Why are these illnesses on the rise? And why do some people become so ill through these illnesses, they can find it hard to function?

Well they sure dont happen overnight! You dont suddenly wake up one morning and feel stressed or depressed. Its not like flicking on a light switch! And by the same rule, if youre suffering, you cant just wake up one morning, flick off the switch and say Great, Im better now.

Many people who dont suffer from these illnesses often say to sufferers:

Come on, snap out of it.

If only it was so easy! Should anyone say this to you, please forgive them as its just a lack of understanding. Its very hard for people to understand how youre feeling if they havent been there.

The fact that these illnesses dont suddenly happen means we can draw some parallels with illnesses such as heart diseases, some cancers and strokes.

Because these illnesses dont just suddenly happen either.

If we look at heart disease, its often the result of damaging behaviors practised over many years. Behaviors such as smoking, lack of exercise and a diet high in saturated fat. Strokes are a result of similar behaviors and cancers too, particularly heavy smoking and drinking as you know.

So how do stressful illnesses such as stress, depression and anxiety compare?

Stress is also the product of harmful mental habits and behaviors. These habits and behaviors are developed and practised over years since childhood in most cases. These are the mental processes that enable us to make sense of our lives and the circumstances were faced with. When we reach adulthood, we perform them automatically because weve learned these behaviors by repetition.

Think of it like learning to drive a car. Initially, the skills required to control the vehicle needed conscious thought. It seemed really difficult didnt it? But once weve performed them for sufficient periods, we drive on auto-pilot. Weve mastered the required skills by repetition.

Heres the key: if we eat healthy food, take regular exercise, cut out harmful behaviors such as smoking and drinking, we improve our health and drastically reduce the risk of heart disease, cancer and strokes. We are repeating good habits, habits that will give our physical well being a huge boost.

Its exactly the same for stress. Whats important to understand is that not everyone becomes stressed or depressed even when tragic and traumatic circumstances happen to them. Just like people who lead a healthy lifestyle and avoid harmful habits and behaviors, people dont become stressed or depressed because they have learned effective habits and behaviors that prevent stress from arising.

This is very good news if you suffer from these illnesses. Because just as we can learn habits and behaviors which cause us to become highly-stressed, depressed or anxious, we can learn the habits and behaviors which stop these terrible illnesses in their tracks. And the more often we make use of them, well soon begin to perform them automatically and our mental health will benefit enormously.

No more feeling stressed out. No more feeling unable to cope. No more anxiety and no more depression. EVER.

Im living proof of this. For 5 years, a series of traumatic events sent me spiralling into an anxiety-induced depression nightmare. I came out of it by learning the natural skills that starve these illnesses. The more I used them, the less anxious I became. Theyre now as natural to me as driving a car, and Ive completely eradicated anxiety and depression from my life.

You can do it too.