Depression Therapy

People are unreasonable, illogical, and self-centered.
Love them anyway.

If you are kind, people may accuse you of selfish ulterior motives.
Be kind anyway.

If you are successful, you will win some false friends and true enemies.
Succeed anyway.

The good you do today will be forgotten tomorrow.
Be good anyway.

Honesty and frankness will make you vulnerable.
Be honest and frank anyway.

What you spend years building may be destroyed overnight.
Build anyway.

People need help, but may attack you if you try to help them.
Help them anyway.

In the final analysis, it is between you and God.
It was never between you and them anyway.

This beautiful quote speaks to the rich truth that our behavior should be unconditional and independent, not conditional and dependent upon responses or external praise.  This speaks to the core of what the golden rule really is “do unto others as you would have them do unto you.”  Unfortunately most people today don’t follow the golden rule, they follow the bronze rule “treat others how you are being treated.”  Do you see the difference?  What does it take to build this kind of emotional and psychological strength?  Faith, Commitment, and action.  Now go quit being a parrot of others moods and tantrums, and decide to be your very own person, choosing whom you will be today!

Happy Day!

Lord, make me an instrument of your peace; where there is hatred, let me sow love; where there is injury, pardon; where there is doubt, faith; where there is despair, hope; where there is darkness, light; and where there is sadness, joy

– Francis of Assisi

Let us never forget that at any given time or space, we have intrinsically embedded in us the ability to take some form of action, be it large or small, that can impact our surroundings.  Choose now to impact your surroundings in a positive manner… I mean NOW, do it!

Assumption #7: Poor nutrition, lack of sleep, and lack of exercise, can precipitate or contribute to a depressed mood.

That all of these things can contribute to a depressed mood I think is pretty clear, and most would look at such a statement and agree to the truth of it.  I’m unsure whether lack of exercise or poor nutrition can precipitate a depressed mood, yet research has clearly shown that both poor nutrition and lack of exercise can fuel or contribute to a depressed mood.  What is more clear is the impact that lack of sleep has on our minds and also on our moods.  Sleep is absolutely essential to our well-being, and with only a few nights of sleep-deprivation we begin to observe the adverse effects.  Here are some of the areas that are affected:  memory and concentration wane; mood turns irritable; judgment grows poor; reaction times slow; coordination deteriorates; energy dims; and immune function declines.  If the deprivation continues the symptoms can become even more severe.  Research has shown that sleep disturbance and depression go hand in hand.  Not only can lack of sleep precipitate periods of depression, but depression often affects the patterns of sleep (usually over sleep or under-sleep).  Studies have shown that 4 out of 5 individuals suffer from some form of sleep disturbance, prior to the onset of depression.  What does this mean?  It means that finding some tools that will help you combat sleeplessness, will also help you combat depression!  What about sleep medication… should I take it?  I’m not opposed to you taking medication, yet something in your mind has to be absolutely clear – Medication is helping me to stabilize, and I need to work on my sleeping patterns and sleeping skills, so that I can learn how to do it without it.  Once again the focus is independence not dependence, and that statement is true for all medications including anti-depressants, which is why i sometimes get so frustrated when Doctors just prescribe the meds without any additional follow up or education.

Knowing this is powerful, but only in that it allows you to also see what steps you need to take to overpower your feelings of depression.  Like we have discussed before, exercise can have a dramatic influence on your mood and confidence.  I’m not a huge nutrition guy, yet there appears to be clear research out there about supplements (Omega 3′s and Vitamin D) that seem to have a significant positive effect upon people who are struggling with depression.  Sleep, of course has a tremendous ability to assist someone in rejuvenating their system, and also in helping their mood and clarity of thought.  So go do a little research and begin to get on top of these things.

Happy Day!

Assumption #6: Significant events or traumatic incidents can trigger periods of depression.

Many individuals seem to experience significant events that end up transforming into periods of depression.  The list is probably too long to list, but here are a few examples:

• A death of a family or close friend
• An assault, car accident or painful physical event
• painful mental or emotional event
• Marriage breakup, or love lost suddenly
• Constant physical, mental or emotional pain that goes on for a length of time
• Developing a disease or illness that will not get better
• Major financial setbacks
• Substance Abuse
• Rape, sexual assault, or other kinds of abuse

Now many or maybe even all of these events can cause anxiety or even feelings of sadness, yet depression is somewhat different than just a feeling of sadness.  I would even suggest that sadness, stress, and a disruption in your emotions is perfectly normal, yet depression is much more powerful and seems to rob people of motivation, emotion and can  create a substantial amount of pain.  I also feel that depression has more to do with the interpretation or judgment about the event.  Maybe I’m being a little too extreme when I say that all events are “neutral” by nature, and that we then color them according to our values, beliefs, fears, etc…  Is that too extreme??  Think that through for a minute though, what if events (things that happen to you) were by nature really just “neutral”?  What would that mean to you?  What kind of accountability and responsibility would that mean for you and for me?  It’s a difficult idea to swallow, that somehow we have to allow or honor (choose) a certain judgment of the event, and in that choice (our ultimate choice) lies our potential for happiness or misery!  Anyhow, just something to think about, yet the most important part to get out of this small article is your potential… your ability to read your events and transform what has happened to you… what is happening to you… and what will ultimately happen to you.  One quick last word, I feel that one of our ultimate purposes in this life is to grow, and with that in mind, I can color events as growth promoting.

Happy Day!

Assumption #5: Inactivity, avoidance, and escapist behaviors are core issues that can lead and exacerbate your depressive symptoms.

Okay, this is probably the very best picture i have ever seen describing most people’s attempts at avoiding or escaping depression.  Notice how his escape effort is about to lead to a big pile of POOP (sorry about the potty language)!  This is often what happens when we use avoidant or escapist behaviors, they only lead to more, and stinkier, problems.  No one has ever beat depression, at least long term, by laying in bed thinking about how to beat it!  Just like no one has ever ran a marathon or ironman by daydreaming about how they are going to do it.  Inactivity, avoidance, and other escapist (not sure if that’s a word or not… but i like it) behaviors almost always create additional problems, increase guilt, and like an untreated wound, they fester and sap confidence from your soul.  The challenge with depression and the symptoms of depression is that they specifically target our motivation and drive.  Like a smart-bomb, that can be laser focused on it’s target, so it is with depression.  When engaged in depression therapy I often find that individuals complain of a loss of interest in activities, lack of energy, fatigue, lack of sleep, loss of a sense of purpose.  Depression, like a thief in the night, seems to rob individuals of exactly what they need to defeat it.  I have found that medications can often be helpful in this area, yet… and this is a big YET… medication can ONLY BE AN ADDITIONAL TOOL!  This is critically important, because we are not trying to foster a dependency here, what we are looking to increase is your ability to choose and effect changes in your life.  So medication only serves its purpose as far as you are willing to work on the issues and improve the skills that in the long run will help you to overpower depression on your own.  If you remember the article that I wrote about exercise, and why it proved to be more effective than pills in the long run.  The power is in the realization that you are exacting the change, and more importantly, that you can do it again and again.  Now, back to inactivity, avoidance, and other escapist behaviors.  I find that people who are depressed are masters of avoidance.  Stay with me, these statements are not made to derail you, they are made to help you to see that some of the fog that surrounds you is man made… more specifically made-by-you!  It’s okay, don’t fret because knowledge in and of itself is powerful, yet it is not as powerful as action.  At the bottom of all my emails and business cards is one of my favorite quotes “the best way out is always through,” and that is exactly what you have to do to overpower depression and depressive symptoms in your life.  Drinking, drugs, pain pills, procrastination, excessive rumination, obsessive behaviors, irritation, anger, and lack of hope, often fuel depression.  These behaviors, at times, are only avoidance mechanisms, that perpetuate the problem of depression and feed it’s parasitic friend, anxiety.  So, what do you do?  Just like Steve MacQueen in the movie “the great escape” there is a way to escape, to successfully leave behind the behaviors that feed depression and anxiety.  First, you have to recognize that you are actually doing it, and then implement the already proven techniques to battle and eventually overpower feelings of depression.

Action Now:  Build your awareness by identifying when you are avoiding or escaping the things that you really need to do in your life.  identify the behaviors.

Happy Day!

“Worry does not empty tomorrow of its sorrow; it empties today of its strength”

“Worry is a cycle of inefficient thoughts whirling around a center of fear.”

–Corrie Ten Boom

Depression and anxiety, like a parasitic duo, usually join hands in their attempt to gain control and overrun our natural, God given gift of choice. I have found that most people who struggle with depression and symptoms of depression, also suffer from anxiety.  Often, part of depression therapy also includes treatment for anxiety.  Anxiety disorders, in my opinion, are simpler to treat, yet are just as difficult to live with. Once again we turn to the importance of your thinking habits, the time you spend ruminating, and focusing on what is inherently out of your control, instead of focusing all of your abilities and strength to what you can do and control.

Happy Day!