinct and unique manners.
“For instance, a body spiritual practice may help biochemical depression better than a pure sitting meditation.”
However, these practices aren’t always the right solution.
Sometimes they can, in fact, have a negative effect on the healing process.
“Sometimes these spiritual practices can open up parts of the psyche, emotional or traumatic past, heart, or memories that the ego is not ready to integrate and this can be detrimental to the healing process in the moment,” said Potter.
If this does happen, he urges people to stop the spiritual practice and consult with a doctor, psychologist or spiritual leader.
Other activities that can affect depression in a positive way pointed out by the Potter are singing, healing touch and even knitting mediation.
All of these – and other meditative practices – have been shown to help some forms of emotional and spiritual patterns be transformed over an extended time of practice.
