If you are depressed, read this

I've had to deal with depression for much of my life, and now am in the process of getting off meds, so I have been searching for other methods to keep me from sliding down. I found the best book- It is called The Zen Path through Depression by Philip Martin. It is a slim book, only 143 pages, and is broken down into practical actions one can take to reduce depression. It's very easy to read and follow, so I would recommend it to anyone (you don't even have to be Buddhist to benefit from the guidance). It is helping me!

Cool. I will have to check that out. I like books on Zen, and I do use cannabis to stave off depression. Thank you.

White Wolf

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Originally Posted by Demeter

I've had to deal with depression for much of my life, and now am in the process of getting off meds, so I have been searching for other methods to keep me from sliding down. I found the best book- It is called The Zen Path through Depression by Philip Martin. It is a slim book, only 143 pages, and is broken down into practical actions one can take to reduce depression. It's very easy to read and follow, so I would recommend it to anyone (you don't even have to be Buddhist to benefit from the guidance). It is helping me!

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I don't have depression but I'm glad you found something that works for you man!

Aparently im bi polar type-1 along with adhd had some very depressed times countless suicide attempts but then i descovered i was'nt smoking enough weed lol so i smoked more and also gave

The Importance of the Power of Attention
The Importance of the Power of Attention

Ago and ive been happy as fucking larry for ages nothing can bring me down cept for maybe my bong breaking or running out of green DAMNNNNN that wud suck

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Originally Posted by bong_man

Aparently im bi polar type-1 along with adhd had some very depressed times countless suicide attempts but then i descovered i was'nt smoking enough weed lol so i smoked more and also gave

The Importance of the Power of Attention
The Importance of the Power of Attention

Ago and ive been happy as fucking larry for ages nothing can bring me down cept for maybe my bong breaking or running out of green DAMNNNNN that wud suck

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Yea, mindfulness really works! :giveflower:

it actualy does once you learn how to control your mind you choose how you feel all the time it seems impossible for me to feel any way close to the way i once felt :) thanks to smoking loads of weed and googleing :)

Ive had depression, anxiety, adhd, and shit like that for most of my life as well. Many reasons I smoke are medicinal in nature and are for this. I also majored in psychology in college to understand myself more. And after all that I have to say there is nothing wrong with us, life is too dynamic to make claims like that. I think its more about learning to adapt and relate your internal self perceived world to the external world. I also believe less in the classification standards. most of those diagnoses are through self report only, so a whole lot of people are probably under the impression they are bipolar or schizo, when they were simply in a low point in life. Sadly a big part of it is to sling more pharmaceuticals and get those spiffs. People need to realize the incentives given to doctors by these companies. I'm not saying you people here don'tknow this, just in general.

The book sounds good, thanks for the reccomendation.

Bong_man, do you find that weed helps with bipolar? I have read a lot about it, have the horrible 'label' of biopolar put on me and am currently off meds because I hate the side effects. Are you a daily toker or do you just smoke when you need to medicate yourself?

I havent had that label myself, but a few of my friends think I'm bipolar. It just seems like everytime I go to a different psychiatrist, I get a different diagnosis. There is no reliability so I stopped going and just smoke herbs now. I know the question wasnt to me, but to answer your question I smoke to control mood swings. If I am not smoking, my moods can fluctuate a lot, and multiple times throughout the day. If I wake up, hit the gravity bong a few times, and do that a few more times throughout the day, everything is stable. For me it is a godsend.

Hope that helps and good luck getting and staying off the meds. I know how horrible that can be.

I cut back on the Effexor and started smoking more quality stuff. I feel better.

I feel like even though depression is a disease, a positive outlook always helps. Theres always a lot of ways you could interpret things. I am a little bit of a larger girl, well not really, but I have small friends. If i wanted to, I could stand in front of the mirror and make myself cry by saying "oh i have fat hips, im ugly, my boobs are too big i have ugly hair" but I don't! I have to have that self confidence so I always try to compliment myself. I don't think its bein conceited, I just have a good body image.

One thing that helped me get over my depression was figuring out appropriate feelings for things. It sounds super cheesy, but I don't care. I was taking everything personally but I couldn't see it. If a pretty girl drove by in a hot car I would get jealous and feel like she was like "Oh, im so hot, and you all are losers" in reality, she was just a girl havin a good day. I think if more people thought like this we would be happier.

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Originally Posted by Tom Swierzbinski

Bong_man, do you find that weed helps with bipolar? I have read a lot about it, have the horrible 'label' of biopolar put on me and am currently off meds because I hate the side effects. Are you a daily toker or do you just smoke when you need to medicate yourself?

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Herb did'nt have much to do with the bi polar itself i think it was more the adhd it had the effect on but once i could consontrate and feel abit more mellow from the weed i started seeing things alittle differantly when i was high and thinking about why i see things the way i do, Why do i think everythings so bad why do i constantly feel like topping myself then after doing some reading i found that once you can control your mind you can choose how you feel you can be constantly happy etc Im a daily toker i loveeee getting high i'd be dead without it :p

Makes sense bong man, Ive had those realizations too. For you people with bipolar, how fast do the moods switch?

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Originally Posted by Natural Revolution

Makes sense bong man, Ive had those realizations too. For you people with bipolar, how fast do the moods switch?

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Several times a day, going from 1 to 10 within minutes. Docs have said I could be psyclothimic (sp?) which is basically rapid cycling bipolar.

thank you demeter!!!!!!!!

I'm bipolar among some other things and weed does help with my moods

Another good book is The Art of Happiness by the Dalai Lama and Howard C. Cutler M.D.

It's extremely good book, it compares the Thaibeten Buhddist's ideas of happiness and western ideas on it. Extremely good read whether or not your Buhddist or even religious

Weed is awesome for bi-polar, I swing from mania and depression every 3 weeks or so, and everyday I have multiple mood swings like normal people, maybe a little more intense. But weed helps all that.

I agree with Matt- Cannabis works to stabilize my mood. I have been off Prozac for about 3 weeks and Welbutrin now for about a week and feel much better just smoking a bowl! Why must I settle for synthetic when nature has already provided the natural medicine? Now if it was only legal, life would be much easier! Stupid government:(

I would be real careful stopping medication. I do not have depression. Although 2 out of the four women i have seriously dated have had it at some point in there lives. How can smoking a depresant..~marijuana ~ help your depression? That does not seem to make sense, we know alcohol does not work. I know it works for anxiety in some and makes it worse in others. show me a well published doctors paper stating that pot helps and i might believe. best of luck to all you depressed peeps.

marijuana is a hallucinogen not a depressant. also depressant drugs aren't the same thing as mental depression. they are called that because they slow down heartbeat and respiration, not because they make you feel depressed necessarily.

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Originally Posted by Natural Revolution

marijuana is a hallucinogen not a depressant. also depressant drugs aren't the same thing as mental depression. they are called that because they slow down heartbeat and respiration, not because they make you feel depressed necessarily.

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Marijuana is an anti-psychotic,hallucinogenic,stimulant, and depressant. Being a depressent it just depressed your body and such. The fact that it is all of these is partially why I believe cannabis helps with so many health conditions.

yeah, i had really bad depression and thats actually a reason i started smoking back up again a few years back.


since then, ive done a lot of research in a lot of fields, learned a lot and read a lot of philosophy and zen buddhism.


...i think weed helped me out a lot.

most definately.

may have even cured me.

This may be a 6day old topic, so if I get yelled at for reviving it or something, sorry... I just felt I wanted to add on to this...

I took many different anti depressants to treat my "severe" depression. Some, like Prozac made my condition worse! Well I began smoking about 6 months after the start of my depression, not for medicinal, but just as recreational use.

Over the time of smoking, I began to notice the med (or so I thought) I was trying was actually working! So I stopped smoking to see if there was a full benefit from that, and it stopped working. So curious, I stopped taking the med for 3 days and continued my smoking. To my surprise, I was fine. I've been fine ever since, I've had not ONE anxiety attack or suicidal thought since I started smoking almost 5 years ago.

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Originally Posted by bentleygtgirl

I feel like even though depression is a disease, a positive outlook always helps. Theres always a lot of ways you could interpret things. I am a little bit of a larger girl, well not really, but I have small friends. If i wanted to, I could stand in front of the mirror and make myself cry by saying "oh i have fat hips, im ugly, my boobs are too big i have ugly hair" but I don't! I have to have that self confidence so I always try to compliment myself. I don't think its bein conceited, I just have a good body image.

One thing that helped me get over my depression was figuring out appropriate feelings for things. It sounds super cheesy, but I don't care. I was taking everything personally but I couldn't see it. If a pretty girl drove by in a hot car I would get jealous and feel like she was like "Oh, im so hot, and you all are losers" in reality, she was just a girl havin a good day. I think if more people thought like this we would be happier.

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Well said

i agree