Sessions about depression recovery

A number of free introductory sessions on depression recovery are being offered at the Peninsula Community Centre and Umina Public School this month.

The session will introduce participants to an eight-week depression recovery program based on 15 years of clinical research by Dr Neil Nedley, a physician specialising in preventative medicine and gastroenterology.

The program will be led by community health coordinator of the Woy Woy Adventist Church Ms Dorothy Pansare using the Nedley Depression Recovery Program on DVD.

Ms Pansare said, with depression affecting one in five Australians, it was an important condition that the community needed to engage in.

"During stressful times, depression can intensify," Ms Pansare said.

"Factors leading to depression include having unrealistic goals, financial stress, family expectations and change of schedule or eating patterns.

"But the cure may not be as difficult as you think.

"Just a few basic lifestyle changes can help you break free from the depression cycle."

Ms Pansare said the program would help people identify contributing factors or "hits" which cause depression.

"Every case is as different as every individual, but the 10 hit categories summarise all the possible causes for depression," Ms Pansare said.

"And determining your causes can be as simple as taking the depression questionnaire in this program.

"The program will teach participants how to improve brain function, maximise IQ in children, increase energy, boost concentration, adopt healthier sleep habits, improve physical performance, and gain renewed hope.

"In addition to the essential information on lifestyle and diet, Nedley will also discuss psychiatric counselling and medications.

"This seminar is not only excellent for people who are depressed, but also for those who support family members or friends who are depressed.

"It will focus on brain health and what a person can do for themselves to treat depression. "As people adopt healthy lifestyle habits, they are empowered to keep depression from ever happening - even for those with a genetic predisposition to mental illness."

Ms Pansare said that those attending the sessions would learn how to establish and maintain a strong exercise program, understand depression, eliminate negative habits of body and mind, develop healthy eating patterns, and get more out of the day by enhancing brain function.

She said participants would find themselves spending less time frustrated by stress, decrease the risk for many diseases, say goodbye to negative thinking and understand the true power of positive thinking.

"Dr Nedley will show better ways to combat depression - how to know what you can change and what you cannot, the importance of minimizing medication in consultation with your doctor, and how to make use of effective natural therapies," Ms Pansare said.

Sessions will be held at the Peninsula Community Centre on Tuesday, March 16, at 1pm and 7pm, or at Umina Public School on Thursday, March 18, at 7pm.

For more information, contact Dorothy Pansare on 4341 4400 or 0425 346 360.

Press release, 4 Mar 2010 Dorothy Pansare, Woy Woy Adventist Church