How does a meditator deal with depression?

[Aloka]

This is an article at Lion's Roar website written by three Buddhist teachers:

How does a meditator deal with episodes of major depression?


https://www.lionsroar.com/ask-the-teachers-26/


Any thoughts about the article?

[justusryans]

Well, I think they get a lot right about the article. As someone who is bipolar, I both take medication to control the wild mood swings along with meditation to help keep me grounded.
I can’t speak for anyone else but it works for me. Major Depression is like being buried and seeing no way out.

[philg]

The problem for those without clinical depression is that they often mistake it for 'being depressed'. It's a problem found widely, that words can be used generally which also have a specific technical meaning. You need professional support to deal with clinical depression, including medication, but not necessarily meditation during such episodes. The article cites Jon Kabat-Zinn, who has written a lot about depression and meditation, and whose work is about the best in this area.

[Aloka]

The article cites Jon Kabat-Zinn, who has written a lot about depression and meditation, and whose work is about the best in this area.

Here's a 2 minute video of Jon Kabat-Zinn talking about Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction:





I think "Mindfulness Based Cognitive Therapy" in The UK is based on the same principles:

https://mbct.co.uk/the-mbct-programme/



.

[philg]

I have family who work for the NHS using cognitive therapy, but they have to take out any reference to mindfulness and call it Cognitive Behavioural Therapy. It's much the same thing but without the meditation.