‎3 Eastern Strategies to Treat Depression

Depression is a worldwide issue. As the leading cause of disability, more than 300 million people struggle with depression, including about 8 percent of U.S. adults.

Yet long before the West founded its civilization, 9th-century Scholar Abu Zayd al-Balkhi, in Sustenance of the Body and Soul, argued that depression is triggered by an imbalance in brain chemicals. Al-Balkhi advocated for a holistic treatment of all mental illness challenges, including depression.

Therefore, it behooves us to look for holistic ways of coping with depression from around the world. Inspired by Eastern traditions, I will share three distinct strategies for coping with depression.

1. Change your environment.

Depression might be associated with a particular place and time. A solution to that predicament is to travel, perhaps even immigrate.

Depression sometimes forces a person to lose interest in life altogether. However, there are countless different ways of living. If living in a particular place is not helping with your depression, then it may be wise to consider relocating. If living in a modern and competitive culture like the United States is worsening your depression, for example, consider immigrating to a traditional and communal culture. Changing environments will force you to see life from a different angle, which might help with depression.

Changing the environment is an Eastern principle. When early Arabs were not doing well in one city, they immigrated to another city. So try changing your environment as a way of coping with depression. Even if relocating does not help address your symptoms, it will expose you to new ways of existing in the world.

2. Learn a new language.

Language is central to thought and emotions. Learning a new language will force you to see the world differently because you must articulate thoughts and emotions through a different vehicle. Learning a new language is good training for the brain because it expands its outlook on the world.

However, monolingualism runs rampant in the United States, with 80 percent of Americans speaking English alone. Since learning a new language will allow you to perceive the world from a different angle, such training might help with depression because it will expand the myelination process in the brain.

Depression changes how a person views the world. Learning a new language and living in a new culture is a reinvention of self. It is a good practice. Although learning a new language is often an uncomfortable process, it often leads to fruitful outcomes.

3. Change starts from within.

Change starts internally and then manifests itself externally. Depression often changes the makeup of the brain, which then lead the person to experience unimaginable pain. About half of those who die by suicide were thought to have major depression.

The internal nature of change is a predicament because one of the symptoms of depression is learned helplessness. Ineffective, counterproductive behaviors are often repeated, resulting in the same negative outcomes. Depression colors the perception of other people, too, making them seem distant or cold.

Yet even during those low moments, people who suffer from depression are able to take some agency to cope with their predicament. The cycle of repeated failing behaviors must be broken, and the individual must initiate those actions. Trying new strategies, even if they are ineffective at first, can boost a sense of competence and lead to progress over time.

Conclusion

Depression is a formidable foe. It sucks the joy out of life and puts some on the verge of suicide.

To fight it, we shouldn't limit our approaches to any particular tradition. We need to advocate for a holistic and interdisciplinary approach to treating the maladies of depression.

Among the most important lessons for those who suffer from depression are to hold onto hope and to let go of feelings of shame. Depression has been with humanity since time immemorial—recorded history finds descriptions of depression in Mesopotamian texts in the second century B.C., for example. The language used to describe depression has shifted over time—but because one of the symptoms of depression is a sense of loneliness and isolation, there can be great comfort in knowing that depression is a worldwide and historical phenomenon.

If you or someone you love is contemplating suicide, seek help immediately. For help 24/7, dial 988 for the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline, or reach out to the Crisis Text Line by texting TALK to 741741. To find a therapist, visit the Psychology Today Therapy Directory.