Psychology of depression and dhyana

    Mind is a powerful tool which, if left uncontrolled can become devastating. Almost all of us have gone through a rough phase of depression whether we are aware of it or not. Its a state where the mind gets clogged with a set of repeating cycle of thoughts endlessly in a loop and causes distress by keeping the person under a spell of mental quarantine!

    Before we dig deep, we need to understand feelings. Feelings can be happy, angry, sad, anxiety, etc. These feelings can be triggered either due to external or internal stimuli with something that we have attached or associated ourselves. When the feelings intensify, it becomes an emotion. All emotions are a state of mind. For example happiness is a state of mind. Each emotion evokes a physical as well as psychological response. The response or our reaction gets combined with our conscience and elicits further emotions.

    Now when the mind is in a sad state, it will be very vulnerable to external or internal stimulus. This vulnerability varies from person to person. The more the degree of vulnerability, the more emotions of sadness are evoked. The mind develops a certain inertia like the Newtons law of inertia and it tries to stay in the same state. When the person is in a constant state of sadness, his/her actions and thinking will be affected and his/her productivity reduces. This loss of productivity will make him/her wonder about his/her effectiveness and his/her goodness as a person. All his/her actions will come back to him/her sending a message of failure. Hence the person develops anger against the self and the surrounding. Now we can safely say that a person is in depression.

    When a person is in depression, he/she will have a general negative feeling towards everything around, including the self. The anger which itself is an emotion blocks the thinking capacity of the brain by generating inhibiting neurotransmitters. That is why when we are angry, we are not able to think what is right or what is wrong and usually take extreme unprecedented decisions which we were never able to take during normalcy. And that's the reason people are told to close their eyes and count when they are angry so that the mind gets distracted from the thought causing the anger. Uncontrolled anger caused by depression can cause suicidal tendency among people.

    Hence depression needs to be controlled in a systematic manner to avoid unforeseen circumstances. The first step in controlling the depression is to identify and accept that we are under depression. Just by accepting it, we are making our consciousness aware that there is some problem and we need to be careful and keep our thoughts under check and that it is just a state of mind! Once we start observing our thoughts, gradually we identify a pattern of thinking leading to depression. Then after that we will be able to identify the source or the reason for the cycle of thoughts to sustain itself. After identification, the next step is consciously controlling that thought. Whenever it arises, we need to self hypnotise ourself that it is an unwanted thought and we can survive without that thought. Over a period of time, the frequency of the thought reduces and finally it stops. This breaks the loop. So when the root of the problem is thwarted, the problem just vanishes away. Now during this long process, at each step we can see some positive changes in our behaviour and actions and this in turn aids the process of healing. Now if you are not able to do all these, talk to to your friends, relatives, close ones and please get professional help.

    Dhyana and meditation are techniques designed to observe and understand our thoughts. Thoughts require energy. By observing the breath during dhyana, we slow down the breath. By slowing down the breath, we indirectly cut the oxygen supply to the thought and the mind calms down. A calm mind is like a clear lake without any ripples. We can see through it clearly and we can correct ourselves. Hence dhyana will be able to subjugate negative feelings like sadness and depression and will keep the mind healthy and happy. There is no "One shoe fits all" concept for dhyana. Each and every person is different and have different mind complexes. One method which can work for one person might be completely irrelevant and nonsense of the other. For example some people can find calmness in music, some others in Bhakti and devotion, etc. Hence a person has to find his/her own method of dhyana which will calm down the mind and lead to happiness. Finally, we have to realise that nothing in the world is permanent and it is better to not to succumb to emotional disturbances and stay positive.