Alternative Depression TherapyBen Schwarcz MFT - Psychotherapist
Welcome to the Alternative Depression Therapy website! Your resource for information on alternative and holistic treatments for depression, bipolar disorder, anxiety and stress. Treatments integrating Meditation, Yoga, Mindfulness, Energy Psychology, natural health, and Transpersonal Psychotherapy, offer a deep and life-changing path for healing the pain of depression.
Do you have any of the following symptoms?
- Fatigue or insomnia?
- Feelings of hopelessness, worthlessness, or despair?
- Suicidal thoughts, or thoughts of death?
- Frequent crying spells?
- Fear, anxiety, social withdrawal or isolation?
- Negative, pessimistic thinking?
- Feeling that life is meaningless?
These are some common features of depression. If you want to find a way beyond this suffering, please read on...
The Alternative Depression Therapy website offers:
- Information about alternative therapies.
- New ways of thinking about healing and personal transformation.
- Self-Help Tools and information to assist with your personal growth and recovery.
- Reference guides to products and alternative technologies for wellness.
- Guided Meditations (audio)
- An introduction to the Santa Rosa psychotherapy and meditation practice of Ben Schwarcz, MFT.
Deep depression is like a bad dream that never ends. It alters our perceptions of ourselves and the world, and causes unbelievable suffering. While depressed, it is very difficult to remember how if feels to be happy, or how to find your way back to feeling normal. Anyone suffering from severe depression, needs immediate, effective treatment, which should usually include both psychological (mental/emotional/spiritual) as well as physical interventions
Lower level depression is even more common in our culture, and easier to hide. We tend to seek happiness by trying to deny or get rid of our pain. But this approach doesn't work. We can spend our lives running from ourselves. Living a life of constant distraction and activity is like a dog chasing it's tail. It may be entertaining for a while, but it will never end in fulfillment. What is it that we all want? Is it enough for you to not be depressed? Or would you like to be truly happy? Well-Being is more than the absence of depression.
The pre-requisites for true happiness:
1. Compassion for yourself (Self-Acceptance)
2. Self-Awareness (Mindfulness)
3. A mind un-cluttered by too many thoughts
An alternative depression therapy should focus not just on the resolution of symptoms, but on raising the consciousness of the individual. This website is your portal to a deeper exploration of what it means to find your Self. Effective alternative therapies treat the whole person, so the benefits go beyond the resolution of symptoms. While millions of Americans are suffering from depression, millions more are deeply unsatisfied with life.
Mind-Body approaches help you to experience your full Aliveness in every moment and in every breath.
Effective psychotherapy is experiential, transformational, and challenges one's distorted thinking. The relationship between therapist and client is a totally unique healing partnership. Alternative Depression Therapy leads to the discovery that the self-images, thoughts, jobs, roles and beliefs which make up the ego or personality, are not the Essential Self. When we narrowly define ourselves we become fearful, vulnerable and unhappy. Through self-acceptance, compassion, and mindfulness we begin to discover our true nature. True healing is the realization that at your core, you are already whole, and lacking in nothing.
Meditation techniques, when used properly, can be the most effective and direct path to Self Awareness and peace of mind. Meditation is a way of being your own therapist. It is a way to get beyond self-created illusions. It decreases stress, teaches us to relax deeply, to live in the present moment, and to let go. Combined with psychotherapy, it is a powerful catalyst for insight and freedom from the trappings of the over-thinking mind.
Energy Psychology is a rapidly emerging dimension of therapy that works quickly and deeply by working on an energetic level. In this way, issues that once took weeks, months or years of therapy, can often be eliminated in a fraction of the time.
More and more mental health professionals are now coming to recognize the power and effectiveness of an alternative depression therapy -- integrating the practice and concepts of meditation, yoga, and energy psychology with psychotherapy.
Please take your time to explore this website, for ideas, resources, and approaches to treating depression naturally and effectively. Alternative medicines, complimentary therapies, and self-help tools are all available to assist you on your journey to recovery, and far beyond!
For my free online community, dedicated to exploring natural healing, meditation, yoga, and spirituality, please visit
EmptyMind.
The Alternative Depression Therapy website may serve as a self-help tool, but the use of this information does not constitute a therapist/client relationship and should not serve as a means of self-diagnosis or a substitution for actual psychotherapy. The information on this site is for informational purposes only. If you are experiencing symptoms of depression it is advised that you see your doctor or therapist for an evaluation. If you are having active thoughts of suicide please call 911 or the National Suicide Hotline: 1-800-SUICIDE.
For information about Psychotherapy and Meditation instruction in Santa Rosa, California, please contact:
Ben Schwarcz, MA, MFT
Licensed Psychotherapist (Lic# mfc35606)
Authorized teacher of Kriya Yoga
707/326-5566
3452 Mendocino Avenue, Suite C
Santa Rosa, CA 95403
For secure online payments for services, use PayPal by clicking the button:
Donations for maintaining this site are greatfully appreciated!
Copyright 2004-2008 Ben Schwarcz. No part of the Alternative Depression Therapy website may be reproduced or copied for commercial purposes without written permission.
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Santa Rosa Psychotherapist Ben Schwarcz, MFT Santa Rosa Psychotherapist: Ben Schwarcz, MFT. Alternative treatment for depression, anxiety, bipolar disorder. Psychotherapy, meditation & Kriya Yoga; Santa Rosa Bipolar Support Group
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Health Supplements For recommendations on health supplements available through my online store, please complete my inquiry form
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