[stands2reason]

I don't think of it so much as restrictive as it is conditioning. I had suffered from clinical depression for many years, and much of my thinking had to be re-routed. The dharma is quite similar to a treatment for depression called "cognitive behavioral therapy." After a while it's not a struggle and it becomes natural.

I know I'm not going to be perfect and I'm willing to take the personal consequences of my actions. But I'm also aware that every sin I commit is the spiritual equivalent of sticking my hand in a fire. It's not something I often find worthwhile.

[TigersEye]

I hear you. I suffered depression for a long time myself. I wasn't a Buddhist when I found my way out of it but the man who was to be my teacher gave me what I needed to find the way. As I said the approaches may be different (and I'm sure our personal experiences were different) but I can apply everything you said about "how it is" without changing a word. I have nothing else to compare it to such as previous therapies but I have heard the Dharma described as deconditioning of the mind. I expect that that is just a semantic difference from the way you put it.