Giving your power away
by Sue Kira, Naturopath & Clinical Nutritionist
Client name and identifying information changed
You might wonder what could possibly be the connection between depression and ‘giving your power away’.
To explain. Many years ago, a lady come to see me with depression and after doing all the usual scans and blood tests, we discovered that she had a parasitic infection.
It is not uncommon to see clients with depression that was caused by a parasitic infection. Because the gut is where 80% of our serotonin receptors are located, we need a healthy gut to have good levels of serotonin. But if parasites are eating your nutrients then you won’t get the vitamins, minerals and amino acids needed to make serotonin and other neurotransmitters. Low serotonin is a major factor in depression.
However, the client told me that she had suffered from recurrent bouts of parasitic infections for a few years and didn’t know why she kept getting re-infected. She didn’t travel to third world countries, drink tank water or have poor hygiene, so she was amazed that parasites continued to return.
We knew we had to treat the parasites, particularly as they can suck the life-force out of people. I felt there was something in her life that was sapping her energy and leaving her more vulnerable to these infections, so I asked her to tell me what she could be giving her power away to.
She sighed and rested back and knew exactly what I was talking about. She told me a story about her husband and a business partner and how the three of them were working together in a disharmonious environment.
She realised that she had constantly held back from expressing what she really felt about the work situation which was eating away at her (rather like the parasites). With that recognition and at my suggestion, she went home to discuss it with her husband and they then spoke with the business partner.
It turned out that the partner never actually wanted to work in the business and just really wanted to be a financial partner, but the husband got him involved in all aspects of the business. The partner was working in an energy of resentment and was always picky and cranky. Once this came out, he simply became a financial partner, took a back seat and all were happy.
My client never got another parasitical infection and best of all, her depression lifted.
So how did food come into all of this you may ask? Well part of this story was that she was so drained of energy by the end of the day that they would often eat take-away foods or just toast for dinner, so her nutrition had dropped. She wasn’t getting the nutrients to support her during this stressful time.
Had she also looked after her diet, she may have had the strength to speak up sooner. We may never know, but anyhow, she needed a good diet to restore her gut health and support her to contend with all the changes needed to be made in the business once it was running with just the two of them. They eventually hired another person who loved the job, so was not a drain on them or their relationship.
From depression to expression…it was a wonderful outcome.
Giving power away can contribute to depression. I’ve often seen this with clients, both men and women, who hold back (give their power away) regarding issues with their partner.
Often the problem goes back to when the couple were originally dating and during this ‘honeymoon’ period, certain negative behaviours were tolerated. Then because those behaviours were ‘allowed’ to continue, as time went on frustrations developed and problems escalated.
Yet rather than hold back, it would have been simpler to discuss the issue early in the relationship to let their partner know that a specific behaviour wasn’t acceptable. And if delivered with love in most instances, they will understand.