Trouble in mind, I’m blue.
But I won’t be blue always, ’cause the sun’s gonna shine in my backdoor some day.
Janis Joplin
Depression is often an overwhelming experience. It seems to consume one’s life, depleting it of any joy or perspective. Thoughts become bleak and seem to perpetuate themselves. Life can feel heavy, hopeless and lonely.
If you’re experiencing signs of depression, like a lack of interest in things you used to enjoy or a sense of hopelessness, worthlessness, despair or isolation, please call today.
It’s often hard to imagine getting through this, yet I assure you, circumstances and perspective change, and if nothing else, for the time being, you don’t have to be in this place alone.
Please give me a call and see if I might be a good fit for you.
Sometimes, the despair and worthlessness feel so overwhelming that suicide seems like the only answer.
The heaviness seems like too much for any other option. This is a common experience when someone feels so lonely and life seems so overwhelming or meaningless.
This is also something to be taken seriously, and with support, these thoughts and feelings change.
If you are contemplating suicide please call a crisis hotline or go to your nearest emergency room.
The National Suicide Prevention Lifeline is an option that brings live support right away and then connects callers to local resources 1-800-273-TALK (8255))
Learning how to manage depression is: partly learning about the processes of the thinking mind; partly about understanding the tendencies of the brain; and partly about learning how to listen to and love ourselves in new ways.
My approach for supporting clients incorporates compassion, attentive listening, validation, mindfulness, education on brain processes, skills-based support stemming from Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT), and an encouragement to explore.
Some Ways Mindfulness Offers Support:
non-judgmental attention, or in other words: friendliness and curiosity, which naturally facilitates a sense of workability, cultivates compassion, creates a greater perspective by giving us some distance from our thoughts and feelings, and removes the added stress we place on ourselves through criticism and negative evaluations.
attention on internal, bodily processes, such as breathing, walking or emotional states and sensations, which naturally calms the nervous system and offers greater insights into our needs and values, which in turn provides opportunities to care for ourselves
present-centered awareness, which brings our attention away from stressful thoughts that are usually about the past or the future and instills a feeling of aliveness as one more fully experiences their life; this also brings new awareness of the impact and temporary nature of these thoughts.
awareness of the present moment, which “fills” our mind-space with present experiences, which often offer opportunities for gratitude and can provide evidence that we are actually okay, even in moments of distress, or at least surviving what we aren’t sure we can survive
Supportive Aspects of CBT
Identifying distorted thought patterns and underlying negative beliefs
Beginning to recognize the negative effects these have on emotions and behaviors
Learning new ways of balancing the thoughts to reflect a more accurate assessment of life
Looking at certain daily activities and how they either hinder or support well-being.
Regarding support for depression, initially people claimed that addressing the content of one’s mind and shifting its orientation in a positive direction was the key to healing. Research has emerged that shifts this view, and states it is one’s relationship to the content of his or her mind that is a potential resource for healing, not the previously held view that change happened by changing the content itself.
Two factors seem to be contribute to people’s vulnerability toward depression:
When individuals are in a negative mood, even moderately, they seem to more readily access negative material, such as thoughts, memories, and attitudes (although when they were not suffering from a depressive episode they showed no signs for these dysfunctional assumptions or attitudes).
Those vulnerable to depression have a distinct way of handling these negative moods, which results in a strong tendency toward rumination.
Understanding Rumination:
Individuals often believe that thinking incessantly about their emotional state gives them a better understanding of these emotions, and that eventually it will help them solve their problems; however research shows that people actually have a harder time handling such situations. People are better supported by “learning to relate to thoughts as thoughts (i.e. as mental events rather that “the truth” or “me”), one of the central aspects of Buddhist mindfulness meditation.
“…the task of relapse prevention is to help patients disengage from these ruminative and self-perpetuating modes of mind when they feel sad or at other times of potential relapse.”
Segal, et al, 2013
Understanding the limits of our mind:
The mind only has a certain amount of space. Most individuals suffering from depression fill this space with ruminating thoughts and recollections of what is not working. Applying mindfulness and the qualities of present attention, one can fill this space with what is actually going on rather than on fears about the future or guilt about the past. There is significant relief provided by simply returning to the present moment, which actually counteracts the ineffective, even damaging habit of rumination.
“With mindful awareness, it is possible for anyone, regardless of the circumstances, to be in more direct contact with his or her life experience and to feel more alive.”
Stephanie Morgan, Mindfulness and Psychotherapy, 2005
Zindel Segal, Mark Williams and John Teasdale were some of the first to recognize and discuss the importance of one’s relationship to the content of his or her mind. Much of the information discussed in the previous paragraphs can be found in Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy for Depression released in 2013.