Thursday 30 November 2017

Depression Case Studies

David Hartmann Case Studies on Depression

These two case studies were written up for my Brisbane Chinese Medicine (BCM) workshop on the 26th November 2017. I have decided to do a blog post because a lot of my readers couldn't attend the workshop - and I didn't want you to miss out on what I discussed.

The idea was to give the attendees a couple of cases of past patients; ones that were not complicated. The reason I chose this over more complex cases was to show the attendees that not everyone with severe signs and symptoms have to have a complex Chinese medicine diagnosis.

So let's get into it shall we?

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Case Study No.1.

Male 19 years old

Key complaints:

* Severe suicidal depression. Suicide was going to be jumping in front of a train. 

* Insomnia – woke anywhere from 10-50 times a night and/or nightmares. He didn’t actually know he had insomnia because he had always slept like that. He thought insomnia was being unable to get to sleep – not one of his problems. 

* Bad upbringing – was very poor. No father. No solid girlfriend relationship. No friends. Bad grades at school. Was bullied all the time. Had a great mother though that tried very hard. 

* Had no idea why he was even on the Earth – what was his purpose/point to life. 

* Worked for the dole. 

* Bad diet – mostly toast and butter or toast and tomato paste, or leftover pizza. 

* Lived/flatted with a bulimic girl (just a friend) who was a manager of a Pizza Hut – hence the pizza. 

* Mother tried her best but she was very poor and lived 7 hours away. 

* Other signs – vertigo, blurry vision, floaters, pale skin, muscular cramps, brittle nails (he did chew his nails mercilessly), dry hair, easily startled, heart flutters (he called them ‘his butterflies’), plum-stone throat. 

* Tongue – pale with orange sides. Thin and dry. 

* Pulse – thin and choppy.

Diagnosis – Liver and Heart Xue (Blood) Xu.

Treatment – was 12 weekly treatments (he was very reliable and never missed a single appointment).

Points ranged between:

* LR 3, LR 8, LR 14.

* HT 3, HT 5, HT 7.

* PC 6, PC 7.

* BL 15, BL 17, BL 18, BL 20.

* GB 24, GB 40.

* LI 4 – combined with LR 3 (open the four gates).

* GV 20.

* CV 4, CV 14, CV 15, CV 17.

* Yin Tang.

Outcome – significantly happier (almost from the first session); not suicidal anymore; started studying and loved his new career pathway; felt he had a purpose/a reason for being.

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Case Study No.2.

Male 31 years old

Key complaints:

* Severely depressed/suicidal. Preferred suicide option was driving off a perfectly good hill. 

* Insomnia – woke up 10-50 times a night with/without nightmares.

* Had a wife with two kids – a third on the way.

* Alcoholic – in the middle of a 500 day cleanse. Went to AA but didn’t help. Made him want to drink more.

* Other signs – stressed, angry, frustrated, feeling overwhelmed, irritable, headaches (behind and just above the left eye and occipital region around GB 20), vertigo, blurry vision, pressure changes in the ears (tinnitus?), floaters, red face, muscular cramps, brittle nails (he did chew his nails mercilessly), dry hair, easily startled, plum-stone throat, dry mouth and throat.

* Tongue – pale with reddish sides. Thin and dry.

* Pulse – thin and wiry.

Diagnosis – Liver Yang Rising and Heart Xue (Blood) Xu.

Treatment – was 15 treatments over a six month period. He did have four weekly treatments to start the process and then it was every two weeks after that.

Points ranged between:

* LR 2, LR 3, LR 8, LR 14.

* HT 3, HT 5, HT 7.

* PC 6, PC 7.

* BL 2, BL 10, BL 15, BL 17, BL 18, BL 20.

* GB 14, GB 20, GB 24, GB 34, GB 40.

* LI 4 – combined with LR 3 (open the four gates).

* GV 20.

* CV 4, CV 14, CV 15, CV 17.

* Yin Tang.

Outcome – significantly happier (almost from the first session); not suicidal anymore; started re-engaging with his family again; got right into fitness and sport which made him happier still; free of suicidal thoughts.

Other acupuncture point options could include:

* LR 4 – I can love myself again; I give permission to myself to love myself again.

* SP 21 – Tian Di Ren balancer. Helps you embrace Heaven, Earth, and Human again.

* HT 3 – happy point – stimulates endorphins.
* TE 5 – clear Fire.

* SP 6 and ST 36 – tonify underlying Xue Xu.


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Perhaps a lot of the points were fairly obvious and maybe some were surprising. If you wanted to know why I chose the points I did feel free to ask me.

Each treatment had a range of 8-16 needles used - see my previous blog on my treatment style for more information there.

If you have any other questions please let me know.

As for my two cases - both men are travelling along very nicely at last check - which was today.

Love and light to you all.

David Hartmann











Saturday 11 November 2017

How Do I Treat Patients Using Acupuncture?


Over the years students have enquired as to how I treat my patients. Since this is quite difficult to answer in a brief manner I have often given them little snippets here and there. Well I decided to write the entire lot down and post it here on my blog. It is quite detailed but hopefully quite interesting and engaging. Perhaps you should grab a beer, wine or a coffee, put your feet up and take it all in at a casual pace?


POTENTIAL NEW PATIENT
Typically I get new patients via phone calls, walk-ins or from friend’s gatherings. The first thing I need to do is to convince the person that acupuncture can help them with their complaint. Sometimes this isn’t hard because the person has had acupuncture before from someone else or because they have been referred to me by an existing patient.

Sometimes, however, it’s difficult to convince them about the benefits of acupuncture. They could be worried about the needles hurting. They might be convinced (by who, I have no idea) that Chinese medicine only requires one treatment and their complaint will be healed. They might even be concerned about the cost of the treatment.

I’m not sure what your experience has been in other countries, but I have found that in Australia these are the typical concerns that potential new patients have when deciding whether to try acupuncture. But I don’t shy away from these questions.

For starters we know that acupuncture doesn’t hurt very much, and I often tell them that an acupuncture needle is thinner than a strand of hair. I also mention that about one in every ten needles might bite a little – like a mosquito bite, but that the sensation goes away almost immediately.

As for cost, the Chinese medicine community in Australia charges very little compared to other medicines; and we are way down the list when we compare other careers and their high costs. If they need further explanation then I might discuss the call out costs of plumbers and electricians. Or I might mention the costs of seeing a naturopath initially and then ongoing. I may even discuss the ongoing costs of visiting a GP.

The number of treatments that a new patient might need is not that simple to answer. For starters it really is educated guesswork on our part. We can’t be 100% certain that, for example, five weekly treatments will effectively treat a chronic cough they have had for six years. There are so many factors, known and unknown, which will determine if five treatments is the magic number for that patient.

But we can draw on our experience in order to make our estimate more accurate. I never tell my patient they could be completely healed after one treatment. In fact I tend to aim on the higher side when it comes to predicting the number of treatments they will need. I’d rather they got better inside my estimate than still only be 50% improved when we reach that number.

I don’t want to shy away from the sometimes brutal reality of their complaint. If a potential patient has had a problem for over twenty years then it’s just not ethical for me to say they could be better in a couple of months. I’d much prefer to explain the chronic nature of their complaint and advise a series of treatments across several treatment blocks. I would focus on their newer signs and symptoms and explain that these should improve faster than the chronic ones. I would also talk to them about targeting these small victories throughout the treatment blocks because each of these improvements gets them closer to the BIG heal. I like metaphors and so this is where I get them to visualise us both climbing a mountain with the healing of their body the climb up, but is also the descent down the other side.

The climb up is the hardest bit and is the bit we have to do first. The climb is where we focus on the little improvements – these are generally the more recent complaints that a patient has. The newer/acute disorders are almost always easier to treat than the old/chronic ones.

The same applies when we climb a mountain. We focus on the enjoyable little experiences along the way – the gorgeous flower bouquet on the hillside; the subtle breeze sensuously rubbing the side of our face; the brief rest and snack under a shaded rocky outcrop; a pause to turn back and stare at the stunning view; even the feeling that we are achieving something of critical importance as we get closer to the top of the climb; the knowing in the back of our minds that it’s going to be so much easier on the way back down.

As we climb the metaphorical mountain together, we tough it out together. We celebrate improvements in our patient’s complaints. We know that as each of these complaints clear away we are getting closer to the big heal – the top of the mountain. All these toxic little complaints should be celebrated as they disappear.

Assuming I do a good job then we get to the top of the mountain and the patient has the big heal. This is often accompanied by a healing crisis (where the patient feels like we went backwards rather than forwards) but this is rarely a bad thing – well as long as the patient knows it could occur (and they always do with me).

Similarly on our trek up the mountain, when we finally reach the top and our exhaustion is mixed in with our euphoria, it can all be a little much and we find ourselves slumping to the ground. This is the healing crisis; but in good news it rarely lasts for long and before you know it, you are standing back up and taking in the splendour of the view; and you are fortified for the trip back down.

My experience has advised me that the healing crisis is the body reaching the point where health COULD take over from disease. I say ‘could’ rather than ‘will’ or ‘should’ because this is often where a patient decides they have improved enough and stop coming for treatment. The problem here is that the patient is still not completely healed and needs additional treatments. If they stay the course then the rest of the treatments are easier than the previous ones, in the same way that the trip back down the mountain is far easier than the climb. Their body should be healed, and be stronger than it’s been in years. Strong enough to fight to stay healthy.

Regardless of whether my patients have healed quickly or slowly, from acute complaints or chronic disorders, I always encourage regular appointments into the future. These are what I call ‘top-ups’. Prevention is better than cure after all.

Most of all I make sure that my patients understand that Chinese medicine helps their body heal itself, and to heal itself much faster than it could have managed on its own.


HOW I CHOOSE MY POINTS
In part this is done via my Chinese medicine diagnosis; it is also done via the patients Qi telling me (discussed shortly); and part of this is done via point combinations.

My point combinations are designed to tonify together, sedate together, move stagnations together; no matter what the diagnosis is I can construct a treatment that has the points working together for optimal benefit.

I don’t lift and thrust a needle to tonify or sedate; I don’t twirl or shake the needle a certain way to tonify or sedate. It’s the sum of the parts that will tonify together, sedate together, and/or move stagnations together. It’s the combination of points performing a function together that I am interested in. This will be discussed in a lot more detail throughout the point combination book that I am writing – in fact that is what the book is all about!

I can even construct a treatment where some points tonify and some points sedate.

One of my favourite point combinations is when I am treating a patient with a common cold resulting from an external pathogenic factor (EPF) invasion. In that instance I have combinations of points that can tonify Wei Qi, some that can clear the EPF, and some that can do both. This fascinating treatment construct will be discussed in the point combination book.


NUMBER OF NEEDLES
The typical number of needles I use ranges from 8-16. My view is that either side of those numbers I am either doing too much or not enough. This view is based on my 20+ years of experience as well as extensive research and reading.

I don’t have a problem with other acupuncturists needling outside of those numbers. In fact, the acupuncturist that I currently frequent uses between 30-40 needles.

The other reason I have a range of 8-16 needles is for the point combinations to be most effective. I will discuss this concept shortly, but the sum of the parts are more important than individual point function. I find that if I do less than eight needles I haven’t been able to get a good enough combination of points which may negatively impact on the success of the treatment.

On the other hand, if I go beyond 16 needles I feel like I’m moving beyond my preferred targeted approach. The combinations of points can therefore get diluted, and the purpose of the treatment may even get lost within the vast function list of each point used.

I want to target my treatments – I don’t want to put stacks of needles in and hope that some of them will have an effect; and that is why my current preference is to use between 8-16 needles. This range allows me to give each point a job to do and a point partner/s to help.

Lastly, the number of needles used is almost always an odd number. This is because my favourite channel (Ren Mai) usually has 1-3 needles included in the treatment (discussed later).


BILATERAL NEEDLING
I almost always do bilateral needling. I am of the view that if there are two of the same point then I should needle both. It’s like a double-shot benefit – as in, two LI 4 (He Gu) points are far better than one.

I have experimented with this in the past and found my treatments to be less effective as a result. I have also found that my point combinations typically rely on bilateral needling for a more rounded effect.


DELIBERATE SCATTERING
The deliberate, but planned, scattering of needles is very important to me and for each treatment I look to cover some/all the areas of head/face, trunk (front or back), arms/hands, and legs/feet. Over the years I have found that this ensures the best chance of breaking through any stagnations. If I stack my needles in one area then I line myself up for failure.

None of us can be 100% sure that we know where blockages are located. Therefore I take that out of the equation and deliberately ‘scatter shot’ my points. These are across a wide area of the body, using a range of different channels that travel in different directions. The points and channels chosen are deliberate and combine well with one another. It’s not random stabbing of points. My point combination book will teach you how to do this too.


PATIENT POSITIONING
Once I have decided on the diagnosis I must then decide on whether my patient will lie prone or supine (face-down or face-up). I don’t flip my patient mid-way through a treatment. I don’t like it when practitioners have done that to me in the past. Plus my patients have commented to me that they lose that sense of relaxation right at the point where they were relaxing; and they don’t get that relaxed feeling back after they have been flipped. They comment that their brain starts going a million miles an hour and they get restless. A restless brain isn’t conducive to good treatment results.


POINTS ON PAPER
The points I start with on paper almost always end up slightly different by the time all the needles have been inserted. As therapists I feel we need to be conduits of energy, or Qi, if you like. That’s the patients Qi and Universal Qi (discussed further below). This Qi tells us a lot, and in regards to treatment, it tells us what points need special attention, and which ones don’t.

I don’t get a full sense of that when I am sitting across a table from someone. I get a bit but I get the rest once I start touching their aura and their body. If you are sensitive to this Qi you can pick up a lot on what the person really needs. This sensitivity bypasses the patients (and my) rational brain. With the rational brain out of the way we can get to the deeper layer of healing energy – one that neither the patient, nor I, have any real idea about. In my view this is the area where the best healing occurs.


WHAT ORDER DO I NEEDLE MY POINTS?
For the most part I don’t needle points in a particular order. As I said earlier, I consider the sum of the parts to be more important than the individual points. I know that once all my needles are in that the treatment will start its healing journey; and it’s the collective that will achieve that.

There are exceptions to this rule and I will give a few examples here:

If my patient is incredibly stressed and anxious (for whatever reason) then I like to ‘Open the Four Gates’ before I do anything else. These are LI 4 (He Gu) and LR 3 (Tai Chong) needled bilaterally. As some of you would know, this is a great point combination to calm the patient down.

Another great treatment for calming a patient is GV 20 (Bai Hui) and Yin Tang and so I may put those two points in before any others.

The other scenario where I put the points in a certain order are when I open the Eight Extraordinary Vessels. In that instance I will always start with the Opening Point, then use the Coupled Point and then put at least one point in the vessel I am opening.

For example, if I were wanting to open the Chong Mai I would first needle SP 4 (Gong Sun) bilaterally; then I would needle PC 6 (Nei Guan) bilaterally; then I would put a point in the Chong Mai, such as KI 14 (Si Man) bilaterally. This makes it completely clear what I am trying to achieve with my treatment (open the Chong Mai) because SP 4 (Gong Sun), PC 6 (Nei Guan) and KI 14 (Si Man) perform multiple functions in the body, and the last thing I want is for the points to be confused about why they are being used. Yes, that can really happen!

I’m not saying that the body wouldn’t work it out, but in this situation I want the treatment to start working as quickly as possible. There will be a more thorough explanation on these three scenario’s later in the book.

So because I don’t have to needle points in a particular order I tend to choose the sequence of my needling in other ways. Therefore the points that are likely to hurt the most are needled last. I want to limit the stressful experience that a lot of people feel when they know needles are about to penetrate their skin. I have found that the best way to do this is to keep the nasty points till the end.

I have experimented with this over the years by either doing the nasty points first, or trying to hide them in the middle of the treatment. I even went through a phase where I left them out altogether and chose other, less effective, points to limit the pain potential for my patients (obviously this wasn’t the most sensible decision I have made in my Chinese medicine career – but we learn from our mistakes just as much as we learn from our successes).

I also tend to leave the points on the feet until the end of the treatment. This is partly because they can be a bit nasty, but mostly it’s a hygienic reason. After I touch the feet I need to wash my hands before I touch their body again. This can get a little stop-start if I am having to wash my hands multiple times in a treatment. So if I leave all my feet points until the end I only have to wash my hands after all the needles have been inserted.


HOW DO I NEEDLE?
Before I answer I do need to caveat it first. Over the past 20+ years of treating patients I have tried a range of different techniques. Some have been very traditional Chinese and some have been more Japanese style. My needle types have ranged from 0.35 by 40mm down to 0.12 by 15mm. My stimulation methods have ranged from strong stimulation to obtain De Qi down to barely inserting the needle at all.

In the end I have come to a middle ground. I now almost always use 0.20 by 15mm, 0.20 by 30mm, or 0.20 by 40mm needles. Sometimes I need to use longer ones and they may end up 0.30 thick by 75mm long, but for the most part the needles mentioned above are the ones I use.

These needles are chosen based on how far I need to insert them. I use a guide tube and tap the needle into the skin. I then push the needle in further and leave it at a certain distance into the body. I don’t generally do any further lifting and thrusting to acquire De Qi. My needle tip will be activating the De Qi because I have needled into the pocket of Qi. This principle applies no matter what angle I insert the needle. A few examples are probably needed here:

For LU 7 (Lie Que) I use a 0.20 by 30mm needle and I angle it transverse along the channel. Needling with the flow of Qi or against it doesn’t bother me too much but is sometimes a consideration. I start the needle tip just proximal or distal to the point and then needle about 0.5 cun transverse.

For SP 6 (San Yin Jiao) I use a 0.20 by 40mm needle and I angle it perpendicular roughly 0.5 cun to 0.8 cun deep.

For BL 15 (Xin Shu) I use a 0.20 by 30mm needle and I angle it oblique roughly 0.5 cun towards the spine, up the channel or down the channel.

I haven’t found any negatives with needling this way. I haven’t seen any lessening of benefit from treatment. In fact, my patients are delighted because acupuncture doesn’t hurt them and more of them continue to attend therapy as a result.


WRITE THE NEEDLE NUMBER DOWN
I write the number of needles used onto the patient file and circle it. Then when I remove the needles I count them to ensure I don’t forget any that might be hidden away. I put needles straight into the sharps container as I remove them.

This was something I started to do consistently when I had a couple of near misses with hidden needles. But it’s something I have been doing for a long time now. I think it probably became a habit pretty soon after I graduated.

When I was in year 11 at school (16 years old) my Mum used to visit an acupuncturist on the Sunshine Coast, Queensland, Australia. I won’t name names but the acupuncturist in question accidentally left HT 7 (Shen Men) in and after her appointment, Mum went straight to the bank (which was virtually next door). As she reached into the hand bag for her bank card she must have dislodged the needle because when Mum tossed the bank card to the bank teller, the needle flew out of her wrist and landed next to her card. It must have been the funniest thing – apparently the female bank teller got the biggest look of shock on her face as she reached for Mum’s card and then paused mid-reach as her brain realised there was a needle on the desk in front of her. This event occurred in 1990 and acupuncture wasn’t particularly well known in Australia (it is now), so Mum thinks that the bank teller thought she was a druggie. Ha!

Needless to say, that story has stuck in my mind and reminds me to always write the number of needles down on the file and to then count those needles upon removal.


PATIENT EXPLANATION
If the patient is interested I will explain what I am doing before, during, and after the treatment. The mind is a powerful tool and can be used to aid us in healing. As I’m explaining the treatment I want my patient to start visualising this in their mind. I’m convinced that this actually helps the patients healing.

I realise that this feeds into the whole placebo argument so I won’t go into any more detail but I do consider it an important part of my treatment.


UNIVERSAL QI
I use Universal Qi in every single treatment. Apart from what I stated above, Universal Qi is also important in other ways. One of those is ensuring that you don’t use your own Qi when treating patients. You must always ensure that you keep some of your own personal Qi supply each day or you will burn out. I’m not suggesting that we don’t give of ourselves in our desire to help the injured and sick. But we must do that with Universal Qi as our partner.

Some of you would have different ways that you keep yourself strong and healthy throughout a busy clinic day. Perhaps you do some Tai Ji Quan (Tai Chi) or Qi Gong? I really like to make sure I have at least three breaks in a busy day. They don’t have to be large – but they need to be there so I can recharge and be ready for my next influx of patients.


ACCESSING UNIVERSAL QI
How do I access and use Universal Qi? First of all I recognise that it’s everywhere and that I can gain access to it immediately because I am in it; and seeing as my patient is also in it, we can both use this Universal Qi to our benefit. Second, when I want to target a specific area I place my hands over the zone (either just above or on the skin), close my eyes and visualise white puffy clouds. I breathe in and draw the white puffy clouds into myself; then as I breathe out I send the white puffy clouds out through my hands and into the patient. I then repeat this 3-5 times.

Sometimes when I am doing this the colour, and image, changes. I could get an image of red fire, blue waterfalls, purple sunsets, or a number of other ones. When this happens I go with it and stay with the new colour and image. One of two things tends to occur during this – either the patient describes the area getting hot, cold, or incredibly energetic; or when I ask them what their favourite colour is, it turns out to be the colour that I’ve been sending into their body. This colour appears to be their Universal Qi colour of choice.


NEEDLE RETENTION TIME
I like to give my patients about 30 minutes with the needles in. That means that the 30 minutes starts once all the needles have been inserted. This isn’t a conscious choice because I want to tonify, sedate or disperse; I do it because experience has shown that a patient has generally been able to relax in that time and that they are just about to get to the point where the brain starts to kick in again and they want to get up. My Mum will regularly yell out “I’m cooked David” at that thirty minute mark of treatment.

I even had a series of treatments from an acupuncturist years ago that had an egg timer attached to the clinic room door. After she inserted the needles she would set the egg timer to 30 minutes. Sure enough, the timer would ring and I would feel like a cooked egg. Ha!!


EXPECTING RESULTS
I expect results! I go into every treatment with the belief that my patient will improve. I have to believe this because to do otherwise could compromise our treatment goals. Positivity and real belief in my medicine is crucial to good results. And if I can get my patients expecting results too then we are even more likely to achieve our goals.

I never tell my patients that they will be cured or fixed as a result of my treatments. I don’t tell them that I can definitely help them get better. My patients choose me and choose acupuncture because I explain what we will be trying to achieve in their healing. I talk about past patient successes with them if they ask me about whether I have treated their particular complaint before. If I have never treated their particular complaint, but if I know about the research associated with their complaint, then I can talk to them about the research successes.

If I don’t think I can help someone then I won’t start treating them. If I know of someone in my field that is far more experienced at treating the persons complaint then I will refer them on. If they have been referred to me, they specifically want to be treated by me, and I know I can treat their complaint, then I will take them on as a patient.


FAVOURITE CHANNEL
Do I have a favourite channel? Definitely! It’s the Ren Mai. I can achieve so much with this channel. Every single organ can be treated using the Ren Mai. It’s a sensational channel to use when you want to link up combinations of points. The Ren Mai can also be used to treat organs in different parts of the San Jiao (Triple Energiser).

For example, if the patient has disharmony between their Lungs and Kidneys, leading to asthma and wheezing, then I can use the Ren Mai to reconnect the Lung/Kidney imbalance. This might include CV 4 (Guan Yuan), CV 6 (Qi Hai), CV 17 (Shan Zhong), and CV 22 (Tian Tu), along with points on other channels and in other areas of the body.

I also like the Ren Mai because I have direct and LOCAL access to each organ. This allows me to use local points and distal points in my treatment for organ based problems. So using the example above, I could include KI 4 (Da Zhong) and LU 9 (Tai Yuan) for a patient with asthma and wheezing as a result of a Lung/Kidney imbalance. I would likely use CV 4 (Guan Yuan), CV 6 (Qi Hai), CV 17 (Shan Zhong), and CV 22 (Tian Tu) as well.


FAVOURITE POINTS
Do I have favourite points? Of course! I’m sure most of you would have too? A lot of these points will be discussed when I write my book.


FOLLOW UP PHONE CALL
It has become common practice for me to call, text or email my patients roughly one-two days after their treatment. This does two things:

The first is that it shows that I care for my patients even when they are not in my clinic. The second is that it often guides when the next appointment should be. I’m not a fan of booking patients in every week and sticking to the schedule rigidly. This is because patient’s signs and symptoms change at different speeds and on different days. As they change, this should then dictate when they need their next appointment.

So what I do for my patients is to set out a treatment plan. This might very well be one treatment a week for six weeks. But my patients know that this could change somewhat based on how they respond to their treatment. They may end up coming in again three days later and then it might be ten days before the following appointment.

My point is that I am sticking to the framework of treating my patient and not the disease. So as my patient changes then I must change too.

I must admit that this has been very popular with my patients since I introduced it about ten years ago.


SUMMARY
The time it took for you to read this is far longer than it takes me to perform it. All of these processes just happen for me as a result of my 24 years in clinical practice.

The one thing I didn’t mention was just how much I love Chinese medicine. I couldn’t think of doing anything else in my life. It’s a serious passion that engulfs my life and I wouldn’t want it any other way.

Hopefully you felt that passion as you read this. It should because I put just as much love into my writing as I do with my healing.

As always I am keen to hear back from you.

Love and light to you all


David Hartmann

Monday 28 August 2017

Seneca Praemeditatio

I hope you have all been well since my last post?

Today I wanted to quickly discuss one of my favourite philosophers of all time. His name was Seneca and he lived in Rome (4BCE-65CE) during the reigns of five of the more polarising Emperors in Roman history - Augustus, Tiberius, Caligula, Claudius, and Nero. The last three on the list didn't make life easy for Seneca. Granted Caligula and Nero didn't make life easy for many people. Claudius however exiled Seneca to the island of Corsica (41-49CE) so he didn't have it easy with Claudius either.

Seneca was considered a Stoic philosopher. A stoic sought a way of life that was free from suffering (ultimate goal). To get there a stoic had to incorporate daily practice in self-control, overcoming destructive emotions, abstaining from worldly pleasures, developing clear judgement, and generating an inner calm. They also trained their attention to the present moment.

Seneca, however, was more than just a stoic. He learnt from a lot of different philosophers and philosophical constructs, in particular Epicureanism. And whilst I can't prove it, there was a lot about Seneca that was Buddhist. What I can't prove here is whether Buddhism had inserted itself into the minds of any Westerners at this point in history. It's certainly possible, and because this era pre-dated Roman Christianity, then any philosophical construct was accepted in Rome at that time.

In a way, Seneca had his own philosophy, which he geared around the Goddess Fortuna. She is often depicted as carrying a set of scales in one hand and a ships rudder in the other. She would weigh up an outcome, and however the scales fell, she would shift the course of the rudder to give you something good or something bad, or even something in between. Fortuna couldn't be swayed by popularity, wealth, or prestige. If she was feeling cruel then she would be cruel to anyone, anywhere, anytime. She was the perfect foil to base Seneca's philosophical system.

What fascinates me the most about Seneca was the way he viewed the world. For starters he was one of the wealthiest people in Rome. Some of my research suggests he was even wealthier than the Roman emperor Nero. So here we had a wealthy philosopher. This was relatively rare in ancient times in the West. Most philosophers were poor and so tended to associate only with poor people. But Seneca was loaded, and conveniently, he hung around with wealthy people. And guess what he discovered? That rich people have the same emotional turmoil as poor people. This was ground breaking at the time, because the view was that if you were wealthy you had no problems.

What Seneca was best at though, was advising people on how to stay emotionally stable. And the single best way to do that, according to Seneca, was to be ready for anything.

But how do you prepare yourself for anything that could happen in a day? Seneca proposed that you did a morning meditation, or praemeditatio. You do it before you get up and it will fortify you for the day ahead, whatever unfolds for you. It goes like this:


“The wise will start each day with the thought…
Fortuna [Goddess] gives us nothing which we can really own.
Nothing, whether public or private, is stable; the destinies of men, no less than those of cities, are in a whirl.
Whatever structure has been reared by a long sequence of years, at the cost of great toil and through the great kindness of the gods, is scattered and dispersed in a single day. No, he who has said ‘a day’ has granted too long a postponement to swift misfortune; an hour, an instant of time, suffices for the overthrow of empires.
How often have cities in Asia, how often in Achaia [Western Greek province], been laid low by a single shock of earthquake? How many towns in Syria, how many in Macedonia, have been swallowed up? How often has this kind of devastation laid Cyprus in ruins?
We live in the middle of things which have all been destined to die.
Mortal have you been born, to mortals have you given birth.
Reckon on everything, expect everything.”



Pretty powerful stuff isn't it? Basically Seneca is encouraging the person to prepare for the worst possible outcome imaginable. And because, typically, the worst outcome doesn't eventuate, then it's been a good day.

Seneca believed that the most powerful emotional responses occur as a result of not being prepared. If you knew there was a possibility, however slight, that the shit could hit the fan, then when the shit does hit the fan, you were prepared. Hopefully with some sort of protective garb because nobody wants poo on them.

Point being is that if you consider the possibility of a bad outcome and then the bad occurs, you will be more emotionally stable because you didn't get surprised. You were ready, in other words.

I personally like the praemeditatio and I also don't. Part of me likes it because it fires us up for the day ahead. It also prepares us for any eventuality, which should have you ready to act when any of these possibilities occur.

But I also don't like it because it forces us to focus on the negative. And because I believe that 'Like Attracts Like' we could effectively be manifesting the wrong thing. Therefore, I wake up in the morning believing it will be a great day. Sometimes the Universe shoots me down as soon as I get out of bed, but mostly I start the day, in a positive and happy manner. And I wouldn't want it to be any other way. 

Seneca didn't get to die easy. I'm assuming he did his praemeditatio on the morning of his forced suicide? The emperor Nero decided that Seneca was conspiring against him so that he could take the Roman thrown for himself. This couldn't have been further from the truth, but once Nero got something into his head there was no changing it. He sent one of his praetorian guard to Seneca's house with the suicide note. Upon receiving the letter, Seneca sat down to write out his will and a list of who he owed money to so that the debt could be settled posthumously. The guard felt he was taking too much time so he hurried Seneca along. 

Seneca's wife Paulina, in a fit of despair also wanted to end her life, and Seneca didn't stop her. But as soon as she slit her wrists the guard bandaged her up again. Seneca was already quite old by the time the suicide was ordered, so when he slit his wrists the blood didn't flow quickly. So he slit more blood vessels and still he didn't die. So he ordered a cup of hemlock (poisonous parsley alkaloid) to be brewed so that he could die in a similar vein to the famous Greek philosopher Socrates. But after drinking two cups of hemlock, Seneca still wasn't dead so he asked to be placed in a vapour-bath, where he slowly suffocated to death.

From all reports, Seneca died gracefully, in true stoic fashion. He wasn't going to let the Goddess Fortuna beat him during his final minutes on Earth. 

Love and light to you all

David Hartmann






Friday 28 July 2017

Acupoint Dictionary

Acupoint Dictionary 2e by David Hartmann

Published by Elsevier Churchill Livingstone

Yes this is my first ever blog post promoting one of my saleable items. I wrote this book back in 2003 and self-published it. The book was very successful so Elsevier picked it up and was published as a 2nd edition (2e) in 2009.

The book is very straight forward and lists acupuncture treatments for over 1000 Chinese medicine and Western medical disorders. These are listed in alphabetical order - hence the term 'Dictionary' in the book title.

To date i am still yet to find a book similar. The thing that makes it unique and special is that you can easily search up a disorder and then apply the treatment to your patient. These disorders are so easy to find which makes the book so popular for clinical settings.

The Acupoint Dictionary also discusses cautions/contraindications, Zang Fu patterns of disharmony, has good appendices and bibliography/reference sections, as well as pictures of the channels and points in the back of the book.

I dont explain why/how the points work but virtually everything in the book is referenced, thereby assuring the reader that the treatments are accurate. The references also allow you to read more about the treatment if you so desire.

This is the first time that i have blogged my book because i didn't want my readers to think i was just writing stuff so that you would buy my book. But at the same time i should be confident that my readers want to know what i have for sale because if you like what i write then you might want to purchase my stuff.

This book can be purchased from the following links:

http://www.elsevierhealth.com.au/acupoint-dictionary-9780729538831.html?___store=en_gb

https://www.endeavourbookstore.com.au/product/acupoint-dictionary/?v=6cc98ba2045f

http://www.chinabooks.com.au

For the China Books link, just type in my name in the top right search bar and it comes up. Alternatively the numbers for the Sydney and Melbourne (Australia) China Books stores are below:

+61 2 9280 1885

+61 3 9663 8822

The Acupoint Dictionary 2e can be purchased for about $70 from China Books, Elsevier or the Endeavour College bookstore.

Lastly i am in the process of writing a number of other Chinese medicine books. These are on the following topics:

* Acupuncture Point Combinations - have you ever been confused as to how/why the points in a treatment combine together for an effective result? The plan with this book is to simplify treatment combinations by explaining what each point does in the treatment combination.

* Heart Shen and Emotions - another topic that is under-represented in the Chinese medicine publishing community. Yet its crucial that we know more about how to treat patients that are struggling emotionally.

* Zang Fu Patterns of Disharmony - this will be a text book that lists the patterns in simple language and without lots of fluff. This will make each pattern easy to find for the reader in a classroom or clinic setting.

* Point Location - the plan with this book is to write something that is easy for the reader to access each point. Also i find that not enough books explain what the pin yin or Chinese characters mean for each point. This is a serious lack as they are so often a clue to what a point treats or where its located.

I also have about a dozen other ideas that are in various stages of development, which i will discuss in the future.

I hope that you have all been well and are feeling stable emotionally.

Love and light!!

David Hartmann

Tuesday 27 June 2017

Depression – How Can It Manifest So Differently?

Depression is a funny animal. Well it actually fucking isn’t but I’ve decided to be a glass half-full chap today! Ha! In actual fact, depression is a sneaky, dirty, slimy snake. It creeps up on you most of the time, and before you know it, you went from feeling quite contented and happy to someone who can’t get out of bed because they see no clear reason to.

In fact, at last count, just over one million people commit suicide annually world-wide. To give that a bit of context, that’s one person topping themselves every 40 seconds. That’s not a typo people, one soul departs the Earth every 40 seconds via their own hand! This same website also advised that by 2020 that figure would climb dramatically to one suicide every 20 seconds (http://www.befrienders.org/suicide-statistics)


THE TIME TO ACT IS NOW PEOPLE!!!


Let’s pan back a bit and look at the statistics of depression. Well of course we can only analyse the statistics of people that actually admit to having depression in the first place. At last count, between 15-20% of people world-wide have advised their GP that they have had depression at some point in their life. That means if you are in a crowd of about 100 people there is every chance that 20 of you have suffered (or are currently suffering) from depression. That’s a stupidly high amount! What the fuck is wrong with all of us?

Now I get that there are quite a range of different ways that we can manifest depression. So what are the more common ones? Well, in super news, I’ve done my research and have come up with five of the more standard types, although please allow me writer’s prerogative when I give them my own titles:

1) 'Anger Depression’ OR ‘Everyone Sucks Depression’ OR ‘Depressed Alcoholic’.

2) 'The Happy Sell Depression’ OR ‘Fool Me Once Shame On You, Fool Me Twice Shame On Me Depression’.

3) 'Time Machine Depression’ OR ‘The Present Isn’t A Present Depression’.

4) 'Pit Depression’ OR ‘I Suck Depression’.

5) 'I Give Up Depression’ OR ‘I’m Getting Old Depression’.

So let’s run through each one in more detail shall we?


'Anger Depression’ OR 
‘Everyone Sucks Depression’ OR 
‘Depressed Alcoholic’:

https://au.pinterest.com/explore/anger-issues/


A person with this type of depression is unlikely to say they are depressed and instead will use phrases such as ‘I’m feeling a little off today’ or ‘I’m just not in the mood to do anything’, or ‘I’m just not in the groove’, or ‘I’m just not with it’, or ‘I don’t feel quite right’. If you asked them straight up if they ever felt depressed they are almost definitely going to say ‘No’. Instead, they will show predominant emotions of anger, frustration, feeling overwhelmed, and stress. If they do acknowledge depression, they will describe it as ‘Cyclical’. However, you need to be careful with these people because the cycles can merge super-fast and, before you know it, they are in a severe depression that they admit to and can’t find a way out of. The downhill slide can be so rapid that, before you know it they are a shell of their former selves, or they have already committed suicide, and everyone that knew them looks back and can’t figure out what the fuck just happened?

This type of depression also tends to have another unique component – alcohol! That’s right, ladies and gentlemen, this is the classic ‘depressed alcoholic’ stereotype. The funny thing is that alcohol is actually classed as a depressant on drug and alcohol websites world-wide. Huh! Go figure! However, I can guarantee you that alcohol is an upper as well as a downer. Some people drink to get an initial high. It also slows down that stupid part of the brain that can be so damn ‘self-critical’, allowing people some peace and quiet for a little while.

The other thing alcohol can do is reset people’s ‘Justice Metres’. Not everyone has these so I need to quickly explain. These metres go up and down depending on all the good and bad things that happen to us and to those around us. When too many bad things happen close together the metre spikes and a person will lose their shit momentarily – essentially this becomes the required anger release necessary to allow the metre to drop back down again. The initial high that these people get with alcohol allows for the metre to cool significantly.

However, the length of time it stays that way is dependent on a number of factors. If, during a person’s drinking, they are smashed with bad shit happening to themselves and/or to others, alcohol can easily send the Justice Metre into the red just as fast as it had previously dropped it. This is never a good thing and has a tendency to make you an intolerable wanker from that point forward – well until either you go to bed or pass out in a gutter somewhere.

What these people want from their drinking is to make themselves, and the world, fuck off for a bit. Alcohol gives them a temporary vacation from themselves and a brief holiday from all the bad shit that was happening in the world. Have you ever wanted that? To take a holiday and leave yourself behind? I actually do love myself but there are still those occasional times where I would like to be anywhere else but with myself!

Alas, the alcohol is a catch-22, because it negatively impacts on sleep, and can make the person a cranky-as-fuck human the next morning. I found out that this was because they aren’t giving certain hormones the chance to regenerate. The primary candidates are serotonin, dopamine and endorphins. Stupid hormones!!

This type was also called the ‘Everyone Sucks Depression’ because the range of different emotions that accompanied the depression makes life really challenging. As I stated above, a person with this type of depression will struggle with anger and frustration; they will get overwhelmed easily and suffer from high levels of stress on a day to day basis. This will tend to drive them towards a dislike of the world and the people in it. This is typically because they are struggling so much but see all these other people that appear happy and successful and content. They will use phrases such as ‘Why can’t everything be equitable?’ OR ‘Why does it have to be so fucking hard all the time?’ OR ‘Life is so unfair’ OR ‘Why can’t I have what they have?’

As you can see, a person with this type will suffer from a wide range of emotions with anger top of the pile. Hence, the name ‘Anger Depression’!


'The Happy Sell Depression’ OR 
‘Fool Me Once Shame On You, Fool Me Twice Shame On Me Depression’:


http://christiancounseling.guru/blog/2014/05/29/beyond-pharmaceuticals-christian-counseling-for-depression/


It turns out that our heart is a pretty important organ. And this has shown itself to be the case with multiple cultures over the centuries. For example, Chinese medicine considers the heart to be the most important organ in the body so they give it the title of the ‘Emperor Organ’. Regardless of the culture, the heart is tasked with ensuring that blood moves effectively through the body, and the heart needs to get good blood to the brain to ensure we live and thrive; and the brain is vital for our hormones, which help us regulate our emotions.

If we use Chinese medicine as our example again, they consider the brain to be the spirit of the heart. The Chinese called this spirit our ‘Shen’. It encompasses our memory, consciousness, thinking, sleep, emotions, as well as our personal characteristics. These include how strong our willpower is, as well as our drive, determination, focus, concentration, self-belief, inspiration, courage, and how we interact with others.

All of these factors can be negatively impacted with this type of depression and a person suffering this will have multiple issues across all the spectrums previously discussed. This obviously makes a person with this depression difficult to identify because there is so much happening on the surface that is masking the depression hidden underneath. Fortunately there does tend to be three things that point to this type – anxiety, insomnia and the ‘happy sell’.

Regardless, this type of depression is the most difficult to identify because apart from what I previously mentioned, this person has their game face on. And this face is what I call ‘The Happy Sell’!

So what is this ‘Sell’? Well I think it’s pretty obvious: they appear to be happy to everyone they meet. They make us laugh. They refuse to take life seriously. They speak about the future. They are the life of the party.

Nobody in the fucking world will know they are depressed because nobody in the world will be allowed into their inner sanctum of depression. As a result, if they commit suicide nobody saw it coming – not one single person! To further complicate matters, if you were to ask after them, they will use phrases like ‘I’m fine’ OR ‘Life is great’ OR ‘I couldn’t be better’ OR ‘Everything is awesome’. Interestingly, however, they will immediately move the conversation away from talking about them, and they do it so effectively you won’t even realise its happened.

I had a friend with this type of depression who committed suicide by hanging himself in a cupboard. It was one of those free-standing cupboards which was about six foot high. Inside it there was a horizontal bar at the top for hanging clothes and then a few drawers at the bottom. All told there was about 4 feet of room from the bar to the drawers. My mate was about 6 and a half foot tall and weighed about 110 kilo’s (240 pound). He tied one of those physiotherapy resistance bands around the bar and then he somehow managed to squeeze himself into this tiny space, close the doors and then wrap the free end of the band around his neck like a noose. Then he crouched down in that cramped space and gradually suffocated to death.

Nobody could find him for almost a day. His car was at home; his wallet, phone and keys were at home; his bed looked like it had been slept it. His flatmate figured he had gone for a walk but his running shoes were in the garage. In the end, after he didn’t return from the supposed walk his flatmate started phoning all his friends. Nobody knew where he was. In the end, because he had searched every other nook and cranny in the unit, he opened the cupboard. Fuck my life! I feel sick just thinking about it!

I had seen my mate only two days before. He was talking up the chances of the New Zealand All Blacks in the rugby union world cup that was currently being held in New Zealand. He loved his All Blacks and he appeared to love life. He was funny and lovable and would do anything for you; and then, just like that, he was gone! I was so shocked that he had killed himself that I didn’t believe it at first. I actually rang his mobile phone. It went to his message bank and I left a message for him to call me when he next had an opportunity. That obviously never happened!

This type of depression also requires a lot of energy to sustain itself. Therefore, they are likely to use stimulants/uppers/gambling to keep them away from depression, and to keep them ‘Up’. But, like the previous alcoholic depression, there is a catch because too many stimulants will negatively impact on their sleep, hence the insomnia.

At the end of the day, these guys/gals just want life to be fun. They want/need to be around lots of people all the time. So if their life is lonely and quiet, and if existing just seems like too much work then they will be happy enough to forfeit it.

They want peace, harmony, and fun for everyone. Therefore they will struggle with people that lie, steal, and are rude/selfish. Especially if it happens to them or to those they are close to. Hence the ‘Fool Me Once Shame On You, Fool Me Twice Shame On Me’! This is because they tend to think the best of everyone so they are a target to be taken advantage of: more than once unfortunately! And because of this they can get very resentful of the world, which is counter to their typical love of everyone and everything. This leads to a vicious cycle of love/hate for others, and by default, themselves.



‘Time Machine Depression’ OR 
‘The Present Isn’t A Present Depression’:



https://au.pinterest.com/babsallen/cartoons-for-kids/?lp=true


A person with this type of depression has felt they have lost their way in the world; in particular, in the present world. There are a variety of reasons for why this has happened, which we will discuss shortly, but their depression revolves around spending too much time in the past and/or the future.
When we are all healthy, we live in the present, and we are relatively happy and contented here. That’s why it’s called a ‘present’! It’s a gift from whoever/whatever/however the world was created. Breaking away from the present can leave us not just reflective, but also worried, pensive, and broody in our daily lives. We have lost the whole point of the present being a ‘gift!’

People with this type of depression didn’t just end up there overnight. This depression tends to manifest in certain individuals who love to feel valued and important. They want to help solve the world’s problems, of which they recognise there are many; and they want to solve these problems one at a time. To do this they like to be in very small groups, where they act as a type of counsellor. They help guide the person/people on a journey of self-realisation, thereby ensuring that they come to their own conclusions about their problems. Then, with the current dilemma sorted, they go hunting for the next one.

For these individuals, life also has to be fair, because this is what helps ensure balance, harmony and even-flow. But life isn’t fair, and so these people will go hunting for situations where they can help to get that balance back. But this can take its toll, especially if they don’t feel valued for their help. Over time this can lead to someone either trying harder, or pulling back/retreating from the world, and the people in it. And this is when the depression kicks in.

By trying harder, they can come across as needy, pushy, meddlesome, over protective, over bearing, and obsessive. As a result, the people around them tend to pull away, and this effectively takes them away from the thing they like doing best – helping to solve other people’s problems. They become alienated from the world and the people in it!

Alternatively, they try less and become unmotivated, stuck, melancholic, lethargic, vague, obsequious, and servile. But this retraction from the world can also result in them craving sympathy from others, to a point where they may manufacture signs and symptoms, even diseases, in order to receive more compassion.

By losing that sense of self that came from helping solve the world’s problems, they will start to spend time in the past or the future; to the point where they would be the first person to buy a time machine if/when they become available on the market.

They spend time in the past for two reasons – to fondly reflect on the ‘better times’, or to revisit bad things that have happened to them (and others) and wishing they could go back and change them. Neither of these situations is ideal and it results in depression.

Spending time in the future also tends to manifest in two ways – they obsessively look forward to something good that is coming up. This typically leaves them feeling flat and depressed because the thing they were so looking forward to didn’t end up as good as they had anticipated; or, it was good, but it came and went too quickly.

Alternatively, they worry uncontrollably about something that is yet to come thereby getting into a real panic pre-event. This tends to have them withdraw further from the world leading to significant depression and loneliness.

By spending too much time away from their daily activities that they so enjoyed, they get disconnected from those around them, and this is what creates the depression. The present is no longer a ‘present/gift’.



‘Pit Depression’ OR 
I Suck Depression’:




Finally we reach a depression that can be spotted a mile away. This is a depression that is distinct because the patient knows about it and the likelihood is that the people around them will also know about it. That is typically because you can see it in the way they wander like a zombie through their days. There is a distinct possibility that they will also talk about their depression with you; and it’s likely it will be referred to by them as ‘Their’ depression.

This is severe grief/sadness/depression; what I call ‘Pit Depression’. They are down deep in a giant hole or pit and they know what it is but they don’t know how they got there or how to get out.
Interestingly, they are still likely to continue living their life exactly the way they have been. But it won’t generate any sort of joy or contentment for them. They just do what they have always done because they don’t know what else to do. They don’t know what to change in order to feel better about themselves. Plus they have no energy to do that anyway.

Everything is hard! Getting out of bed in the morning is hard! Making breakfast is hard! Leaving the house to go to work is an almost impossible task which leaves them feeling even more fatigued than they were when they first woke up. The work day is hard but usually tolerable as long as it’s the same thing every day. Unusual events or changes to their work schedule is almost more than they can bear. Even the trip home is hard because they are about to be alone with their thoughts and that is usually worse than anything else in their life. So obviously their evening routine at home is hard! Yet there is a part of them that doesn’t want to be around others and so home is an oxymoron.

In all likelihood they have suicidal thoughts, and may have planned out their demise. Typically this type of person is very thorough and particular about things so this is also the case with their planned suicide.

Fortunately for them, they have no energy to actually follow through with their planned demise, so they just continue to live their life, one day at a time, in their depression waiting for the moment when it will all be over.

They are likely to lay the blame for their slide into the ‘Pit’ squarely at their own feet. Whereas with other types of depression the blame is placed on other people, or the world, or the guy who created it; anyone, everyone, but not you. Not these people though. They hate themselves and everything about their lives.

In all likelihood they have reached a point where absolutely nothing makes them feel good. They also don’t look forward to anything anymore, and when prompted to think back to a time when they were happy, they will likely turn acidic and beat on themselves even more. They don’t want to think about a time when they were happy because to do so shows up their own failings as a human being.






‘I Give Up Depression’ OR 
‘I’m Getting Old Depression’:

http://www.faysflounderings.com/2013/10/24/the-advantages-of-being-forgetful/


This type of depression is almost an emotional after-thought. It comes as a direct result of the breakdown of the driving forces in our lives. These are our willpower, drive, determination, enthusiasm, courage, intelligence, and initiative. When these forces aren’t constantly stimulated we can ‘give up’ on life.

This type of depression will hurt some people more than others and they are typically the ones who had an inexhaustible supply of those driving forces, and for whatever reason, they are no longer available to them. To have something that is so powerful in the palms of your hands, and then to lose it – well it’s too much for some people to bear.

This is also the typical depression that impacts on people as they get older. We really should expect to lose some of our cognitive function as we age; that’s just the way life goes. But some people take it much harder than others. Contrary to popular belief, suicide isn’t exclusive to young people. In fact, the rate of suicides are highest (for all age groups) for those over 65 years of age (https://ourworldindata.org/suicide/).

High achievers that have thrived because of these driving forces can also slump into this depression if they lose their willpower, drive, determination, enthusiasm, courage, intelligence, and initiative.

A person that feels they are slipping into this depression will tend to head in one of two directions. One group will fight with everything they have; the other will throw their hands in the air and give up.

The group that fights will be up against it though because the stuff they need to fight with is the stuff they don’t have anymore. As a result they can become extremely critical, cynical, blunt, sarcastic, pessimistic, tactless, and rash. Plus they become quite forgetful, which as you can imagine makes them even more frustrated.

Interestingly, this forgetfulness can make them quite suspicious and cagey around others, because they are concerned that they are being taking advantage of. Even worse, they can become convinced that they did certain things in the day when they actually didn’t. This can make for quite lively debates with others. Add to that a vague but non-specific feeling of dread and foreboding and you can see why they can become quite depressed.

The group that give up will lock themselves away from the world. They won’t attempt anything challenging because they know they will fail plus they are easily discouraged anyway. They are likely to be dull, stupid, dim witted, and forgetful. They may feel abandoned by those they were once close to, but in all likelihood, they did that to themselves. This may have come about because they have become quite suspicious of everyone and everything. Add to that a vague but non-specific feeling of dread and foreboding and you can see why they can become quite depressed.



So to summarise, there are so many diverse people on the planet who live their lives in different ways. Therefore the depression people suffer from is also going to be different. I may have listed five types here but there are possibly going to be others. Further, there is no reason why a person suffering from depression can’t in fact suffer from a number of the ones I have discussed above.

If you feel that you are suffering from one (or a selection) of these depressions then please seek help. As it turns out, there are plenty of legitimate, and very helpful therapies out there for people that suffer from depression.

It often takes just one event to help bring us back from the brink. It can often be something so random, obscure, or unexpected. Sometimes it doesn’t appear that way at the time, but on reflection you realise just how relevant it ended up being. If this blog post is that thing for you and you seek help then I have done my job.

Please don’t ignore depression for even one more week; not even one day! Stop reading and do something about it. Where does one start you may be asking? Well there are a range of different options available.

The obvious ones are:

*  Counsellors, Psychologists, Psychiatrists – you can usually get a mental health plan from a GP which dramatically reduces the cost of these options – Medicare pays for some of the fee.

*   Natural medicine options – these can include, but are not limited to, acupuncture and herbs.

* Western medicine options – including cognitive behavioural therapy, behaviour therapy, psychotherapy, even anti-depressants (these are all outside my scope of experience but they do work for some people).




I’ve no doubt forgotten some particularly obvious ones but at least I have given you a start point.

My plan is to also start up a ‘Busted, Broken, Beautiful’ group where we can get together and share our experiences. I want to be able to regularly post relevant items onto the group’s page as well for those that can’t attend the group gatherings.

You may think that I am just a guy writing an interesting (I bloody hope it was interesting!) piece on depression, but actually has no real experience with it. Well I can assure you that this is definitely not the case. I have suffered from depression on and off over the years and I was suicidal on a number of occasions. I managed to come back from the brink, and trust me when I say this – if I could do it then anyone can do it!

Please pass this post onto anyone that you feel might benefit from it. If even one person is helped because of what I have written then it was worth every second it took to write.

Lastly, if any of you feel compelled to reply I would be honoured.

Love and light to you all

David Hartmann