A Way Out Of Depression
A Way Out Of Depression
Are you stuck in your depression?
Feel like you've tried everything?
Are you tired of feeling tired?
LET'S FIND WHAT WORKS FOR YOU
Depression can feel like the loneliest thing in the world. At the time when you most need help, reaching out may seem impossible. It’s tough for even your closest friends to understand. Your best starting point may be with a trained coach.
WHY A COACH?
An experienced coach can offer you an empathetic ear, guidance, and accountability to make lasting changes to your negative thoughts and behaviors. My name is Joe Edeiken and that's what I'm committed to providing for you as an integration coach. As you consider the never-ending treatments available, I can help you sort through unfamiliar options. Because depression is multifaceted, finding your way through it will likely take a combination of different paths.
Pragmatic Integration Coaching encourages evidence-backed approaches in both the holistic alternative realm and the established Western traditions. Working with a coach in conjunction with other "Western" professionals such as psychologists, psychiatrists, nutritionists, and trauma specialists can be strongly beneficial; as are "holistic" approaches including such as meditation, yoga, being in nature, and intentional psychedelic journeys can be powerful tools for you as well. Through a series of regular calls, a coach can help you gain clarity on where you have been, where you are now, and where you want to be.
Psychedelic integration is the process of taking the teachings and experiences offered by entheogens --substances that alter perception, consciousness, or behavior -- and incorporating them into our daily life. A coach can help make meaningful changes by deepening and integrating new insights with the goal of positively altering your daily thoughts and behaviors. A coach offers accountability as you work to make changes in your life as well as provides much needed support as you make these changes. A coach's experience and perspective is essential for helping to find meaning in any challenging aspects of the journey and can help translate and reflect. Regular phone calls leading up to the journey help to build trust and clarify intentions for an upcoming experience as well as provide support, guidance, and accountability.
JOE EDEIKEN
As a lifelong wisdom seeker, world traveler, and musician I have rebuilt a healthy, thriving life from depths of treatment-resistant depression. I've spent over 20 years of personal growth exploring multiple forms of therapy, treatments, medications, meditative practices, philosophy, and group work.
My overarching philosophy is that there is a way out of depression for everyone. Those struggling with depression have an inner strength and wisdom to be tapped into through mindfulness, discipline, and practice. Working with these concepts provides a balanced “pragmatic” approach based in both objective and emotional exploration of thoughts, feelings, and behaviors. My experience with so many modalities of healing provides a 360 degree view and valuable insights as well when reviewing other ancillary options.
I have lived all over the country and toured all over the world as a musician, gaining perspective and soaking up wisdom. I am certified as an integration coach with Being True To You and practice mindfulness and transcendental meditation. I currently live in San Diego, California with my cat Meow Meow.
I have had extensive personal experience with traditional talk therapy, almost every major medication (more than 20), cognitive behavior therapy, dialectical behavior therapy, Electroconvulsive Therapy, Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation, ketamine, guided psychedelic journeys, men’s groups, in-patient groups, and authentic relating. I am always keeping up to date with the latest breakthroughs and advances in treating depression.
Lost In The Sun is a song about the depths of depression and triumph of healing written and performed under my stage name Joe Marson.
Just spoke to my psychiatrist about getting off my meds. I told her just one phone call with you has shifted my thinking and attitude more than a year with my therapist.
TOM
New York CIty, NY
Joe is an exceptional coach who has helped me navigate the complexities of my life through his open mind and experience. He provided me with guidance and support in moving my mind and life forward into a space of contentment. I would highly suggest working with Joe on your journey.
KALYN
Los Angeles, CA
Joe is a wonderful listener. He is insightful in his coaching and offers an effective range of validation and support while also being refreshingly unafraid to appropriately challenge you
BRYANNA
Oakland, CA
PHILOSOPHY
what is Depression?
Depression is sickness of the soul. It affects the very core of us, tinting our lens and perspective so that we only feel the negatives in life. We can shift our perspective to look at our depression as an opportunity; an internal alarm bell ringing. If we listen, really listen, we can learn what is not aligned with our true self and make changes that put us on the path of healing and thriving.
Depression can be a tangled mess of cause and effect but we begin to understand the source(s) by breaking it down holistically into three aspects of the Biopsychosocial model:
Biological: brain changes, genetics, or functioning of major body organs
Psychological: thoughts, emotions, or behaviors
Social: interactions with others, our culture, or our economic status
A WAY OUT OF DEPRESSION
Pragmatic Integration Coaching addresses all 3 elements.
Biological factors can be addressed by reviewing an ever-expanding array of treatment options such as medications, ECT (electroconvulsive therapy), TMS (transcranial stimulation), clinical Ketamine sessions, and more. A coach can review, educate, and offer personal experience to help you make an informed decision.
Psychological factors such as thoughts, behaviors, and emotions are worked with directly and hands on. The act of speaking and feeling truly heard is powerful and is at the heart of Pragmatic Integration. Journaling and thought-provoking exercises bring self-reflection, clarity, and healing. A coach's education and experience regarding other types of therapy influence the discussion and also serve to help review recommendations to specialists.
Social interactions are essential to healing. In his book Lost Connections, Johann Hari states "the opposite of depression is connection." Through examining and transforming thoughts and emotions, new behavior emerges. Part of this new momentum is directed at connecting or reconnecting with friends, families, and loved ones. A coach can help come up with ideas an opportunities to get involved in community, new social groups, dating, etc.
mindfulness
Depression is a sickness of the mind and soul that can be so acute that it becomes life-threatening. Almost 1 million people die from suicide worldwide every year. That’s why it’s critical to cultivate empathy and compassion for yourself and your situation. Depression can be likened to an altered state of mind: your thoughts, feelings, and behaviors are all under the influence. An undercurrent of negativity begins to build and flow like a stream underneath your daily life. Through mindfulness and the ability to be fully present, you can start to look at and change your constant negative self-talk and cognitive distortions.
discipline
Regaining a sense of personal power over your life is essential to healing. You may feel it has become somehow fixed in a state of depression or anxiety even if the original causes of the pain seem to have passed. Our brains adapt to this new state of being via the process of neuroplasticity and can stay there until something pushes out of that corner. That's where discipline comes in: we must push ourselves in small increments daily. One core philosophy is to do one subjectively "hard" thing a day; whatever that may be for you, even if it's just getting out of bed in the morning.
practice
This is "the work." Through the internal practice of empathy and discipline, you can begin to change your external world through new behaviors, thought patterns, and beliefs. Practice is where mindfulness and discipline come together to become perseverance. Everyone's journey back to homeostasis (the mind/soul balance) is different but oftentimes it can be difficult and painful. Like a broken leg we must set the bone and then work to re-strengthen the muscle.
The good news is, that strength never left you.
ABOUT
Coaching sessions
30 min
1 hr
120 US dollars3 hr
320 US dollars6 hr
600 US dollars
Discounts for current military and veterans
Why Psychedelics?
"Think of the brain as a hill covered in snow, and thoughts as sleds gliding down that hill. As one sled after another goes down the hill a small number of main trails will appear in the snow. And every time a new sled goes down, it will be drawn into preexisting trails, almost like a magnet. In time it becomes more and more difficult to glide down the hill on any other path or in a different direction. Think of psychedelics as temporarily flattening the snow. The deeply worn trails disappear, and suddenly the sled can go in other directions, exploring new landscapes and, literally, creating new."
Mendel Kaelen, a Dutch postdoc in the Imperial lab
Psychedelics can offer a strong healing aspect and potential corrective experience. Difficult thoughts and feelings can arise from the depth allowing the individual, deep within, allowing you to work through them and heal. These experiences can offer new clarity and perspective as to the totality of past traumatic events, how they shaped that person's your life as well as their current influence. It's possible to find meaning in suffering and start to reclaim it as an important aspect of one's life. Because the nature of trauma is emotional overwhelm, the ego tries to use uses creative defensive strategies, burying the trauma away, repressing it, and locking off from it away. The purpose of this work is to become more intimate and connected with the trauma to integrate it into a greater experience of wholeness.
Terence McKenna says that during a psychedelic experience a “dialogue opens up between ego and the larger psyche.” This allows a person an opportunity to conduct unbiased therapy with yourself themselves. You have nothing to hide behind, no defenses, no outs, and no lies; just you them and truth. Under the medicines everything is exaggerated for easier interpretation and understanding, which helps one to you better observe the perceptions, worldviews, voices, beliefs, thoughts, judgments, stories, and emotional patterns that run their your daily life.
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