Dances With Flowers

If you have been feeling depressed, you may be worried that you will have to start taking pharmaceuticals, This concern stops many people from seeking help for their depression — especially if they don’t know that taking antidepressants is not the only way to get help.. Pharmaceuticals can be expensive and have undesired side effects. Also, it is often hard to get the dosage or medications exactly right for you. Fortunately, there are effective natural remedies that can help — sometimes making it unnecessary for you to need antidepressants.

Here, I need to say that I am not a doctor and cannot offer medical advice to anyone. The information I share with you is for educational purposes only. For mental and physical health issues, you should consult a licensed health care practitioner of your own choice. When I work with a client whose primary issue is depression, I require that they be under the care of a licensed mental health practitioner in addition to their therapy with me. This is for both our protection — and for your ultimate well being. (There. Now I’ve made my lawyer happy with my required disclaimer statement.)

Now let me go on to explain that I have been a member of the Flower Essence Society for more than 10 years, and am a Certified Flower Essence Practitioner. I specialize in making custom blended flower essence formulas for people and animals. In 2001, I participated in a longitudinal study of depression under the auspices of the Flower Essence Society of America, where the results were very encouraging.

Eight of my clients volunteered to participate in this study. Here were their results.

• All eight clients were under the care of psychiatrists or psychotherapists during their treatment.
• Six of the eight clients were also taking antidepressant medications.
• During the course of treatment, all but one client felt (and through the special tests that were provided by the study) ascertained to have improved their depression by a significant margin. All my clients moved from a severely depressed state to “not depressed”. or in one case, significantly less depressed.
• One client discontinued treatment because she discovered the source of the depression and decided consciously not to address it. We agreed together that this was a valid outcome of the treatment.
• Five of the clients were able during their flower essence treatment to taper off their antidepressants (under the guidance and care of their psychotherapists) without their symptoms recurring.
• The time it took to effect a reading of “not depressed” on the objective tests (Beck scale) was between 5-10 months (7 months on average) using flower essence formula treatment for these clients.
• Four of the clients were symptom-free up to 18 months following their flower essence therapy, without needing to take either the flower formulas OR antidepressants.
• The fifth client required occasional flower essences during the 24-month period following their flower essence therapy, and has not requested flower essences since. They report not needing either flower essences or antidepressants.

The Flower Society of America’s depression study results — as well as the results of clients in my own practice who participated in this study as well as those who did not — show that flower essences are a safe, effective alternative to antidepressant medication for people who suffer from depression. It also helps to have someone to talk with about your depression, which is where having a psychiatrist or psychotherapist is useful.

For more information (or to schedule a flower essence consultation) please visit our web site.

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