The latest article from the Overcome Depression + Thrive Blog.

Do you suffer from treatment resistant depression?  Have antidepressants brought no relief?  Do you feel your depression is resistant to therapy?  Have you tried your best to lift yourself up and out of depression, yet you’ve continued to fail, time and time again?

Well, if you’re nodding “yes” to any of those questions, then this episode of the Overcome Depression + Thrive podcast is for you.

Because, the truth is:

All is not lost!  There is hope and there is light at the end of the tunnel for you!

So, be sure to stay tuned!

Press play now to listen to the Podcast Episode or watch the video below.

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READ TRANSCRIPT BELOW:

Hi and welcome back, as always it’s great to have you here.  I’m your host Marie O’Neil, author of How To Create A Depression-Free Life and the creator of The 4-Step Formula To Reset Your Body-Mind System After Depression + Antidepressants!

Now, whether you’ve been officially diagnosed with Treatment Resistant Depression (TRD), or you simply struggle to find any relief from the traditional treatments for depression, I really want you to listen up today!  Because, I’m going to be sharing WHY you’re constantly failing and WHY you feel as though you’re facing a losing battle and what you can do about it.

So, lets get started!

Now, I’m sure you’ll agree with me that after we’ve tried to pull ourselves ‘out from under’, time and time again, yet, failing miserably every single time becomes demoralising, doesn’t it?

I mean, it’s extremely hard, if not, impossible to stay motivated to lift ourselves out of depression, when we’re constantly facing defeat.

And, because of this constant trying and failing, over and over again, that so many of us face when we’re trying to breakthrough the darkness of depression, we start having thoughts like:

• I can’t do this anymore!


• My life is over!


• I might as well give up!


• Why bother?


• There’s nothing left for me!


• Life as it once was, is over!


• There’s no hope for me!

I can’t tell you how many times these kind of thoughts used to run through my mind when I was in the depths of depression.

I’m sure you’ve got your own versions of these thoughts, right?

Well, here’s the thing…

All of these fearful, worrisome, dark and depressive thoughts that we have when we struggle to find any relief from depression activate a tiny structure inside our brain called the Amygdala.

And, once our amygdala is activated it sends a signal down our spine to activate another system, called our Survival System.

Simply put, your Survival System is the part of your Autonomic Nervous System which is associated with the ‘fight/flight response’.

Now, here’s the deal…

When your Survival System is activated, your system produces 3 main chemicals, in particular:

• Epinephrine (Adrenaline)


• Norepinephrine (Noradrenaline)


• Cortisol

I delve deeper into how these chemicals keep you stuck in depression, in my Free On-Demand Masterclass:  Discover How To Reset Your Brain + Body After Depression or Antidepressants!  Which can be found at overcomedepression.tv/free.

For now, what you need to be aware of, is that this ‘chemical release’ from your Survival System actively changes how your entire body-mind system functions.

And, it’s this change in functioning and the activation of your Survival System that’s vital to be aware of, if you’re currently suffering in any form of Treatment Resistant Depression (TRD)?

Here’s why…

Whilst this ‘chemical chaos’ is going on ‘behind the scenes’ in your body-mind system, you’re going to struggle to find any real, positive, long-lasting relief from depression, no matter how many mainstream depression treatments you try.  You’ll always be fighting a losing battle.

Here’s why…

1. Antidepressants will not deactivate your Survival System or ease the associated ‘chemical storm’ currently going on throughout your body-mind system.   And, until your Survival System is deactivated, you will always have a chemical imbalance.   (And, no!  This isn’t the Serotonin Imbalance commonly associated with depression).


2. Therapy will not achieve any real, long-lasting positive results.  (And, no this is not because your depression is resistant to treatment).  It’s simply because your Survival System is activated.

Just imagine, every single cell throughout your entire system is being ‘chemically primed’ to run from a huge grizzly bear or fight for your survival on the battlefield….

Then…

A therapist asks you sit down, be calm and ‘talk about your feelings’.

It’s never gonna happen, is it?

In fact, it’s insane to think it is!

Simply because in this space we are being ‘chemically primed’ to protect ourselves, to run, to defend, to attack, to hide, to not trust a soul in the world.

And, what are we required to do when we enter a therapists office?

That’s right!  To trust, to be open, to bare our soul and be vulnerable.

And, that’s just impossible to do when our internal chemistry is ‘priming us’ for the complete opposite.

So, if you’ve had no success with traditional therapies, it doesn’t mean they don’t work, neither does it mean you have Treatment resistant Depression,  it simply means, they won’t work whilst you’re being ‘chemically primed’ for defensiveness, distrust and protection.

Can you begin to see… Your depression is NOT treatment resistant.

It’s just that there’s a ‘chemical storm’ going on behind the scenes which is being driven by the activation of your Survival System.   Which is keeping you stuck and stopping you from reaping the benefits of any treatment.

The moment, you deactivate your Survival System (which is far easier than it may sound), is the moment you place yourself on the path, onwards and upwards out of depression, even Treatment Resistant Depression (TRD).

Now, here’s the deal…

Remember, I said earlier that your Survival System is one part of your Autonomic Nervous System.

Well, thankfully there’s another part!  Which is called your Thriving System. This system does exactly ‘what it says on the tin!’

It chemically “primes you” for a state in which, you can thrive and flourish.  It uplifts you!

It does this by flooding your system with a completely different set of chemicals and hormones. Which act as vasodilators, ‘uplifters’ and relaxants.

When your Thriving System is activated, you’re calmer and more capable of making smart, confident decisions for yourself.

You have access to all your neural networks.  Your rational/logical brain is ‘turned on’ and in balance with your emotional brain.  You’re less reactive and more responsive.

Not only that, but it’s within your Thriving System where a process called Neurogenesis takes place.  Neurogenesis is the growth of new neural tissue.   Which means…

When our Thriving System is activated we can quite literally re-new the neural tissues within our brain!

In other words, our mind and brain functions can be reset and w