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What’s the Clinical Definition of Depression?
Depression is a mood disorder. It is quite a common mental illness to be diagnosed with, but it does come in various states of seriousness: major, persistent, psychotic, and clinical, among others. When a person is depressed, they have feelings of sadness and are likely to lose interest in things they once enjoyed.
To be diagnosed with depression, a person has to have some of the various symptoms for at least two weeks. Some of the symptoms can include:
- Changes in mood and/or appetite.
- Feeling worthless.
- Trouble thinking or loss of interest.
- Suicidal ideations or thinking about death.
There are many reasons someone could feel or end up being diagnosed with depression ranging from grieving from death, having harm done to you, medications, or even genetics. If you have a family history of depression, you will have a higher risk of depression.
While many resorts to seeing a therapist and being prescribed antidepressants, some would instead not go down that route and would like to try at least natural ways to help treat their depression. There are some well-known natural treatments, but one a lot of people have either known about or not is meditation.
Mediation is a widely practiced technique, but there are, understandably, skeptics who are iffy about practicing meditation and genuinely wonder if it can help with depression. So, let us continue reading more to determine whether or not meditation can help with depression.
Does Meditation Actually Help with Depression?
Meditation does help with depression if practiced regularly. Depression negatively affects your thoughts and mood. The concept of meditation for someone who is depressed is for them to help better manage their stress and reconstruct their thoughts, venturing away from the negative.
Persistent levels of stress and anxiety will trigger depression relapses, so meditation helps to avoid that. The amount of time to meditate is purely determined by you, so they can range from if you don’t have enough time, one minute up to twenty to thirty minutes. However, various forms of meditation work well for different people, given their circumstances, but some work best for depression.
Keep reading to learn what type of meditation is the best for depression.
What Type of Meditation is Best for Depression?
While there is no one-set type of meditation that is the best for depression, there are various types of them that can cater to everyone who is going through a mood disorder. The beauty of these techniques all has one thing in common: ensuring that you are brought back into the “now” and not focusing on the past and the negatives that come with it. Some time people tend to start Lucid dreaming in negative way so unable to distinguish between this and reality in that case go through mastering lucid dreaming through meditation guide,
Some of the best meditations that are good for treating depression are, but are not limited to:
- Breath Awareness Meditation: Simply, you are just taking a moment if you are feeling stressed and taking several minutes to focus on your breathing and ensure it is steady. While you are steadying your breathing, you are focusing on the present.
- Loving Kindness Meditation: This form of meditation is essentially a form of self-love and helps to make you happier and think positive thoughts not only to yourself but towards others, as well.
- Walking Meditation: Walking meditation allows you to walk, which is suitable for obtaining better physical health. Still, it also allows you to focus on the present and your surroundings, focusing on your various senses.
- Yoga: Yoga is a common practice, but not many people may know how it can be a good form of meditation for depression. In doing yoga, you cannot only focus on the physical but your mind as well. Yoga also helps with improving your sleep and easing stress.
Regardless of which form of meditation you choose, they will all provide varying benefits, if not the same. Let’s continue reading to learn about three benefits of meditation that can help with depression.
3 Benefits of Meditation That Can Help with Depression
Like with anything, some benefits come along with regular and consistently doing an activity. Meditation is no different and has loads of benefits that can help with depression.
Let’s continue reading to learn more about the three benefits of meditation that can help with depression.
Lowers Stress
Your stress levels become lower when you are meditating. For many, a significant indicator of depression can be heightened due to accumulated stressors or one small thing that can lead to substantial stress.
Reverses a Negative to a Positive
Depression can be filled with sadness and negative thoughts that are difficult to break out of. However, with meditation, you can reverse those negative thoughts and turn them into more positive ones, getting you out of that dark space. Meditation, in a sense, can work as a form of personal, quieter, cognitive therapy.
Better Sleep
Meditation comes with the benefit of better and more sound sleep. One of the symptoms of depression is feeling tired, weary, and restless; if you didn’t have depression before, chronic tiredness could lead to depression. Meditating decreases the worries looming in your brain, quiets them down, and helps create and increase the chances of better sleep.
Closing
With knowledge of this information, you can consider giving meditation a try if you have depression. You have also learned what meditation and clinical depression are and whether meditation can help with depression.
