Staying in more than usual isn't the only change in Melissa. She's always been a really good student. But over the past couple of months her grades have fallen and she has trouble concentrating. She forgot to turn in a paper that was due and is having a hard time getting motivated to study for her finals.

Melissa feels tired all the time but has difficulty falling asleep. She's gained weight too. When her mother asks her what's wrong, Melissa just feels like crying. But she doesn't know why. Nothing particularly bad has happened. Yet she feels sad all the time and can't shake it.

Melissa may not realize it yet, but she is depressed.

SYMPTOMS OF DEPRESSION

Depression is an illness where the feelings of hopelessness and helplessness, linkled to the inability to concentrate, may make it hard for some people to carry out normal daily activities.
Depression is an illness with a wide range of physical and psychological symptoms, which sometimes make it hard to recognise and understand.

Personality may play a part in depression. Although anyone can become depressed under particular circumstances, some people seem to be more vulnerable than others. This may be because of things that have happened in childhood, such as abuse, or because of our individual make up (including body chemistry).
A lot of effective, intelligent and creative people suffer from depression and yet make an outstanding contribution to life. Often, information about their depression is only revealed after their death, as people misunderstand the illness. Amongst such people are
Florence Nightingale and
Sir Winston Churchill, who used to call depression his "black dog". Depression can effect anyone and does not reduce your value as a human being.

The most common symptoms are set out below . If these have been experienced for more than two weeks it is essential to seek help. People may suffer from two or three of these symptoms but are unlikely to experience them all.

Feelings of helplessness and hopelessness.
Feeling useless, inadequate, bad.
Self hatred, constant questioning of thoughts and actions, an overwhelming need for reassurance.
Being vulnerable and "over-sensitive".
Feeling guilty.
A loss of energy and motivation, that makes even the simplest tasks or decisions seem difficult.
Self harm.
Loss or gain in weight.
Difficulty with getting off to sleep, or (less frequently) an excessive desire to sleep.
Agitation and restlessness.
Loss of sex drive.
Finding it impossible to concentrate for any length of time, forgetfulness.
A sense of unreality.
Physical aches and pains, sometimes with the fear that you are seriously ill.

In severe depression, these feelings may also include:

Suicidal ideas.
Failure to eat or drink.
Delusions and/or hallucinations.

“Some friends don't understand this. They don't understand how desperate I am to have someone say, I love you and I support you just the way you are because you're wonderful just the way you are. They don't understand that I can't remember anyone ever saying that to me. I am so demanding and difficult for my friends because I want to crumble and fall apart before them so that they will love me even though I am no fun, lying in bed, crying all the time, not moving. Depression is all about If you loved me you would.” ? Elizabeth Wurtzel, Prozac Nation

How may I measure my depression?

The solution to all of this? Raise this threshold higher, and this is precisely what the BT 9 does. As this happens, your dysfunctional feelings and behaviours happen less and less often because it becomes less and less likely that whatever is happening in your environment will push you over it and trigger these feelings and behaviours in the first place. As a result, they fall away — for good.

This is a lot like an athlete who begins with a certain physical threshold, but raises it by training every day until what would have overwhelmed the person in the beginning becomes easy.

Cranial Electrotherapy, a Profound Alternative Therapy

C.E.S.- SAFE EFFECTIVE ALTERNATIVE TO DRUGS IN THE TREATMENT OF DEPRESSION .

Cranial Electrotherapy Stimulation (CES) is an FDA approved treatment for depression .. Over 100 human and eighteen animal studies have demonstrated the effectiveness of CES in treating these and other disorders. CES involves the introduction of a very weak electrical current into the brain. Before you say, "No way! Not my brain!" understand CES is not "Shock therapy". The electrical current used in CES/BT11 is typically less than one milliampere. To put this in perspective, the current needed to power a light bulb is about 11,000 times stronger. No serious side effects have been reported with CES.

“Mental illness is so much more complicated than any pill that any mortal could invent ”
? Elizabeth Wurtzel

CES FAQ

CES is not only a drug-free treatment of these conditions but is more effective than drugs currently on the market, with none of their frequently debilitating side effects.

“Depression is the most unpleasant thing I have ever experienced. . . . It is that absence of being able to envisage that you will ever be cheerful again. The absence of hope. That very deadened feeling, which is so very different from feeling sad. Sad hurts but it's a healthy feeling. It is a necessary thing to feel. Depression is very different.”
J.K. Rowling

Homeostasis can be defined as the tendency for intrinsic balance within a system. Application of a therapeutic range of microcurrent intracranially seems to enhance the homeostasis of the biological central nervous system. A change in one system within the individual will have correlative effects upon other systems. Improvements in mood, cognitive function, self image, shift of locus of control to oneself, and sense of well being can be measured. When CES/BT9 works, it enhances one's ability to handle or deal with situations that were previously beyond the range of one's control.

The efficacy of CES has been demonstrated in many different ways. Studies have used twenty-seven different psychometric (pencil and paper) tests including the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory and the State/Trait Anxiety Inventory. CES has consistently demonstrated reductions in anxiety on these tests. Other studies have measured the physiological manifestations of anxiety before and after CES treatment. Slowing of brain waves and respiration rate, as well as reduction in blood pressure are physical signs of stress reduction that have been documented with CES treatment.

In those pamphlets that they give at mental health centers where they list the ten or so symptoms that would indicate a clinical depression, 'suicide threats' or even simple 'talk of suicide' is considered cause for concern. I guess the point is that what's just talk one day may become a real activity the next. So perhaps after years of walking around with these germinal feelings, these raw thoughts, these scattered moments of saying I wish I were dead, eventually I too, sooner or later, would succumb to the death urge. In the meantime, I could withdraw to my room, could hide and sleep as if I were dead.” Elizabeth Wurtzel

One placebo-controlled study evaluated the effects of CES treatment in twenty individuals with chronic stress symptoms of at least a year's duration. All of them had failed to respond to medication. Muscle tension, heart rate and finger temperature were measured before, immediately after, and one week following a single twenty minute CES treatment. Muscle tension and heart rate decreased and finger temperature increased immediately after treatment in those receiving active CES treatment but not in the placebo (sham CES) group. One week after treatment, those who had received active CES treatment still had significantly reduced muscle tension and heart rate! This is one of the many advantages of CES over medications. Whereas medications only work as long as they are taken, CES effects are long lasting and cumulative.

You don't have to be "sick" or "stressed-out" to use the BT11/CES and realize its benefits. CES is a life-enhancing instrument of potential value to everyone. Its uses are wide ranging. Some people use it as an adjunct to meditation practice each morning. Others during peak stressor moments that hit unexpectedly in the course of a day. Who hasn't experienced those times when we are about to "lose it?" Putting the unit on in these situations even just briefly--perhaps for as little as ten minutes-- can help curb that anxiety and serve as a reminder that one needs to be with ones self in a different way.

CES also represents a significant affirmation that you have the power within to change your mental state and that you are willing to take active steps to create the time and the space to do so.

Using waveforms at a level of current similar to the body's own, MET bridge cellular communications help re-establish the normal electrical flow.

CES FAQ
(frequently asked questions)