Depression Therapy

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 #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!

My name is Iuri T. Melo, and I’m a Licensed Clinical Social Worker.  Over the years I have had the honor of treating thousands of individuals who have struggled with depression.  Because this is a condition that I have known intimately throughout my life, it has become somewhat of a passion of mine, and perhaps somewhat of an obsession too.  This blog is the fulfillment of my interest in the condition, but more than that, it is dedicated to providing you with the best, most up to date, information about depression and how to overpower it.  YOU CAN OVERPOWER YOUR DEPRESSION!  I find that most people who are depressed feel completely stuck, and are unable to envision most of the options that surround them.  These options seem to be just out of their reach… but the truth is that they are not!  My purpose is to help you climb out of this slippery dark hole, by enhancing your ability to choose.  Remember those words because they are going to play a significant role in your life, as your mind and heart accept that you are not a victim, but a powerful individual, with a gift-like ability to ACT and not be acted upon by whatever circumstance or individual.  My Depression Therapy will provide information, tips, skills, and some theory that will provide you with the motivation, and the correct measuring stick by which you will be able to evaluate your life.  Feel free to write comments and provide questions that I will address in further articles.

Happy day,