You Are Not Your Depression
When you’re depressed, you may find yourself expending precious energy just so you can appear to the world as if nothing at all is troubling you. This “it’s-work-to-seem-fine” coping mechanism illustrates just one way in which depression complicates your life.
Depression Is a Chameleon
Our ability to recognize and effectively treat depression is complicated by the fact that it manifests differently in everyone affected
- Anything-your age, your gender, or the stage of your depression-can change what the illness looks like for you, meaning it’s not necessarily simple to get a diagnosis, or even recognize symptoms of depression
How MBCT Helps
The goal is to help you become familiar with the ways your mind and your thinking patterns contribute to depression
- Thoughts are not facts
- Depression is not you
- Over time, we become better at spotting the buildup of difficult emotions and thoughts
- Mindfulness practices help us learn to recognize the feelings and patterns of thinking that cause unhappiness
Mindfulness practices and habits can help us fall asleep
Renowned psychiatrist Dr. Stuart Eisendrath on how you can dramatically improve your quality of life by changing how you relate to your thoughts and feelings
- An online mindfulness program may help bolster the effect of psychotherapy for those suffering from depression
Mindfulness and Mood
Various treatment options for depression exist, including drug regimens and talk therapies.
- However, the jury continues to be out on how effective antidepressants are for treating depression
- Complicating treatment is the fact that depression is often a chronic condition that tends to relapse, even with medication and talk therapy.
Chronic Unhappiness?
When we talk about depression, and where mindfulness is strong and less strong as a treatment, we have to know what type of depression you have
- Don’t consider mindfulness a treatment when you’re dealing with acute depression
- For acute depression, consider seeing a mental health professional for treatment with antidepressants, cognitive behavior therapy, or both
- Mindfulness can bolster those treatments, but not replace them