How do we navigate a world of anxiety and depression, when each of us experience it so differently? Writing poetry can help us express our deepest emotions and thoughts and allow a healing to take place, a small shift to allow light into a very dark room in our minds and feelings. I also turn to the power of Bach Flower Remedies.

When I lost my baby I entered a very deep pit, and I happened to have been studying complementary medicine with a book on my shelf about Bach Flower Remedies. In deep despair, I felt a prompt to pick up the book and turn the pages. I read Holly was the remedy for unconditional love and so I named my little girl Holly. I wrote a song, then I embarked on a course and became a practitioner. Later in 2024 I wrote a poem.

Now 27 years on and retired, I still use those remedies to help me in my times of anxiety and depression, and I still recommend them to friends and family. Dr Bach wanted these remedies to be simple to use like a medicine cabinet every day to help with the emotional and mental turmoil that can blight our lives. So, I share with you now, the remedies that help me through the times of anxiety and depression.

First I cannot recommend too highly the power of White Chestnut. Being a person who can have a lot of mental chatter, White Chestnut cuts through, stops the merry go round in my head and brings a calm and still mind. That allows my positive emotions to resurface. So, when I have got into a rut with negative thoughts endlessly going round, I reach for White Chestnut. White Chestnut acts as a companion remedy also alongside all the remedies I explain below.

The next remedy I like a lot is Agrimony. I find the world a difficult place to be myself in. I get really restless and hide internally. Agrimony is the remedy when you are putting on a brave face for the world and suppressing who you really are. It is for the person who smiles when inside they are very unhappy. Agrimony helps me be stronger in who I really am and become me again.

Then there are the times when I go into deep despair and just want to be heard, feeling dejected and not listened to. This is helped with Sweet Chestnut. A really lovely remedy for turning that miserableness around.

There are also times when I feel really overwhelmed with life and all its responsibilities, and that’s when I turn to Elm or Larch or Centaury. I use Elm if it’s every day pressures of life to help me put them back into perspective. Larch is useful when I am low in confidence and think I will fail and get wound up about it, that really helps me at those times. Whereas Centaury is like a powerhouse of release when I feel I have been put upon by others. It’s like the Cinderella remedy to fight back from oppression and subservience. Often family life has put me in that box, and it has helped me through family relationships that have been difficult. I have had the courage to stand up for myself.

Of course, deep dark clouds can descend from nowhere, and when they come, often with moodiness and tears, Mustard comes to the rescue. I have found that very helpful in those dark moments of deep depression. The cloud disappears and life is lovely again.

If I have gone into myself and am being very introspective, feeling the victim and wingy, then Willow helps. That is when bitterness and resentment has crept in to make me very negative, internalising it onto myself. Willow turns that around and stops me going deeper into the abyss.

Then there are times when despondency looms, sometimes for no known reason, or after a setback. At these times I take Gentian. A gentle remedy to lift the spirit and restore.

However, if feeling really pessimistic about my life and the world, Gorse comes to the rescue. There for that feeling of hopelessness when I feel nothing can turn anything around. Gorse is a sunny remedy, the bush having beautiful yellow flowers that are early at the end of winter and brighten the dark days. I used to live in Scotland and Gorse was one of my favourite bushes by the coast. It really lifts me.

Of course, the even blacker feelings of hopelessness come from time to time because of my disabling illness of M.E. Suicide is 5 times higher in people with M.E and I have some very black times when I don’t want to be here any longer. The remedy for this is Cherry Plum. It helps the mind reset and come back into life and living. It calms the fears surrounding wanting to commit suicide and helps to turn the focus back on living and appreciating what I have in life.

Being very sensitive as a creative person, I often need Mimulus which helps me with the sensitivities to known things like noise, light, but also to others’ feelings which can impact my mental environment. Others’ thoughts that get projected onto me and cramp my space. It is when I fear things that I already know and cause me anxiety, Mimulus is good for these times, allowing me to calm and manage better.

If I get into a place of blaming myself for things and that causes me anxiety/depression Pine works well for those feelings of guilt. Sometimes we all go through these moments, and they may or may not be true, but we feel it. I take Pine if I fall into that pattern, and it works very quickly to stop feeling that way.

I think shock can be a big issue with anxiety and depression and Star of Bethlehem is literally the tiny flower that brings light into dark places. When I lost my brother to suicide, I took Star of Bethlehem for the shock. I felt I didn’t want to be here, so Star of Bethlehem and Cherry Plum were good remedies for me then. 

Later Clematis was needed to help me stop focusing on wanting to be with my brother and leaving this earth. Often after suicide the loved ones also have residual feelings that have hung in the air and need to process those out of their emotional and mental space. Clematis is indicated when thinking you want to join them and want to be in the future, not being present in the now and the circumstances.

However, Honeysuckle is the remedy of being in the past and not accepting the present, when you want everything to be like it was with halcyon memories. That situation brought both future and past, struggling with the shock of the present. Both the remedies helped rebalance me over the loss of my brother, so I could deal with it and process it.

The last two remedies that are really useful for when I am in great fear, which causes me anxiety or depression depending on why, are Aspen and Rock Rose.

Aspen is when I am afraid of the unknown and have a lot of anxiety about not knowing, being in limbo, or just don’t know what is over the horizon. I like to have a purpose and know my direction, and there have been many times in my life where that has not been possible, so Aspen comes to the rescue to help me navigate life with uncertainty and cope.

Rock Rose on the other hand, is for sheer terror, deep fright, the kind that can paralyse you but sometimes its more subtle for those who put on a brave face. The terror is internalised and not shared and can affect the ability to manage daily life. I have had that with the disability of M.E. the terror for me is the medical profession because they do not understand my illness. So, Rock Rose helps me have the courage to face what I have to in medical dealings. I have now become better at those relationships with the help of Aspen and Rock Rose.

As you can see, Dr Bach has a remedy for everything, and not all is listed here. They can be taken in combinations up to 5 maximum and you can buy them online or over the counter. Most people like to go to a practitioner first to have the counselling that goes alongside the professional recommendations, but its not necessary to go to a practitioner if you cannot afford one.

“Dr Bach based his work on a profound philosophy in which life is seen as a learning process and ill health – whether mental or physical – is intended to help us understand more about ourselves and the purpose of our lives. Health comes when we regain harmony between our physical and spiritual selves, leaving the body free to begin its own natural healing process. If emotional equilibrium can be maintained the mind and body will remain in a state of health.” The Medicine of the Future – Bach*

I would not manage my anxiety and depression easily without Bach Flower remedies. M.E is a debilitating disease, and I am allergic to many drugs, so I don’t take them. Using a natural way to help me has been essential. When you choose the right remedy it works instantly, I cannot recommend highly enough the power of these simple remedies.

I hope that explaining briefly here the help and comfort they give, will allow you the motivation to try them too and help you navigate the deep, dark moments of anxiety and depression in your life. They are a light shining from above to help live more joyously on Earth. They are a lifeline in my world, may they be one in yours.



Click here to read more poems by Hilary.

Click here to read an interview with Hilary.

Click here to read Hilary's article: Spiritual Depression & The Dark Night of the Soul.