BET : A new modality in healing Depression
What is depression: To understand depression, I am using the following words as described by patients, through my over 12 years of experience working with 1000’s of them:
1. The negative thought train, no matter how illogical or distant, seems entirely credible
2. “I am tired”- a permanent state of exhaustion which sleep does not fix
3. My soul just weeps, I sleepwalk through my days craving the little death of sleep to escape reality
4. I feel like I am 90 years old and I cannot do the daily chores required for my personal hygiene or health
We need to understand that depression is a condition in which you don’t control your thoughts, but your thoughts start to control you. It’s like being in a deep dark well or a deep dark tunnel with no light at the end.
The common perception is that depression is sadness, depression is crying, or depression is wearing dark clothes. This is not true.
Depression is an inactive feeling of nothingness and numbness. The thoughts are negative along with hopelessness and anxiety which lead to an overall defeated, sad and passive existence. It is also important to understand the difference between sadness and depression.
Sadness is an emotion which is a reaction or response to a situation of loss – of money, of a friend, of a job position or of a place. It starts to subside after a few days and a person is able to do the daily chores and take care of oneself. In depression, the cause may or may not be known and the state continues for a long time in which the person is unable to do daily chores and also avoids self-care.
Cognitive Behavior Therapy (CBT) and SSRI’s (Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitor) are commonly used treatment modalities for depression. These work on increasing the levels of serotonin in the brain, which is a chemical messenger or neurotransmitter that carries signals between brain cells (Mayo Clinic 2019). As effective as these are, different antidepressants work different on people and it takes several weeks before an antidepressant is fully effective.
Therefore, I wanted to look for a solution that would have the potential to provide immediate relief, has fewer to no side-effects and positively impact patients’ lives as a whole. This approach has resulted in a new modality called BET: Body, Emotion and Thought correction and integration. The modality uses the therapy system called Applied Natya Therapy (ANT) in which I have discovered a whole new language of body and mind from an ancient scientific manual on the art of expression - Natya Shastra was written by the Sage Bharata Muni.
This therapy system works in a way that the dysfunctional thoughts and behaviours are replaced by specific movements, gestures and expressions that form a meaningful syntax for the brain. Science has been proving the benefits of exercise and how it helps in regulation of the hormones, it has been proven that if we move our body, there is no way that we can stop our thoughts from changing.
Hence, when the right set of movements with corresponding corrective emotions and thoughts is applied, the patients show remarkable improvement in their thinking process and ability to create space in their minds to allow the positivity to flow in. The initial numbness and inability to do any action are resolved by prescribing the movements and thoughts slowly and precisely, respective to the individual situation of each patient. There is remarkable improvement through the prescribed body movements leading to positivity and productivity, the release of “Happy Hormones” and hence resulting in a more hopeful and meaningful life.
Many patients have reported improvement in their quality of life in terms of relationship with self, work and others after undergoing the BET modality using ANT. BET is highly effective in curing depression and anxiety in high stress and competitive environments in corporate, business and social lives as the confluence of movements with changing thought patterns which can be practised as part of daily routine leading to effective and successful management of depression. BET modality is non-medicinal, no side effect and completely safe way to manage and cure mental health issues.
