Von, I don't know how I missed your post - blame it on living between two households these days!

When I went through my last breakdown/depression, my doctor did send me to massage therapy. While it was soothing, I would not have said it was doing anything for my depression. But early one morning I went in for an hour-long back massage. Just minutes into it, I started crying. He kept massaging, I kept sobbing. I was somewhat embarrassed, but the therapist was ecstatic - told me, "it's working, it's working". Well, I sobbed for the entire hour, non-stop, and when I got up from the table, he asked me if I knew where the tears had come from. As we delved a little further, I realized for the first time that morning that that particular day was the fifth anniversary of my Dad's death. Up until that morning, I had been suffering unrelenting grief over my Dad's sudden death, but since that massage, I haven't experienced that profoundly overwhelming sadness again - I think it's safe to say that I was healed of that pain.

I never went back for another massage, though I probably should have, to let him work on the grief over my Mom's death! But I haven't felt the need for a massage since that morning. I'll know when it's time to go back.