Day: April 24, 2013

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Is Empathy a major cause of depression?

I’ve had a question in my mind recently:

Do sociopaths get depressed?

A Sociopath is someone who is someone lacking in empathy . They give the illusion of being emphatic  but their actions are self serving and rarely benefit others.

I know they get upset, anxious, worried and lose sleep over problems that will affect them, but do they actually get depressed? Do they even  feel down in the dumps?

So far, in my observations, I’d have to say I’ve not seen it. I could be wrong, of course, as I’ve not had the resources to do any meaningful study on the subject, but let’s assume I’m right for a moment.

The reason I pondered this question is because I’m wondering if one of the major cause of depression, (and cause of those who do self-harm), is empathy.

Are Empaths not only more prone to depression, but does depression mean that you may be an Empath?

Of course, I know enough to understand that this is a very simplistic premise, as depression can be caused by post-traumatic stress disorders, or uncleared shock and trauma, leading to clinical depression and everyone can have that happen in their life.

Still, there seems to be a common link between depression without obvious cause and being an Empath.

If someone is depressed, the first thing I wonder about them is are they one? In many cases, the answer is yes.

Still thinking it over.

 

If you know someone with depression, I’d love your feedback on the below poll.

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Healing Depression Series: Bach Flower Remedies (BFR) – Are they a placebo? part 1, or wait, this is just alcohol!

Are they a placebo? Part 1.

What I want to do with this entry is discuss if the Bach Flower Remedies are a placebo or not.

It is reasonable for people to be sceptical about the BFR’s and so they should be. I certainly was. When I first saw them around 1992, the claims they made about healing emotional conditions seemed a little too good to be true.

To my logical mind back then, I just couldn’t see how that was possible.

It is true that many claims are made about products that are false and misleading. There are a lot of scams out there. There are many unscrupulous people who use spiritual mumbo jumbo to sell their goods with the promise of healing on a miraculous level.

They are blatantly misleading and how they are allowed to advertise their products and get away with it is just beyond belief.

They hurt the products that are legitimate. It’s like looking for a diamond in a mountain of glass facsimiles. At first glance, it looks promising until you realize it’s just another fake.

I’ve come across my fair share of such scams, and I’m sure many others have, too.

The Bach Flowers seemed to fall under the same category, so it wasn’t until 1994 when I finally tried them.

A lady, who I was getting therapeutic massages from, explained that they did work. At the time, I was quite drawn to her, and hung  on her every word (in fact, this turned out to be a soul call, which is a call for help on a spiritual level) but I didn’t know that back then.

So, I bought a few, tried them, and found that worked so well that it was remarked that I was on happy pills.

What really sold me was that, around that time, I received some really bad news about a business investment I had made. As it involved a partner, it made it worse. I had made this decision right before I started trusting my intuition. (Which advised me against it, but I didn’t know enough at the time to listen.)

Normally, I would have not been able to sleep due to mulling over it and worrying about what I had to do, the reactions, and so on, but I decided to take Star of Bethlehem, which is the remedy for shock and trauma.

I immediately felt a peace settle over me, and the problem didn’t bother me again and it did eventually resolve itself, like most things do.

I started trying them on other people and found that the remedies would have a calming effect, especially on my mother, who could be highly strung.

I found that by putting same Rescue Remedy on her wrist, she calmed right now. My mind told me this shouldn’t be possible, but the results were certainly real.

Next: Are they a placebo – Part 2