Participants: Agatha Thrash, Don Miller
Series Code: HYTH
Program Code: HYTH000162
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00:01 Hello, I'm Agatha Thrash, a staff physician at
00:04 Uchee Pines Institute 00:06 Today, we'd like to talk with you about the subject of 00:10 "negative thinking. " 00:11 Negative thinking can not only ruin your day, 00:14 it can also spoil your health... 00:16 and we'd like to present some issues having 00:18 to do with this subject, 00:20 so we invite you to stay with us. 00:43 Welcome to "Help Yourself to Health" 00:45 with Dr. Agatha Thrash of Uchee Pines Institute 00:49 And now, here's your host, Dr. Thrash 00:55 Even prophets of old talk about the influence of 00:59 the way we think... on the physical health. 01:03 And so, it isn't unlikely that you would expect 01:07 that physicians would be interested in this topic... 01:09 In fact, I have a number of reports here in my hand 01:14 about people who have thought about this kind of thing 01:19 through the years, as well as in recent months... 01:23 having to do with negative thinking and its influence 01:27 on the human body. 01:28 My colleague at Uchee Pines, Dr. Winn Horsley, 01:32 is going to assist me in talking with you about these various 01:37 topics and this is... 01:38 Dr. Winn Horsley, a Canadian originally, trained in 01:43 various countries of the world and we are very fortunate 01:46 to have him with us. 01:47 And he is now going to talk with you about... what's your topic? 01:52 And the sky is the limit on this subject... 01:55 there are so many things to talk about. 01:57 There really is... I'm focusing on one aspect of it... 02:01 and that is depression. 02:03 Certainly negative thinking would include depression. 02:09 And, when we talk about depression, 02:13 we're actually talking about a bit more than 02:17 say... so and so is depressed about an upcoming exam 02:22 that he hasn't prepared well enough for. 02:26 Nevertheless, I think that, not only among physicians, 02:31 but all people, we wonder about the causes of depression 02:37 and one of the big factors there would be... 02:39 what has led to depression? 02:41 In other words, some bad circumstance, or some bad event 02:44 in one's life MAKING one sad. 02:48 That's one thing... 02:50 But a second point which is raised very clearly 02:58 in some cases where there really isn't an event, 03:01 or even circumstances that one could say clearly would lead one 03:06 to be depressed. 03:08 ...That in fact, there is a basic outlook, 03:12 some people might say, "A bad attitude" 03:16 that the person has. 03:17 In other words, they don't somehow seem to be able to 03:20 orient themselves to confront problems that occur in life, 03:25 and, therefore, enter into depression. 03:28 So, that is a second way of explaining depression... 03:33 And there's really even a third one that one could say, 03:36 and this is one that has come out a lot 03:38 in medical circles in recent years and that is 03:42 ...It is quite well known now, that there are certain 03:45 neurotransmitters in the brain that have to do with emotions. 03:49 What is a neurotransmitter? 03:52 A neurotransmitter is what one nerve will use 03:58 at the end of its long wire connection to another nerve 04:03 to communicate to that next nerve. 04:06 It's the substance that is poured out and then 04:08 stimulates the next nerve. 04:10 And one of these neurotransmitters is serotonin 04:13 which very directly relates to people's state of mind. 04:18 Poured out between these 2 nerves... That's right. 04:21 That's right... the connection there is called a "synapse" 04:24 Well, one could question then... 04:30 Is it just one of these viewpoints that would 04:34 explain the whole issue? 04:36 Some people... one easy way would be to say 04:39 it's the bad circumstance that a person encounters... 04:41 But enough, I think has been said, that shows that there 04:45 are people where there isn't a good explanation there 04:48 And some people, I think this can happen among physicians too 04:53 Well, depression is just a matter of the chemicals 04:55 that you happen to have predominating in your brain. 04:58 And so then it would sound like... 04:59 Well, what can I do about it other than take a drug 05:02 that controls the chemical release. 05:05 I think that instead, we need to be conscious of all 05:10 3 of these factors. 05:13 In any normal person, if some terrible event happens 05:16 in their life, I would think it would be very strange 05:19 if they weren't set back for a while. 05:23 But, the Lord has built in mechanisms of handling 05:28 these problems that occur. 05:31 And, I don't know if one should already jump 05:35 to what things can we do. 05:36 Yes, that would be good. 05:38 Yes, what things can make it so that we don't slip into 05:43 negative thinking and being in already and being 05:47 depressed... what can we do to bring ourselves out? 05:50 Okay... well what you're saying actually I think is a very 05:56 important point and it's one that I hadn't even written down 06:00 And that is that we need to direct our thoughts... 06:03 How can you do that? 06:05 I remember one time, mentioning this is a physiology class and 06:10 one of my little teenage coed students said... 06:14 "Dr. Thrash, how can you do that? 06:16 How can you control your thinking?" 06:17 So how do you do that? 06:19 That's a very good question and I think I stumbled and went 06:23 in circles for quite a time on that issue. 06:26 I've since come to the conclusion... 06:30 In fact, I'm backed up by some very good presentations 06:35 by a psychiatrist that we know well. 06:37 One thing that one CANNOT do is... 06:41 you can't just say, "I want to be happy" 06:46 and automatically change it directly by the will. 06:51 You cannot, by the will, in fact he shows this 06:55 by neurologic diagrams... 06:59 diagrams of the nerve connections. 07:00 We do not have a direct connection from the will 07:05 and from the judgementary of the brain to the area 07:09 where the emotions are... the limbic system. 07:11 But what we CAN do... we can do what you said 07:14 We can, in fact, direct our thoughts. 07:17 That doesn't means that we say... 07:19 "I have to be happy... I have to be happy"... No 07:21 We can start THINKING about the right things 07:24 And, maybe I'll leave it at that. 07:27 There are a number of things, issues... 07:29 Perhaps the best thing would be certain TREMENDOUS 07:32 promises in the Bible. 07:33 Really tremendous promises... Absolutely. 07:37 What I'd like to go to is a little more mundane a point... 07:42 And that is, the point of lighting. 07:47 It's an interesting thing that we humans 07:52 are like the larks and not like the owls. 07:55 We do much better in the daylight. 07:58 Years ago... one never likes to think oneself an old man, 08:02 but, oh, it would be more than 30 years ago... 08:06 I taught school up in Northern British Columbia 08:09 and, great folks up there... and way up in the north country 08:15 a town called Chetwynd which I think is over 08:21 half the way to the Yukon and Alaska from the American border. 08:27 Through that first winter... 08:29 actually, I was there 2 years, both winters... 08:32 When you're far north, the daylight is very short 08:37 around Christmastime and for a number of weeks around it. 08:42 I was at that time teaching school when we'd go to the 08:46 schoolroom, it was dark. 08:48 You would then get some light during the middle of the day. 08:51 But then, by the time I would finish preparing some lessons, 08:54 for the next day, it was dark when I went home. 08:57 And I wouldn't say I was depressed, 09:01 certainly not in a clinical sense... 09:04 But one sensed the suppressive effect. Yes... 09:10 And to me, the most amazing thing was when spring came... 09:13 as those days gradually got longer. 09:15 Walking to school and hearing some birds singing... 09:18 it was much more than I had sensed in the south... 09:22 and I enjoy the birds singing at Uchee Pines... 09:25 But it was like a whole bird and the whole world changed 09:28 into just the sparkling sunlight... Yes. 09:31 This has been well-noted by doctors through the years 09:35 in a very, one could say almost a quantitative way, 09:40 or a scientifically-demonstrated way... 09:42 that the amount of sunlight affects one's state of mind 09:47 and they call it, "seasonal affective disorder" 09:49 when it, in some cases, especially the depression is 09:52 directly related to this... 09:53 And so, being UP in sunlight, getting OUT in the sunlight 10:00 really makes a positive effect on the emotions. 10:06 The second point that one could say, is that exercise 10:13 definitely affects the emotions in a positive way. 10:17 Many of the listeners may have heard of a runner's high. 10:23 It's quite a real thing. 10:25 Once a person... I'm not talking about maybe 10:27 the FIRST time of doing unaccustomed exercise 10:30 where it's hard grit and sweat. 10:31 But as one gets more accustomed to it, 10:34 a prolonged exercise is actually quite an enjoyable thing. 10:38 And, you begin to have a sense of wellbeing and I think 10:44 that what's going on is that the heavy physical stress 10:48 actually somehow... our mind is completely occupied with 10:53 confronting this physical stress and all the mental stresses 10:56 tend to drift into insignificance by comparison. 11:00 I have a couple of other points jotted down... 11:04 All right, very good... please take the time. 11:08 A third point that I have, I don't know if it would be 11:13 controversial... it's one that I've talked about 11:17 in this group of things about depression... and it's prayer. 11:20 It wouldn't be controversial with me... Okay. 11:24 The way I look at this... is that in prayer, 11:30 I'm not saying to be talking to the Lord and saying... 11:36 "I'm feeling just fine. " 11:38 I think that, in fact, we can be like the Psalms do... 11:42 Be quite open with the Lord... how one is feeling. 11:45 But with the Lord, rather than other people... Yes. 11:49 Instead of talking to other people about all the burdens 11:52 and how hard it is... Open up before God 11:55 what one sees as what one is really going through 11:58 and express it clearly and then lay hold of what God has 12:04 promised and leave it with Him which is what 12:06 He invites us to do... and that can make quite a difference. 12:11 Yes, it's this point that's our biggest problem... 12:13 and that leaving it with Him... It's true. 12:16 Because we have such a great propensity as human beings 12:21 to want to do it ourselves... 12:22 We want to do our whole salvation ourselves. 12:25 And, of course, this we cannot do. 12:28 We are dependent on the Savior that has been 12:34 provided for us. 12:35 There's such a tendency in us humans to feel we HAVE to 12:40 do something about it... 12:42 ...even when the Lord has said "Cast all your burdens on Him" 12:46 we need to help the Lord with it... 12:47 Well, no... He doesn't want us to be trying to help Him 12:50 with those burdens... leave them with Him 12:52 Another point that I think... 12:58 Now I'm not a psychiatrist, but I've just seen... 13:02 You're doing pretty well so far. 13:04 I can just talk from my experience of having seen 13:08 so many patients at Uchee Pines... 13:09 Not from what I've done, but from what many of the staff 13:13 are doing all the time... 13:14 What we call "LC's" the Lifestyle counselors 13:17 who actually do a lot more than counseling. 13:19 And the one point I want to make here is... 13:22 the massage that's done... 13:25 What a relief those people get from that. 13:28 And it doesn't have to be a BIG whole body massage. 13:32 I think that one can get a lot of relief with a simple massage 13:36 that we call a "chair massage" ... 10 minutes of just 13:40 In fact the muscles that often tighten up when a person 13:43 is anxious or depressed are these neck and shoulder muscles 13:48 perhaps more than anywhere else in the body... 13:50 And a little massage like that will just do SO much 13:54 And for those of you that can't think of any particular 13:57 techniques, or don't have any training or techniques, 14:00 really, it's so simple. 14:02 If you just put your hands on the person's neck, 14:05 and start doing some pushing. 14:06 In fact, that's the beginning of this chair massage. Yes. 14:09 It can make a real difference. 14:11 Yes, it's just rubbing, rubbing the skin... 14:14 Well, it's going to be deeper into the muscles. 14:16 And the soft tissues... They ALL respond. That's right. 14:20 Even the fat responds to the touch... 14:25 Because the nerves are full... are throughout all this area. 14:30 And they sense the touch and they respond to it. 14:35 Those, Dr. Agatha, were the 4 things I put together. 14:39 Very good... But I went over this what I have just said with 14:46 this same psychiatrist that I value so much... 14:51 And he added a couple of points. 14:53 Very good... Should I mention those? Yes, would you please. 14:56 He made, what I think is REALLY a crucial addition... 14:59 He said, "Depressed people need to become regular 15:03 in their schedules. " Yes... 15:06 They shouldn't be burning the midnight oil. 15:08 They need to have a set time for going to bed. 15:10 A set time for getting up. 15:12 And even a set time for a number of activities during the day. 15:17 And so, my little armchair psychiatry thing needs 15:21 to be added with this from a professional psychiatrist... 15:23 I think a crucial point... That's one. 15:27 One other point that is actually in inspired writing... 15:35 has to do with... There is nothing to get over 15:41 depression that quite equals when my focus, 15:44 instead of being turned on myself, 15:46 is turned out to someone else that's in need. 15:49 So, if you can help the depressed person 15:53 to find someone that's in either a worse situation, 15:56 or a bad situation, and have him get involved in doing 16:02 something for this other individual... 16:05 ...it's a tremendous relief to this over-focusing on oneself. 16:10 Yes indeed, it is... 16:12 And I appreciate these remarks very much. 16:16 And, as you can see, there is much that we can do... 16:19 Number 1, to avoid getting into a pattern of 16:23 negative thinking. 16:24 And then, if we're already in the pattern of negative thinking 16:27 ...there is much that we can do to bring ourselves out of that. 16:30 Now, we have talked about some of the things involved in the 16:34 emotional and mental things having to do with 16:38 negative thinking 16:39 And I have now, Don Miller. 16:41 Don Miller is a Lifestyle Counselor at Uchee Pines 16:44 And Don Miller, you have something important to tell us. 16:48 I always hope that I have something important 16:51 to tell people and important to say 16:53 But, I guess one of the most important things I can do 16:56 right now to sort of progress this discussion on depression 17:01 is to do one of the most important treatments 17:03 that you can do... It costs no money. 17:05 And it's been shown in recent studies to be effective. 17:09 "Do this... Or you can do this... 17:15 Any type of a smile, even a forced smile has been shown 17:19 to release the brain chemical called "endorphins" 17:22 which is another term for or we have another term 17:25 for it called "the happy hormones" 17:27 We find that if we just would smile more, 17:30 we would have a tendency to lift our spirits. 17:33 There's a law of our being called... 17:34 "The law of reciprocal influence" 17:37 It's a biblical law. 17:38 The Bible says, "As a man thinketh in his heart, so is he" 17:42 You know, if I were a research biologist, or neurobiologist, 17:47 I would like to go to the Bible and take some of these 17:49 statements like... "As a man thinketh in his heart, so is he" 17:52 and set about to prove it 17:54 because one think I would know for sure... 17:56 the premise would be true. 17:57 I would know that if a person expresses happy things, 18:01 it will raise his spirits. 18:03 And so, as we express happy things by our voice, 18:07 we are going to raise our spirits... 18:09 But, on the other side of the coin, 18:12 we get up in the morning... "I don't feel good" 18:15 And you walk downstairs and you tell your spouse 18:17 or someone in your family, "I don't feel good" 18:20 and you snap at the dog and you do all these terrible things 18:23 All it will do for you is lower your state of depression 18:28 that you're getting into until you are going to really 18:29 hit rock bottom. 18:31 So the body wants to lift you up and you can do that by 18:34 just expressing positive things. 18:36 Dr. Horsley was talking about something as simple 18:39 as a chair massage. 18:40 And in a recent study that I read, 18:42 ...is the way you can get an old person who is agitated 18:48 or irritated, or upset... to calm down is to 18:51 give them a simple hand massage... 18:54 Just grabbing hold of their hand and giving them 18:56 a hand massage has been shown to calm the spirits 19:00 and make them feel better. 19:01 Another thing you can use is music. 19:03 And that's been shown biblically when old King Saul would 19:07 get upset... they'd call in David 19:08 and he would play some nice music on his harp. 19:11 You know, we're not talking about the music you'd hear today 19:14 It was a calming music which would calm the spirits. 19:17 Now in the brain, we've got lots of chemicals going on and 19:20 lots of electricity popping and going on, 19:23 but we have some things called, sort of like opiate receptors 19:29 ...some little receptors on our nerve cells that receive 19:33 opiates and for a long time, they wondered why in the world 19:36 does the body have a receptor for the juice of a poppy flower 19:40 Until they started discovering in the brain, some encephalins 19:45 which basically means "in the head" 19:47 and what they found was on the spinal column, 19:52 there would be a band that had a whole lot of these 19:55 receptors for these opiates. 19:57 There was also a part of the brain that had a whole lot of 20:00 receptors for these opiates. 20:02 And they wondered why in the world were these there... 20:04 Well then they found out about these encephalins which are 20:07 helping... as we have a pain sensation, they go to that area 20:11 and slow down the transmission; therefore, lessening the pain. 20:14 and these things are produced by deep breathing, by exercising, 20:19 And by the very exercise of a happy experience in our minds. 20:23 And so, I guess if I had anything important to say, 20:26 Dr. Thrash, it would be the fact that... 20:28 As we express happy things, we will have a brain chemistry 20:33 reaction in our bodies that are going to make us 20:35 happy in the long run. 20:36 Yes... I especially like that thing of your saying that a 20:40 smile will raise the level of the mood... 20:45 And, of course, we probably all know that that is true. 20:48 If we put a smile on the face, we are very likely to let 20:52 the mood come along behind that. 20:55 Of course, sometimes that smile is quite empty... 20:57 But we want to communicate with our Heavenly Father who 21:02 GIVES US the peace, the joy, the pleasure that we can get 21:08 from those things which He has made. 21:10 Now I have a paper here about adolescents who 21:14 are diabetic and what their having diabetes does 21:19 to their moods. 21:21 And we know that the blood sugars go up and down 21:25 in diabetes and because of these wide swings in the 21:31 blood sugars, we have also swings in the mood of 21:36 people who have diabetes. 21:38 Now the way that we eat can influence the way 21:41 that we think quite a lot. 21:43 There are some foods that have, naturally, a sort of calming 21:47 effect on the mind. 21:50 There are also some foods that have a sort of a stimulatory 21:54 effect on the mind. 21:56 There are some foods that give us such a jolt 22:00 of stimulation that we may actually increase 22:02 the finger tremor and we may have other difficulties 22:07 that are brought on simply by those foods, 22:09 or by those drinks. 22:10 Now I have asked one of my colleagues at Uchee Pines 22:14 to show you some of the foods that can be useful 22:19 in helping people to have calmness and peaceful thoughts. 22:24 This is Lidia Seda, who is one of our Lifestyle Counselors 22:29 at Uchee Pines and she and I travel together at times 22:35 And I know that you have something that's going to 22:38 taste good and now I see that it looks good. 22:42 Tell us about that. 22:43 Well what I have here is what's called baked oatmeal... 22:46 And the wonderful thing about oats is that, well first of all, 22:50 they're easily digested. 22:51 Number 2, they can act as a mild laxative for those that may be 22:56 suffering from constipation... 22:57 But also that they're high in melatonin. 22:59 And they have found that individuals who are depressed 23:04 will suffer sleep deprivation. 23:06 What happens is there's a hormone that's produced when 23:09 individuals are depressed called CRH. 23:12 And that hormone would actually decrease melatonin production. 23:16 And we know, Dr. Thrash, that when someone's depressed, 23:21 they probably won't sleep as well, 23:23 and when someone doesn't sleep as well, 23:25 they can easily get depressed. 23:27 Yes, that's true. 23:28 So you have an interesting back and forth combination 23:32 with the two. 23:33 Something else that happens or that we need to keep in mind 23:37 is that another hormone that is needed for melatonin production 23:42 is tryptophan. 23:43 Tryptophan though, can have some competitors... 23:48 And those competitors are found in whole milk, 23:51 steak and chicken breasts. 23:55 There are certain types of amino acids, 5 to be exact, 24:00 that will compete with tryptophan and, as I mentioned, 24:03 tryptophan is necessary for melatonin production. 24:06 So when we have high amounts of these amino acids, 24:09 and less tryptophan. 24:11 Dr. Agatha Thrash, we will also have a problem with 24:14 sleep and melatonin production as well... Yes, that's true. 24:18 And, something else we need to keep in mind is that the 24:20 frontal lobe needs to be well-cared for. 24:23 They have found that individuals who have poor frontal lobe 24:27 function, will have a tendency to be more depressed. 24:30 And, what we need to do... 24:32 There are various things we can do, but one important habit 24:36 that we can attain to is good nutrition. 24:40 Eating foods that are complex carbohydrates and not 24:45 refined carbohydrates would be excellent 24:47 in nourishing the frontal lobe. 24:49 Now you may ask... "But why?" 24:51 Well, what happens is when we eat foods that are refined, 24:55 that the body then takes in and sugar is released 25:01 at much quicker and higher levels, 25:04 the pancreas releases insulin to take care of those high levels 25:08 of glucose which has been converted from sugar, 25:12 or from the carbohydrates. 25:15 And, what happens then is that there is a drop 25:19 in sugar in the bloodstream, or glucose in the bloodstream. 25:23 And the frontal lobe needs minute by minute 25:27 sugar to help sustain it to nourish it. 25:30 And again, I said the frontal lobe is one aspect 25:33 that needs to be cared for, for there we can have 25:37 discernment, well-being, knowledge... 25:40 so, if we have a good, healthy frontal lobe, 25:43 we can prevent depression as well. 25:46 And having complex carbohydrates like the oats, 25:50 like the baked oatmeal that we have here can help 25:54 with that as well. 25:55 I'm very eager to hear you talk about it because it 25:59 smells WONDERFUL! 26:00 Well, it's easily made, VERY easily made... 26:03 that's one of the reasons why I like this recipe SO much. 26:06 The basic ingredients are: 26:30 And basically what you do is that you mix it all together. 26:35 You layer the bottom with dates... 26:36 then with whatever fruit you may like... perhaps bananas. 26:40 Then you put your oats in. You add your milk. 26:43 Or, if you like, you can use water. 26:45 And when I say "milk" I mean soymilk of course. 26:49 They have also found that tryptophan is found in soy. 26:53 Oh yes... and we want the tryptophan to help with the 26:58 melatonin production. 26:59 So putting this in the baked oatmeal will also help 27:03 with the tryptophan production. 27:05 But if you don't want to use the soymilk, you can use water 27:08 and that will work just as well. 27:11 So this is what we can do to help keep us from getting 27:16 depressed. 27:17 My... this looks so good. 27:19 I wish it were mealtime, I would ask you if I could have this! 27:22 Well, Dr. Agatha, we might be able to have it some other time. 27:26 Thank you so much... I really appreciate this. 27:29 It's a beautiful display of just what the Lord has 27:33 made for us... that can be used to help us to function better. 27:38 So, as we have looked at these things as we have discussed 27:42 a few of the things that have to do with the whole topic 27:45 of negative thinking, we hope that you will remember 27:48 the Bible's admonition that a merry heart doeth good 27:52 like a medicine. 27:53 So may you have that as your experience. |
Revised 2014-12-17