Stress, Age and Depression
by Peter Shaw
Let me immediately confess to a close personal interest in this topic. Those of you who take the trouble to read my
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history HERE will understand why that is. It does appear to be the case, though, that suicide in our Western societies appears to be most prevalent among older males. I expect there have been many studies about this – I don’t know, because I haven’t really researched the subject yet. I can, though, perhaps hazard a few guesses as to the reasons for this phenomenon.
Ageing
The fact of ageing is itself a major stressor, particularly, I suppose, to those of a more macho nature – the kind we usually pity as they get older, with their feeble attempts to regain their youth. You know the kind – wearing wigs and toupees, dyeing their hair, driving quite unsuitable sports cars, wearing clothes more suited to boys of sixteen. Some may call this vanity, but I see it as a rather pathetic harking back to their glory days. They are clearly under constant personal stress, because of their inevitable ageing. They are no longer attractive to members of the opposite sex, they may have become grandparents or even great grandparents (worse), they may well be isolated socially, having retired from “work” and having lost many of their friends to death or old age homes. They are probably financially much worse off than the level they have been used to. All of this raises stress levels.
Life Achievements
Most of us lead fairly unexceptional lives.
True, there are those who have been prominent or petty criminals, or concentration camp guards, or corrupt dictators, or have committed any of the other multifarious ways we humans have devised of causing stress to ourselves and others. There are also the opposite, the Mother Theresas of this world, the inventors of penicillin, the people who have achieved considerable success without crushing others along the way. There are precious few of these, though, and one problem we have anyway is in defining “success”. Many people today view this in material terms, whereas many of those who have gained huge material success have done so at the expense and sometimes the grief of others.
So those older folk among us who review their life and achievements are usually bitterly disappointed in themselves, which naturally leads to low self esteem and depression. This is particularly so if they are ordinary working people comparing their life to giants of industry and others with considerable material or social success.
Health and Strength
Both of these naturally ebb with age. It is sad to compare our physical prowess today with that of our youth, and this again can lead to low self esteem and depression. I myself came up against this with a nasty shock a few years ago when I was hiking in the mountains with a group of young to middle-aged people. I found that I simply couldn’t keep up with the rest of them, because of fatigue, aches and pains, shortness of breath and the unpleasant feeling that my radiator had
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packed up and I was overheating ! This did not make me feel good about myself, especially as I have always prided myself on my hiking abilities, having once trekked around the Annapurna range in the Nepal Himalayas. It is galling to have to
abandon the activities of a lifetime because of physical infirmities.
Our Spirituality
Many of us go through life utterly neglecting our spiritual selves. We need to remedy this, especially in old age as a strong spirit is well able to withstand the stress and pressures of age. By this, I do not necessarily mean being religious in the accepted sense of that word.
My definition of a strong spirit is one who has understood their own connectedness to all other living things, who as a result treats others with the respect he would accord himself, who understands his immortal nature, and that his approaching death is but a return to our spiritual home. Such a spirit truly loves others as himself, although not with a sexual or a romantic love, bur rather a familial love.
Given such attributes, a strong spirit can accept that all the negative aspects of ageing and of our lives are all truly insignificant. Only the weak or the truly evil spirits suffer.
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God has a wonderful srtiipual organization and all of them love one another and are united in worship and peace. The very best way I have found to overcome depression is to surround myself with them and associate with them on a regular basis, to keep busy in teaching and preaching about God’s kingdom government that will restore the earth to it’s original paradise-like conditions and drawing close to God by reading and meditating on the Bible as God’s letter to all of us which is full of srtiipual treasures.
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It’s sometimes leacld the darknight of the soul. The morning breaks just as soon as it dawns upon you that no-one will help you, no one can help you except by looking after your body and accepting you. You must face your demons and accept them. Loving your suffering will free you..you will gain a different perspective as you learn not to be afraid of your feelings. You cannot dispel the demons by rejecting them, you have denied them too long already.
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I have already ripeeld your question on dealing depression with Hindu resources. which I have reproduced once again below:-In addtion to the above you can do the following and possibility you will get some relief-1. YOGA and MEDITATION. You should preactice this daily in the morning. I will give lot of relief.2. Read and try to understand Bhagwat Gita You can do one verse per day and you will get so many meanings and facts, which will be helpful. Other Hindu Resources suggested by me are as below:DEALING DEPRESSION HINDU WAY RESOURCES:Today many people practice yoga to lose weight or otherwise improve their health and appearance. But there is much more to yoga than that. Yoga actually means “To link with the Supreme”. It may be compared to a ladder for attaining the top most spiritual perfection.Thousands of years ago, conditions were such that people could devote a great part of their lives to unbroken yoga practices in a secluded place, taking strict vows of penances and austerity. But who today can sit alone in a mountain valley or jungle for long periods without moving; minimizing eating and sleeping and speaking, and on top of that fixing ones mind on the self? By following the bhakti yoga process which has been recommended for this age, this can be achieved.The Bhakti Yogi controls his mind and senses by the simple process of chanting the Hare Krishna mantra. Chanting purifies the mind and the senses just as medicine prescribed for a body ailment gradually restores the body to its natural. healthy condition. We engage in this practice, known as mantra meditation to gradually develop great mental control and awareness. In this pure state of consciousness, free from inebriates such as tension, confusion, depression and feelings of envy and hatred, one experiences real peace of mind.We also abstain from activities which bind us to materialistic life and have negative karmic reactions.These we call the regulative principles of freedom and can be classified as four:1. No eating meat, fish or eggs 2. No Gambling3. No intoxicants (like drugs, alcohol, tobacco, etc.)4. No illicit sex.We follow these principles in order to develop love of God. They are conducive to the development of spiritual life and also bring peace and stability of the mind. We believe there are three enemies to civilized human life. These are lust, anger and greed. These activities which we abstain from are those which increase our lust, anger and greed. They also cloud the mind which then that leads to mis-judgement.Abstaining from these four sinful acts allows us to lay a rock solid foundation in our devotional quest.So by regularly chanting Hare Krishna …… this will help us to follow the four regulative principles and by following the four regulative principles we can easily chant Hare Krishna. They go hand in hand, neither one can be done without the other.-