From: JC_Gilliam@fccc.edu (Jon C. Gilliam)
Subject: Re: Antidepression Spell?
Date: 17 May 1994 07:25:41 -0500

Here is a sure-fire, anti-depression spell.  Note that this spell
requires the daily involvement of the depressed person.

   1.  Mornings just after sunrise and evenings just before sunset are
       to be spent outdoors in silent meditation, eyes open.  20 to
       30 mins is good.  Concentrate on your breathing, and if the
       weather is inclimate, a spot in front of a east-facing window
       in the morning, west-facing in the evening.  Your thoughts, if
       any, should be of the sun.

   2.  No more than 4 and no less than 3 nights per week, your evening meal
       should consist mainly of fresh shellfish -- crab, shrimp, oysters,
       etc.  Your thoughts during these meals should be of the moon and
       the tides.

   3.  On those mornings of the days when you are not having shellfish as your
       evening meals, you should begin you day with the following tea:
       1 tsp. feverfew tincture in alcohol (you can prepare this by soaking
       dried feverfew in vodka for 2 weeks, or buy it from an herbal store),
       1/4 tsp American ginsing powder, 1 tsp lemon balm, 1 tsp green tea.
       Pour boiling water over all of this in a chinese tea-pot, and drink
       all the tea.

   4.  At least 3 days of the week, go for a 20 - 30 min walk in a quiet,
       outdoors, preferably wooded area.  You should walk at a quick pace,
       and your thoughts should be on the harmony of nature, and your place
       in the natural world.

   5.  Avoid alcohol except very occassionally and moderately.

   6.  If this spell hasn't been effective after a month, schedule a visit
       to talk with your doctor.  An addition to this spell that works even
       better is taking one Prozac a day.  Your doctor can help you get ahold
       of this.

Bright blessings,
:jon
===

From: dalton@mantle.Geop.UBC.CA (David Dalton)
Date: 19 May 1994 01:41:05 GMT

In article <2.47527311.Livewire@thewire.com> Starlit@thewire.com writes:
*' Would it be wrong to try a spell to help someone out of a depession?
*' (referring back to "forcing someone to do something against their will")

Are you sure that he doesn't want to break out of the depression?
Does he recognize that he is in a depressed state?  If so, then he
must want to break out of it.  He may not want you to try a spell, or
believe in spells, but you wouldn't be "forcing someone to do
something against their will" but helping their will.  And he may
actively participate in meditation exercises and maybe even sexual
exercises designed to raise energy.  Call it something other than a
spell if necessary since some people have a funny notion of what a
spell is.

*' This would be my last resort to help this person since nothing I've tried
*' seems to help... I know that he may not WANT help... but    ???

You might get some good advice on the newsgroup
alt.support.depression.  The group sci.med.psychobiology also has some
stuff, but is more geared to professionals.  I recently re-posted a
FAQ to alt.support.depression.  There is also a very good mailing list
called walkers for unipolar depressives and one for bipolars called
pendulum, in which I am active.  Subscription details are in the
alt.support.depression FAQ.

*' If it is not morally wrong, anyone out there have a suggested spell to try?

Try spells or mutual exercises which will build up his internal
energies and help him break free, and grow around the big rock of
depression.  But sometimes depression is a recharging period so be
careful that the energies are not released too quickly, or he could go
into mania and endless cycling.  Maybe imagine pumping energy into his
chakras, from base to crown, and visualize a stagnant pool of energy
in the interior of his brain that you are trying to awaken.  But be
careful, and maybe do it with his participation and the help of
someone experienced in magick or yoga or qi gong.

See if you can get him to make lifestyle modifications in exercise,
sleep, light, and diet.  If not, then convince him to use an
antidepressant to get himself to the level where he can break free and
make those modifications and then come off the drugs.  If he won't do
that, talk to a local support organization for help.  I think the FAQ
lists national organization contact numbers and they would give you a
local one.

What I recommend to ward off recurrences:

1.   get lots of  morning light
2.   do regular aerobic exercise, preferably in the morning
3.   do regular soft exercise such as meditation or Tai Chi
        or yoga (I do Iyengar yoga) in the evening.
        I find therapeutic yoga poses such as the supported
        shoulder stand, gentle back bends, twists and savasana
        to be very good for depression, and I bet that more
        intense poses, including head stand. would be as well.
        And pranayama (breathing exercises) help too, poor
        breathing habits can lead to depression.
         Also, techniques of Kundalini yoga and Qi Gong can be
       used to carefully develop internal energy, with a teacher.
        Reflexology, if done properly, may help too.
4.   drink lots of water
5.   get his  thyroid function  and blood sugar levels
        checked out.    If blood sugar is a problem (or
        maybe even if not)  chromium doses may help.
        kelp may help the thyroid
6.    some people try changing to a vegetarian diet, and
        maybe seeing if giving up  sugar, bad fats, wheat
        or lactose (milk) makes any difference.   I take
       extra vitamins and have heard that vitamin B-6 and
       other B vitamins are good for depression and are
       best taken two hours before bedtime as they regulate sleep.
7.    eat meals near the same time each day, eat breakfast,
         and don't eat late in the evening.   Also avoid
         caffiene after supper, avoid alcohol after 2 hours
         before bedtime or maybe all the time.
8.    don't oversleep.   If you are getting 8--10 hours
         and are depressed, reduce it to 6--8 hours.  Sleep
         deprivation can break a depression but the effect
         may be temporary if it is just one all-nighter.
         I have heard that you should  reduce your sleep
         to a few hours for several nights in a row, and
         do it by cutting back on the second half of the night,
         i.e., get up at 3 or 4 a.m.   But that can be hard.
9.    KEEP THE SAME WAKE TIME EACH DAY, within an hour.  What
         I try to do if I am out late carousing on the weekend
         is to still get up by 8 or 9 a.m. the next day (I try
         7 or 8 during the week) and then get a short nap in
         the afternoon or after supper.   But that doesn't
         work for some people.
10.   try moving to a different climate.  Many people do best
         in a climate similar to where they spent their first
         two years.    I get charged up on high winds and
         lightning and rapid weather variations, and depressed
         when the weather is super-humid and very long-lived.
         Plus some cities are very dark in winter and can contribute
          to S.A.D.
11.    try moving to a different job, school or home location if
          you think there are air or electromagnetic or acoustic
          problems which may contribute to the depression.
12.    strengthen supportive relationships, deal with personal
          problems, and get involved in lots of activities.
          This will lessen the possibility of a recurrence.
13.    track his mood cycle and sleep cycle and figure out
         when he is most susceptible to mood changes and
         guard against them.    For instance, I know that
         I am more likely to go high energy or maybe low energy
         (but not suicidal) the week leading up to new moon, and I
         am more likely to  have alcohol-triggered  mixed/dysphoric/psychotic
         twisted cognitive_high/emotional_lows  or anxious/sucidal lows
         the week leading up to full moon, and take appropriate
         precautions.    There is also a seasonal component,
         with more intense highs in the summer and lows in winter.
         But everybody is different.
14.     figure out the early warning signs of a mood change,
           and nip it in the bud.   For me, sleep is the best indicator,
           but often friends can see changes that I don't pick up.
           It may be easier to break free of a low level depression
           than one which is further along.
15.     I seem to respond to solar magnetic activity, so when the
           sunspot number is high I may be a bit higher and when
           it is near zero my energy is a bit lower, although
           mood is OK.   Thus maybe it would be easier to break
           out of a depression when it is high, but be careful
           to avoid going into mania.   This is speculative,
          and may not hold for everyone.


Some books might help:

~Title:  "Questions and Answers about Depression and its Treatment"
Author(s):  Dr. Ivan Goldberg
Publisher/Year:  The Charles Press in Philadelphia/1993.
ISBN:  ISBN 0-914783-68-8
Comments:  A 112 page FAQ on depression that has appeared in book form.
    Ivan is active on the mailing lists and sometimes the net
    and his book is highly recommended.

~Title:  "Overcoming Depression"
Author(s):  Demitri F. and Janice Papolos
Publisher/Year:  Harper/Perennial/1992.
ISBN:  0-060-96594-0 (paper)
Comments:  Good basic text on the various aspects of depression and and
           manic/depression. Considered by some to be a "classic" in
           the field.


~Title:  "The Way Up From Down"
Author(s):  Priscilla Slagle, M.D.
ISBN:  0-312-92914-5
Comments:  It stresses a nutritional approach heavy on the ammino acid
           tyrosine, and a complete vitamin supplement program.


~Title:  "When the Blues Won't Go Away"
Author(s):  Robert Hirschfeld, M.D.
Publisher/Year:  1991
ISBN:  0-025-51825-9
Comments:  Concerns new  approaches to Dysthymic Disorder and other
           forms of chronic low-grade depression.

~Title: "On the Edge of Darkness: Coversations about Conquering
Depression."
Author(s): Kathy Cronkite
Publisher/Year: Doubleday/1994
ISBN: 0-385-42194-X

~Title:  "The Feeling Good Handbook"
Author(s):  David D. Burns, MD
Publisher/Year:  Plume/1989
ISBN:  0-452-26174-0

~Title:  "Good Mood:  The New Psychology of Overcoming Depression"
Author(s):  Julian L. Simon
Publisher/Year:  Open Court Press/1993.
ISBN:  0-812-69097-4 (cloth) 0-812-69098-2 (paper)

More are listed in the alt.support.depression  FAQ.