Beyond Meds blog has a nice article by Leah Harris on the power of "dharma" vs."pharma."

Harris describes how nonjudgmental mindfulness meditation helped her cultivate compassion for her struggles with "mental illness" and no longer identify with disparaging thoughts and labels.

I learned that I do not have to believe or obey my thoughts. Even a thought that seems highly charged like "kill yourself" really does not have to be listened to. Cheri Huber, an American Zen priest who is herself the survior of a suicide attempt, talks about our thoughts as "voices," and identifies the "voice of self hate" that is intensely active for so many of us. She says, simply and clearly: "If the voice is not loving, don't listen to, don't follow it, don't believe it. No exceptions."

Harris adds that lovingkindness meditation (metta), was initially taught by the Buddha as an antidote to fear.

One of the hot new research topics in neuroscience is the power of lovingkindness meditation as a remedy for chronic pain of all kinds, emotional and physical. I don't really care about the science behind it: I have personally experiencing the power of the practice. It has been a tremendous purification practice for me -- burning away many layers of shame and trauma that I never imagined would leave me. Layers that all the psychotherapy and drugs in the world could not budge.

Read the entire article here.