A case study by Dr. Brian Sheen

There is an old saying that if you continue to tell a lie often enough people begin to accept this as a truth. Perhaps the greatest lie being told today is “depression is caused by chemical imbalance of the seratonin levels in the brain.” It is merely a hypothesis promoted by pharmaceutical companies who seek to profit and doctors who have similar vested interests. Pharmaceutical advertisements state “...there is no scientific evidence proving that chemical imbalance causes depression...” So it occurs to me that chemical imbalance is a symptom, not a cause!

Consider this example: You’re probably observed a wallflower at a party, shy and withdrawn, not having fun and off in a corner. They then have a few drinks of alcohol and then come to life, lose their inhibitions and are the life of the party! Should we now deduce that the cause of this person’s withdrawn personality was a lack of alcohol in their system? Should they be prescribed three martinis a day to cure it? Absurd isn’t it? (Although not to many alcoholics.)

This is the reasoning behind prescribing anti-depressants today. Placebos statistically get similar percentages of results and without any harsh side effects. From these facts we might surmise it’s the belief that taking anti-depressants can help, combined with the human contact which occurs when someone depressed reaches out for support! I suggest reading Dr. Peter Breggin’s, Toxic Psychiatry; Dr. David Cohen’s, Your Drug May Be Your Problem or Dr. William Glassner’s Warning: Psychiatry Can Be Hazardous To Your Health, to get the scientific research that refutes the misleading claims of the benefits of taking antidepressants.

A case study

My research has clearly shown how you can easily overcome depression without medications. One of many case studies, Susan, was very depressed when she came to my center. Her face was glum, her body language languid and her words dispirited. She related to me how lousy life had been and she was feeling hopeless. Life had little meaning to her and she wondered if she had much of a purpose for living. She felt used by her sister, her friends and former boyfriends- and was exhausted from carrying the load of her family on her back.

“It never seems to let up,” she confessed, “I drag myself to work, go through the motions and then eat all weekend to try and cheer me up. I haven’t had a good relationship in over 3 years and I’ve gained 25 pounds to boot! I feel so unloved and wonder if it pays to continue living.” As we talked further I learned Susan had been taking Prozac for over a year and a half and previously Zoloft for two years. They had increased her dosage twice which gave her a temporary boost but even this soon subsided. She had also done four years of psychotherapy which also seemed to produce little results.

“If you’re still feeling depressed while taking your antidepressants - why do you continue to take them?” I asked.

“I’m afraid to stop” she replied.

My students share that often the withdrawal effects from getting off the medications are uncomfortable and cause temporary anxiety (similar to withdrawing from any addiction) or the attending doctor will encourage them not to stop.

I don’t recommend medications to treat depression except for extreme cases. And in those cases, only for short-term combined with therapy that opens the subconscious layers of the mind to uncover the source of the depression.

If you’re willing to learn new ways of thinking and living your life it is possible to get off of your medications in weeks. You have to understand the way you have been living your life has not been working to produce the peace and happiness you desire. Unless you’re willing to look at the underlying formation of your entire belief system and thinking process and open it for correction to one that can produce a joyful life, nothing will change.

“Are you willing to undertake this work?,” I asked.

Susan didn’t hesitate for a moment and said, "Definitely!"

"Good. That’s the first step-but then there’s one more; commitment. Without your conviction to do this inner work you will be deterred at the first roadblock you encounter. You must be determined to see this through.”

My goal was for her to understand how the mind works and to give her tools to help her master the directions in which she gave it. Until we understand the power of our thoughts – the difference between our ego versus our authentic selves - we are lost and confused. When we learn to choose which side of our mind to interpret the constant input we receive, we no longer are a victim to the people and circumstances outside us. We become responsible for the feelings and conditions we experience in life and become empowered.

In my sessions and classes I make it very clear how it is the choices we make that determine the life we experience. We make hundreds of decisions each day that either emanates from our fears or from a sense of love and trust; from our guilt and anger or from our peace and innocence. The world we experience inside reflects back our underlying thinking and beliefs. Until this is understood, we are at the effects of what happens to us and not the cause.

Through neuro linguistic programming and hypnosis I was able to make shifts to return her thinking about herself to acceptance and love. We also utilized Holotrophic Breathwork to open some blocked energy; circular breathing, Hellinger Constellations, core transformation and even a couple of past life regressions. After four months of work Susan came to me and related an experience of how she had reached a new level in her life. Each moment she now felt blessed and able to express herself in new better ways. She had experienced deep levels of forgiveness and is now very close to her sister, father and mother. She looked at every day as an opportunity to have fun and knew she was responsible for the fun she would have. More happy, peaceful and balanced – her depression had been transformed into an expression of the joy of life.

Depression is just a form of non-expression of the love you have been created in. Each moment you are depressing yourself from the choices you make they are not honoring your higher self. As you dwell upon what went wrong in the past you think and feel wrongly about who you are – and as like attracts like – this thinking will only attract the "wrong" people into your life. Actually these "wrong" people you attract are perfectly right – as they reflect to you on the outside the thoughts and feelings you have about yourself and others on the inside. When you understand this you can stop depressing the possibilities of this moment and the future by destroying it with your old thinking that the past will forever repeat itself. When you learn to release your old patterns and accept the joyful power of this moment – you will attract to you other like-minded people and things that reflect to you your new inner decision-making. This takes determined work and willingness to face your inner darkness – but when you do – the light comes through and you will feel your love expressions fill your heart and mind.

Dr. (Rev.) Brian Sheen (Ph.D in Clinical Hypnotherapy) is a best selling author, lecturer and the Director of The Quantum Healing Center. The Quantum Healing Center operates as part of the Foundation for Research for Evolution and Enlightenment of the Spirit (F.R.E.E.S.) a non-profit organization. Brian is a sought after expert and has appeared on Good Morning America, CNN, in USA Today and on hundreds of radio, TV and media outlets throughout the United States a world. Along with his transformative classes, he utilizes the most advanced techniques in modern therapy available today. Having trained with many of the leading professionals in this field such as Dr. Brian Weiss, Dr. Richard Bandler, Credo Mutwa and Dr. Stanislov Grof. Brian specializes in Neuro-Linguistic Programming, Transpersonal Hypnotherapy, shamanism, psychoneuroimmunology as well as past life and childhood regressions. Brian incorporates a wide-range of spiritual psychotherapies from A Course in Miracles, Shamanism, Meta NLP and Kabbalah. He is also a Reiki Master. He is available for private sessions, individualized meditation lessons, spiritual counseling and on site corporate training programs.