Antidepressants Blog

However, in the negative Honey Suckle State the person lacks inner mobility. His mind is so much entrenched in the past that he is always dwelling in the memories of the days gone by—the missed opportunities, regret for missed chances and unfulfilled hopes; the sagely advice of a doting parent ignored during youth; the lavish spending of father’s hard earned money, resulting in the present financial difficulties; the loss of a sincere friend or a loving relative—depressing thoughts for events gone by which have no relation to the present conditions of the person. On the other side, at the time when one is sad or unhappy and feels bored, his mind may go back to the period of happiness with memories of a large happy family, company of good sincere friends, a crucial Badminton match in which he came from 2-12 to 14-12 to win the match for his school and the tremendous applause he received from the packed galleries.

In either case whether the mind is engrossed in happy or sad memories of the past, it loses contact with the present, and cannot order the body to act according to the present circumstances. He loses interest in the present and makes no effort to overcome the present difficulties—a state of stagnation when the person is no good for himself and no good to the society.

Home-sickness is a result of negative Honeysuckle state. What tragedy falls to such people can be gauged from a recent historical event.

In 1947 after partition of India, there was mass exodus of the whole communities from Pakistan to India and vice versa. People were cruelly torn asunder from their old moorings. They had to shift lock, stock and barrel from their ancestral homes to new unseen places in an unknown country with different climate, different surroundings and very often with different food-habits. Those who could adopt themselves to the changed circumstances and thought of the then present, not only survived but made very successful citizens of their new country. But the negative Honey suckle people could only lead a miserable existence on to an object death. In a normal person, occasion arises when he cannot forget a certain event in the past or in a reverie after a certain event his mind starts recollecting past events and forgets the present.

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One factor that contributes to depression is loss of control. When you feel that your disability is an externally imposed event, something you cannot affect through your own behavior, you are more likely to feel depressed. The hospital staff may unwittingly contribute to this feeling by providing you with equipment or developing treatment goals without asking for your input, feelings, and preferences. Remind yourself that you do have choices, that you can take some control of your situation. Some things that depress you can be changed. When you initiate even minor changes, you are likely to feel less depressed and more accepting of your limitations.

Joan hated her heavy leather splints and worked with her occupational therapist to try various alternatives. They eventually developed a model for clear plastic splints and had them custom made by an orthopedic supply house. The splints proved just as effective and more esthetically pleasing. Bonnie, who has paraplegia, was disgusted with the way the outline of her long leg braces showed through her sweat pants, and she didn’t want to wear sweats other than in therapy. She decided to alter her jeans to fit loosely over the braces, creating a bell-bottom effect. This made her feel presentable for visitors and more in charge of her appearance.

Making decisions about your goals, equipment, and appearance can help you avoid helplessness and depression. Understanding that even normal feelings of sadness can affect your physical progress may encourage you to get support from friends and family and to recognize your accomplishments. Making choices, asking for change when possible, and getting support help you focus more clearly and objectively on your practical and physical needs.

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Not everyone who comes to the Carbohydrate Addict’s Center has a constructive attitude, but Bobbi did. Unlike many of the people who have come to us unhappy with themselves and their lives, Bobbi would have to be classified as a positive person.

She was forty-six when we first met. She was married (“pretty happily,” she said), had two daughters in high school, and a job as an administrative assistant in a large insurance office.

Her dieting history was about what we have come to expect. Several times she had dieted, lost some weight, then regained what she lost. But her losses and gains had been limited to the ten- to fifteen-pound range. She took our test and was identified as being almost dead center in the moderate addiction range.

She wanted to lose “at least fifteen pounds, although twenty would make me ecstatic.” She also expressed a concern that at times her eating seemed to get out of control. When she was home alone, she said, she would sometimes find herself eating without being able to stop. She had noticed that when marketing she would buy things in anticipation of being alone, although she often told herself the food was for others. On more than one occasion she had waited for everyone else to leave the house, taken out her store of goodies, then sat in front of the television and “pigged out.” What bothered her most was that she found this to be probably the most pleasurable experience that she had had for a very long time and that she was finding that she wanted to do it more and more often.

We told her about the Carbohydrate Addict’s Diet, explaining the normal mechanism of insulin release and how its dysfunction probably caused some of her behavior. Then we explained the diet’s guidelines. Bobbi left our session bound and determined to lose weight.

When she returned two weeks later for her scheduled appointment, she was bitterly disappointed. She hadn’t lost any weight, she said.

We asked to see her weight chart. To our surprise, she admitted she didn’t have one. She explained that she had weighed herself on the first day, a week later, and then again that day. Wasn’t that enough? she asked. Other diet programs she had used required that she weigh herself once a week or that she not weigh herself at all.

Daily weighing is critical, we explained. We gave her a scenario.

Say she weighed 156 on the day she started the diet. Most people’s weights vary a pound or two from day to day, so let’s assume that although Bobbi’s typical weight was actually 158, she happened to be at a low-weight point on that first day. Assume she stayed dutifully on the diet for a week, then, at week’s end, weighed herself. Even if she had really lost two pounds she might well appear to have made no progress—having weighed herself at a day or time when the scale read 156.

People can use their weights as an excuse to eat. When they lose weight they tell themselves, Great, I can eat now. If they gain weight they say, What’s the use? I tried so hard and I gained weight, so I might as well eat. If their weight stays the same, they say, “No matter what I do, I’m not going to lose, so I might as well eat.”

That’s why we recommend daily weighings, which are then averaged for the week. This routine helps avoid such counterproductive reactions. It gives the dieter a chance to see how he or she did over the entire week; it’s the way scientists measure changes, taking as many readings as possible to average and compare them over time. It also helps you to understand the changes in your weight that take place naturally.

Several weeks later Bobbi was very much an advocate of daily weighing. “I can’t tell you how important it is. Before, I would get on the scale after a week of torture and find that I had gained a half a pound. Or I would eat like a pig for a week and my weight would stay the same.

“Now I see that it was those stupid weekly weighings. Now I can see the ups and downs during the week but I can also see the trend of the weight loss beyond the false highs and lows.

“That’s really important in keeping my motivation going.”

Bobbi lost twenty-two pounds in four months. After two years, she has maintained her goal weight. And continues to weigh herself every day and to average her weight each week. “It’s become second nature to me. It keeps me sane and it keeps me slim.”

Averaging your weight. In order to measure the rate of your weight loss, your daily weights should be averaged. This averaging helps smooth out the highs and lows, and gives you a more realistic picture of what is really happening with your weight loss.

As Bobbi found, high-weight or low-weight days can make it appear as if you are gaining when you are losing (or vice versa). This accounts for people who have been cheating on a diet but find that when they report for a weekly weigh-in at another diet program, they are told that they have lost weight or stayed the same. But the cheating will usually catch up with them in a week or two.

By averaging your weights, you compensate for high- and low-weight days and get a more accurate reading of what is really happening with your weight level. Taking regular and frequent measurements compensates for the highs and lows of any natural phenomenon. The human body is the same—it isn’t a machine, but it changes and adjusts constantly to countless factors.

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