Music of the Night

Depression is quite often a response to our present conflict between material pressures and spiritual aspirations. used wisely, it can be a springboard to spiritual awakening and wisdom says Suma Varughese

- Suma Varughese

Prajakti Deshmukh, an attractive teacher of Art of Living (AOL), observes that the number of people with depression who come to do the initial AOL course is increasing.

“Depression is going up horribly,” says psychiatrist Dayal Mirchandani. “Today there is a great need to conform, and to be like the page three people. The second reason is that people do not sleep enough, thanks to computers, TV, an active night life, and so on. The junk food diet is also another cause. Earlier, people had healthy food like nuts, grain, vegetables and fish.”

The truth is modern living is just not good for mental health. Says Psychotherapist Uma Ranganathan, “Structures like the joint family and job security are breaking down; at the same time, social pressures to earn well and look good have gone up.”

Consulting Psychotherapist and Counsellor Minnu Bhonsle, however, sees the silver lining at the edge of the cloud. “Today, the average person enjoys luxuries that kings of yore could not have dreamt of, such as mobiles and emails. This leaves you with big questions like what is the purpose of life?” According to her, today, we stand in a cusp between the pull of materialism and that of spirituality. If the prevalent wisdom invites us to jump into the glittering heap of material pleasures, there is a parallel pull towards a search for deeper meaning. The zeitgeist is gradually awakening to the existence of spirit. However, transition times are never easy and this particular flashpoint between matter and spirit is the most difficult of all. Caught between the crossfire, many of us dive into the agony of depression.

Exploring depression