Depression

Today we want to touch upon a very important and expansive topic, one that has received a great deal of attention over the past few decades. Various symposiums are held on this subject, entire study programs in schools are devoted to it, and governmental and public organizations around the world are trying to solve it. This topic is depression. The World Health Organization states that at least 80% of people in the world have, to one degree or another, encountered this problem. 20% of the entire population have experienced a state of clinical depression. Even now this is the second most widespread illness in the world, and its frequency is only rising. These alarming figures raise the question, "Why?" Why is this happening precisely today, why on such a scale, and how can we combat it? We will try to find out and to understand what can be done.

We really are observing a rise in clinical depression, which encompasses more and more age groups — it is taking on the scale of an epidemic. I noticed that conferences have become open to the general public, so that people can obtain information and help those who are in a depressive state but cannot bring themselves to seek help. This has become a very painful phenomenon that is not easy to cope with. It is called the "silent epidemic," since many of those who suffer from this illness cannot or do not want to talk about it.

Usually a person is embarrassed by this state. In addition, there are two types of depression. The first manifests in a decrease of activity, and the second is expressed in aggressiveness, in heightened agitation and exaggerated activity brought on by the fear of stopping and feeling the pain.

If we turn to fiction, we see that two hundred years ago depression was a favorite theme of the aristocracy; it was fashionable to be in a certain melancholy... This was meant to show that you were above others, that you disdained all of this life... But this was absolutely uncharacteristic of all the other strata of the population; the common people worked and knew how to rejoice in what they had. Today things are completely different. The reason for this is the development of our egoism, of the desire to enjoy, which lies at the foundation of our life. Since our egoistic desire is growing not only quantitatively but also qualitatively, we demand more, and from the middle of the last century we began to search for ourselves... This began almost everywhere in the world at the same time. The "flower children" appeared — the hippies, the searches for religions, beliefs, the fascination with the East, mysticism, New Age... A desire of a new type appeared and began to grow — the desire to find the Creator. There is a force that created us; what does it want from us?! What do I have in this life?! For what or for whom do I exist?

Is this a search for meaning?

This is a search for a deeper meaning, and not simply the replacement of one kind of activity with another. This is no longer merely the development of the entertainment, travel, and modern-culture industries, which began at that time and were fostered by the development of cinema... The fundamental question, "What is the meaning of my life?" is a search not within life but above it. That is why we try to occupy ourselves. We understand that if we did not have all of this, we would fall into depression, and the question of the meaning of life would become very painful and acute. People would be plunged into despair and would see everything in a black light. This is frightening; it can lead to violence, to war. It is precisely the development of the entertainment industry and the ability to fill one's free time somehow that eases the situation, but despite this, 20% of people suffer from depression. During the second decade of the 21st century, this illness will take first place. Moreover, it is not only people who suffer from depression, but pets as well, and there are medications not only for people but also for animals.

Speaking of medications, today, as surveys show, far more people turn to family doctors to obtain them, rather than to psychiatrists.

This problem has become so widespread that it has gone beyond the bounds of psychiatry.

It is very painful. People who come to me for appointments say that this pain accompanies you everywhere. It is a terrible sensation, and I understand a person's desire to take any medication in order to stop feeling the suffering.

In addition, people use all kinds of energy drinks, which also do not help. The question of the meaning of life... We do not understand that besides these 20% of people who suffer from depression, are aware of it, and acknowledge it, there are still many illnesses that are a consequence of depression.

Depression unequivocally causes additional illnesses, both mental and physical.

There are doctors who believe that many physiological problems should be treated with antidepressants. A person's mood improves, he returns to normal activity, and the other symptoms also disappear.

Among teenagers this phenomenon is felt especially acutely. They consume large amounts of alcohol in order to drown out the sensation of emptiness.

Alcohol, drugs — all of this is the result of a sensation of dissatisfaction.

So what does integral upbringing propose?

Integral upbringing says that our generation is characterized by an increased egoistic desire, which demands from us an answer to the question of the meaning of life. Our generation is a special one; it has special desires and special aspirations, and as a result of the absence of fulfillment and the absence of answers to the questions that trouble them, people develop depression. If we know what the problem consists of, if we have the means to satisfy and fulfill the growing desire and the answers to the burning questions, we will not be in depression. We will see a happy generation that is aware of its purpose, knows what awaits it, and understands why the desire awakens in such a form, why the meaning of life is so important to them, despite the fact that they do not want to acknowledge it. Instead of a generation of invalids, we will get a generation that will develop correctly, will reveal a perfect world for itself, and will feel that it is worth living in harmony with perfect and eternal Nature. For likeness to Nature leads us to the sensation of its eternity and perfection.

That is, they will be able to turn despair into flourishing?

Of course, for that is precisely why it was revealed. We live in a transitional period, and therefore we propose integral upbringing as a medicine. It is not a goal but a means to fulfill all of a person's desires!

Should a person who has begun to master integral upbringing feel better? I ask this as a practitioner...

Yes, almost from the first minute. I see this in my students, and I remember myself in the process of searching, what a depression I was in, in what a state of helplessness. I sought myself in science, in religion, and could find neither satisfaction nor peace in anything, until I found this method.

When a person comes with a sensation of depression, and you propose to him a method of rising above his egoism, he does not very willingly grasp at this opportunity. He does not see salvation in it...

First one has to explain to him that this method is meant to fulfill a person's desire, precisely now, when the desire has outgrown the material level, when fulfillment for it cannot be found in our world. We see that people cannot find fulfillment for themselves except by numbing themselves with medication, drugs, or alcohol. This testifies to the fact that the desire comes from a higher level. Therefore we cannot offer a person anything in this world to satisfy him.

So this is not a question of philosophy. A person has everything, but in all of this he sees no meaning.

A philosophical question is a question that it is sometimes enough for me to ponder, but here we are talking about the fulfillment of my life, without which I cannot move. This is not curiosity; without this fulfillment I have no vital energy.

But the ordinary person is not in this state constantly; it comes and goes, if it is not clinical depression. Clinical depression is a very severe state, from which it is impossible to emerge on one's own. There are different levels of depression. The more widespread variant is when a person leads an active way of life but at the same time feels dissatisfaction.

We cannot with medications make up for a person's need to fulfill his desire; we simply hush up the problem. A person does not feel a taste for life, a taste of fulfillment. I want to be happy, I want to feel good!

Very often people feel emptiness but are not ready to acknowledge it. This especially concerns people who are "well-off" in the socio-economic sense. And what about postpartum depression?

That is a completely different phenomenon, connected with hormonal changes. Although it is not out of the question that it too is to a greater degree characteristic of our century and is part of the general depression and of our common egoistic desire. Once upon a time, a woman did not have the question of whether she should give birth...

There is a contradiction between the desire to realize oneself and the necessity of devoting oneself to a child, to a family. And a strong conflict arises that paralyzes the woman. Despite the fact that by Nature the woman is called to devote herself to the child, a certain resistance arises within her...

Today a woman believes that she can achieve everything, and the child limits her. 200 years ago her life was limited to family and children, but today family and children occupy second, third, or fourth place in her life. All types of depression arise against the background of the intensification of our common egoism, of the demand not simply to somehow get by, but to attain a higher realization. We must find a way to explain that the method of integral upbringing is meant to fulfill a person's desire and to give him the fulfillment that he desires. A person in a state of depression wants genuine fulfillment; he cannot tolerate a lie. Today people still use medications, drugs, alcohol to suppress depression, but soon they will come to a state in which they will not be able to take these "substitutes"; they will reject them as false...

It is precisely today that it is completely clear to psychologists that drug addiction or alcoholism is usually preceded by a severe depression.

In a few years it will turn out that alcoholics and drug addicts can no longer use alcohol and drugs.

They will stop feeling the addiction to it?

They will simply feel that it is a lie, and will not be able to use it as a means of calming themselves. The desire to receive fulfillment will grow so much that it will not be able to be satisfied by the fulfillment that drugs or alcohol give. And then to these 20% another 30-40% of the population will be added.

That would be terrible! And what does your method in particular give? Why precisely it and not some other?

The form of our desire, of egoism, is taking on a global and integral form; that is, we, all people, are becoming fully interconnected, yet we behave like individual egoists. With our desire we are today opposite to Nature, which is manifesting more and more each day as a single whole. Our opposition to Nature keeps increasing. The solution to all crises lies only in our attaining likeness to Nature. In that case we will attain fulfillment. Otherwise we will empty out, until we perish. When we empty out, we ask ourselves about the purpose of life. But if we are fulfilled, this question does not arise. The fulfillment required is not material but moral, spiritual. Because depression and the question of the meaning of life arise in materially comfortable people.

Can it be said that, as opposed to emptiness, loneliness, and estrangement, we propose union, connection with others, and meaning, rather than simply a "taste for life"? A person who is in depression is inside a closed circle of dissatisfaction and despair... Group work helps a great deal; it works better than many other things. Society gives a person strength...

But, in the final analysis, we see that this is not a solution; it is an attempt to come to terms with reality.

What fulfillment are we talking about? When we speak of fulfillment, I picture to myself the kinds of fulfillment known to me in this world. What special fulfillment does your method propose, one that distinguishes it from others?

It brings a person to such a state that he begins to see a goal in life. He discovers that life does not end together with death; he rises above time, movement, and space, and begins to see his movement in the flow of eternal life. He feels this!

Can it be said that this is the eternal part within us? And since it is eternal, it cannot be fulfilled with temporary and transient pleasure? This is a special, different kind of desire.

And we discover it in an enormous number of people, among a broad circle of the population, who ask the question of the meaning of life, of how to rise above this life and pass on to a different level of existence — that is, not being under the pressure of egoism.

Let us sum up our conversation. We spoke of depression and of the fact that it is a consequence of the growth of egoism in a person. Unlike all the rest of Nature, a person's desire grows, develops, and brings him to a state in which he begins to demand more than this world can give him. In accordance with the desire that arises in him, he seeks something more elevated and eternal, but does not find it among the temporary and transient pleasures of this world. Therefore he feels bad and turns to treatment or medications, in order to forget himself and to flee from this sensation. His desire seeks and does not find fulfillment; it is impossible to flee from it. The problem is solved by bringing a person's desires into likeness with Nature. That is, by changing the desire from reception to bestowal. In that case he discovers the possibility of being fulfilled boundlessly and, besides being cured of depression, attains the sensation of the harmony of eternal Nature.