Epicentering was developed by me, Neil Shearing, Ph.D., as a way to help people heal from depression.

I had depression for about 20 years. It's hard to say exactly how long because it got gradually, progressively, worse over time and looking back I can't identify a real "start" date.

I do know that eventually I reached the deepest depths of depression that someone could return from.

I only got help when I was asked for a divorce after a 23-year marriage to the woman I met when I was 19 and wed at 24. Until then, I didn't have a clue I had depression. I thought "depression" meant you had to be crying in bed all day.

I wasn't crying. I bottled all emotions up so tightly they rivalled a black hole for density! I was permanently irritable, frustrated and joyless. 

I started therapy the same year I was asked for a divorce. Initially, I was given a choice of pills or talk therapy. I figured I was OK before everything went wrong, so I didn't need my biochemistry changed, I just needed to figure out what went wrong and fix it. I chose talk therapy, thinking I could always go on antidepressants if the talking didn't work.

I did a telephone CBT course provided by the NHS, but that tried to get me to move forward with "behavioural activation". It may work for some people, but it didn't work for me. I needed answers. What had gone wrong with me, and what could I do to ensure it never happened again?

I got lucky. I found a psychodynamic therapist who worked skilfully with me for the next three years.

I loved therapy! It opened doors I never knew existed.

I discovered what had caused my depression and why! 

My vitality and curiosity returned and it was like life itself was breathed back into my soul!

At the same time I was doing therapy, I started studying the topic of depression from a scientific viewpoint and was staggered at how little science really knows about depression!

I have a Ph.D. in breast cancer research. I've always loved biology. I also love understanding complex problems, distilling their essence and explaining it to others. 

I realised a lot of people don't have the time, money or access to therapy, and that antidepressants don't work for a lot of people. There had to be a solution for the millions of people in that situation. Well, I couldn't find it, so my work on epicentering began.

Three years later, I've taken what I learned from therapy, along with my own insights from scientific papers (including contacting the scientists behind the work for clarifications), books (sometimes emailing the authors for more information), podcasts, audiobooks and every other way I could learn about depression, and created epicentering.

I believe epicentering can help people who are

• starting to experience depressive illness and want to climb out of the black hole.
• starting to heal from depression and need a route map from someone who has done it without relapsing.
• friends and family who are in contact with someone suffering from depression and are unsure how to help
• medical professionals looking for a more holistic way of understanding depression
• businesses who want to enable employees to support their own mental health

However, epicentering is not a scientifically tested or medically proven system. I make no scientific or medical claims on behalf of epicentering. It's purely knowledge and insight gained from several years of personal healing from depression that I want to share with others.

I strongly suggest obtaining conventional medical advice about depression from qualified medical personnel.

Depression may be "secondary" to an undiagnosed health condition. It's very important to rule that out.

"Secondary depression is a depression in an individual who has one or more pre-existing, non-affective psychiatric disorders or an incapacitating or life-threatening medical illness which precedes and parallels the symptoms of depression."
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/6455456

I believe there's nothing in epicentering that conflicts with modern medicine, much like talking therapy doesn't conflict with any drug regime.

Although I sincerely hope epicentering helps everyone who applies it, I do not guarantee that epicentering will work for any specific individual because everyone has unique circumstances. I don't know in advance which circumstances will prevent someone from benefitting from the information within epicentering.

I (Neil Shearing) am not a medical doctor and cannot medically advise or diagnose anybody. I have a Ph.D., which means I was trained in a certain way of thinking about problems and problem solving. I created epicentering to help people heal from depression by applying that problem solving training to depression after experiencing it myself.

Everything in epicentering is for educational and informational purposes only.

You are responsible for your health and the decisions you make regarding it. If you don't feel competent to make your own decisions, please seek emergency medical advice.