The Chemistry of Joy: A Three-Step Program for Overcoming Depression Through Western Science and Eastern Wisdom

Chapter One: The Mysterious Mix of Science and Spirit

Surely joy is the condition of life. -- Henry David Thoreau

Imagine for a moment a cardiologist seeing a new patient. The man smokes, is forty pounds overweight, and subsists on a diet of pizza, french fries, and Big Macs. He works at a stressful job that leaves him agitated at the end of every fourteen-hour day, and his most strenuous exercise is walking from his office to the parking lot. He has a family history of heart disease, and his blood pressure and cholesterol are through the roof.

"Okay," says the cardiologist after he reviews the results of the tests, conducted by the nurse and a junior associate. He himself has spent just ten minutes with this patient, and already he's late for his next appointment. "Here's something to help your cholesterol go down, and something for your pressure. You shouldn't have many side effects, though you might experience some memory problems, and, of course, a loss of sex drive. But I wouldn't worry about it. Good luck, and I'll see you in three months when your prescription runs out."

You don't even have to be a first-year medical student to see what's wrong with this picture. Wait a minute, you say. Why didn't the doctor tell his patient to stop smoking, eat better, get more exercise, and find some strategies for coping with stress? Why isn't he monitoring the patient more carefully? And why is the patient's only option medications that, while they may save his life, will make it even less pleasant?

At this point, we'd never think of treating heart disease in such a limited fashion. It may have taken a while, but both the medical community and the general public have finally adopted an integrated approach to this potentially fatal illness. Yet depression -- once viewed entirely as a psychological or spiritual problem -- is now treated almost exclusively with medication alone by the vast majority of the medical establishment. While it's hard to imagine the cardiologist who would treat a heart patient in the way I've described, some version of this scenario would be not at all unusual for a harried psychiatrist at an HMO, under pressure to find the quickest and most cost-effective treatment for depression, nor for the family doctors who prescribe antidepressants while ignoring their patients' diet, exercise, and lifestyle. Even responsible, caring physicians -- psychiatrists as well as general practitioners -- are unaware that depression requires a "brain-healthy" diet and lifestyle to mirror the "heart-healthy" regime that we've come to know so well. Even well-meaning psychiatrists tend to see depressed patients as brain chemistry gone awry rather than as a complex integration of mind, body, and spirit. And many patients who try to eat well, exercise frequently, and live a healthy life remain ignorant of the specific diet and lifestyle choices that might cure their insomnia, lift their moods, soothe their anxiety, and generally ease their depression.