My point, to make it explicit, was that loving-kindness would have been a safer meditation to do. It’s not a cure-all; to borrow tsilva’s phrase, the “Noble Onefold Path” is not a wise path.
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I smiled when I read she made a prayer. And I’m glad she stepped out of the teachings she was receiving, as it appears these were doing violence to her. And looked for professional help.
From the text alone, one could argue she put Buddhism aside because her situation required something else. But, the other way around can be argued as well, that the “non-Buddhism” things she was doing (successfully) to deal with her problems are the Buddha’s bidding – letting go (i.e. of the dogmas), cultivating compassion (towards herself in her prayer), etc.
I think there’s a problem (even, a danger) to these two ways of thinking. The first, that Buddhism has a smaller scope and cannot help outside of this circumscription. And, the second, that it’s a pill to be prescribed to all problems of life.
And in the middle of these, I think of Bhante G.'s words, once again: Zen is tough.
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Labeling depression as treatment-resistant doesn’t blame the patient, it blames the medications. We really don’t have a good understanding of how these things work. Sure, we know some things about their pharmacology on a physiological level, but we don’t really understand the mechanism of how this translates into improvement of depressive symptoms in a patient’s lived experience. I remember hearing during a lecture from a PhD Psych RN that (paraphrasing), “Prescribing antidepressants are trial and error, and anyone who tells you otherwise is lying.”
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I totally agree @Mkoll . It’s refreshing to see it talked about. This openness to admit fallibility is quite rare in general mental health services.
IMO this goes too far. People regularly get better on antidepressants- not all, but a good percentage. Time and again people with depression tell me they are better on what has been prescribed. However they are the last people to report this on a Internet forum. So this bias comes from others for whom it hasn’t worked. I’m not clear what it is but statistically something’s missed in research, which if someone is prescribing mindfully, they won’t.
I don’t think the “trial and error” comment was implying that they are not effective after the trial and error selects a treatment that works.
Same goes for many pharmaceuticals …
Ajahn Brahm tells a nice story about Sam Atha and Vi Passana taking their dog Metta for a walk in the hills of insight. But I agree that it isn’t one size fits all, and slavishly following a particular method can be counter-productive.
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It certainly isn’t, and it shouldn’t be presented as such IMO.
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GABA supplements or other neurotransmitter support supplements can be helpful for anxiety.
After my Dad died, I started having panic attacks. This continues for about 2 and a half years until I found a supplement called Zen+
There was an immediate over night change. Eventually I settled on just taking GABA (with B6) and as long as I keep my stress low , 1 pill a day keeps my nervous system calm. I used to have epilepsy which is also caused from a hyperactive nervous system.
I hope with a few deeper retreats and extending my daily sitting practice I can stop taking the GABA, but if I have to keep taking it that’s fine by me also.
There was a time when I couldn’t be meditate through the extreme raging thoughts wnd chest pain from the anxiety. I tried not taking it at a Vipassana retreat and it’s became like a brick wall of racing thoughts so I started taking it again so as to not waste my valuable retreat time and I’m glad I did.
There was a time when I didn’t neeed neurotransmitter support and I meditated deeply and easily, but this is what’s is right now so I accept a little support. I’m thankful it’s not pharmaceuticals but knowing what I know now, they can be useful urban needed for a time, however diet and lifestyle need to be address as well as therapy for some who are dealing with deep and painful emotional issues. The Buddha said that he can help this with little dust. Sometimes neurotransmitter problem create too much dust and that needs to be handled but before the deeper therapeutic benefits of the Hiddhas teachings and meditation can benefit fully.
However, this doesn’t mean one shouldn’t read the teachings, follow precepts while getting treatment through drugs, supplements and/or therapy. The Buddha’s teachings and meditation are for everyone. Even if they help 1% that is a massive benefit for this and future births.
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I’m glad that you have found something that works for you @amimettalove And I hope that when the time is right, you ultimately can leave that suffering behind 
IMO there is nothing inherently bad about medication, and it is a literal lifesaver for many people. It just isn’t the whole answer, and a belief that some pills will solve problems can also get in the way of ‘recovery’. Also it can have very negative effects for those for whom it doesn’t give the anticipated results. Just the same as when other beliefs (like meditation is good for all ills at all times) etc etc. I think the Kalama Sutta applies equally to all beliefs .
With metta
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Exactly!
That’s a really positive, healthy relationship to have with medications of all kinds IMO. If a medication helps someone, say with high blood pressure, that’s great. Still, they would be doing themselves a favor if they worked to get off it by losing weight, eating less salt, exercising, etc. Even if those changes don’t lower their blood pressure, they’ll still have positive overall effects. If they’ve done what they can and still have high blood pressure, then they continue taking the medication. No big deal, they contentedly accept the situation.
Totally. Slow and steady wins the race. 
For me, sometimes the thought arises and passes away that the practice has helped 0%. It’s a very negative outlook that I recognize is conditioned by negative habits of mind I’ve cultivated in the past. There is no running away from the fruits of past kamma. I know that replacing negative habits of mind with positive ones gives rise to kammic fruit as well, and they taste much better while concurrently making the bitter fruits more bearable. I will sow these seeds and not those, thank you very much. 
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Hello. Me again. I studied psychiatry. I am a nurse Practitioner who prescribes “psych-meds” all the time. I also have taken quite a few of the medications I have prescribed as a patient getting medication prescribed to me. I can tell you this. Medication is hit-and-miss. People feel “strange” and the establishment gives them medication to make them feel different. I think this post is a bit off the mark. Only a brief passing mention to the solution. THERAPY. Not so much medication but therapy. Maybe a Buddhist-therapist would of been the solution to this woman depression. Medication doesn’t work as well as people think. Your depressed? Here take this magical pill and you will be all better. Doesn’t work that way. The problem here is you are focusing too much on the problem with medication. Not the solution for someone who is clinically depressed.
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It does work sometimes though. My ex was an absolute mess until she’s got on Cipralex. Alcoholism, BPD symptoms, inability to manage any emotions at all. Cipralex leveled her out so she had a chance. If she’s had gone to therapy as well, she’s may have recovered fully. Unfortunately, she didn’t follow through so the deeper issues couldn’t be resolved.
She did stop drinking for a year after attending a goenka vipassana retreat and when she wasn mindful of the body or breath she did very very well. Some people are too lost, but Cipralex keeps her from going completely off the deep end in an empty pool at least.
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Since a lot of people have brought up the value of Metta, I thought I’d quote SN 10.4, in which the Buddha responds to the Deva Maṇibhadda’s excessive praise of mindfulness:
“It’s always auspicious for the mindful;
the mindful prosper in happiness.
Each new day is better for the mindful,
and they’re freed from enmity.”
“It’s always auspicious for the mindful;
the mindful prosper in happiness.
Each new day is better for the mindful,
but they’re not freed from enmity.
But someone whose mind delights in harmlessness,
all day and all night,
with love for all living creatures
they have no enmity for anyone.”
In the case of the woman in the article, in sounds like her depression was caused by enmity towards herself. The medication helped her figure this out, and a more devotional, heart-centered form of practice further healed her.
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Hey folks,
I really don’t think it’s a good idea to get into medication and supplement talk on this forum. Even supplement can have unforseen side-effects if taken with other medications.
Let’s get back to the OP
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It occurs to me that this whole question of whether Buddhism “works” or not is a very modern and western kind of question, one that reflects the unfortunate overinvolvement of contemporary Buddhism with western psychotherapeutic management. For millennia Buddhism has been a religion, and the majority of its adherents have relied on it for a basic orienting conception of the world, providing a sense of meaning and significance to daily events. But they have not relied on it so much as a technique or health “cure” to make everything better. Meditation was part of a regime for people who had completely reoriented their lives and checked out of Mara’s realm.
The modern western expectation that one can live a stress-inducing, heavily time managed, socially approved “productive” life of worldly busyness, while also “using” so-called Buddhism as some kind of cushion therapy is distorting the teachings and putting way too much pressure on Buddhism to be something it isn’t.
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This old video from Bhante Sujato just popped up in my YouTube list and I was rewatching this and thought his comments on how all our habits and coping mechanisms emerge as part of meditation were relevant to the discussion: (should start at 11.09)
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There’s a sutta where the satta sambojjhaṅgā (7 Awakening Factors) are chanted to “heal” a sick monk.
Yep, that’s included in the typical book of Paritta recitations and are traced back to these specific suttas: SN46.14, SN46.15 and SN46.16
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