Understand the Cycle of Depression
In my previous newsletter on anxiety and depression I discussed how it has a ripple effect from the individual out to family, relationships, work and physical well-being. Due to high emotional arousal and physical exhaustion a depressed or anxious person becomes de-motivated and isolates him/herself from relationships and pleasurable activities – he/she simply does not understand the cycle of depression and will feel weak and vulnerable.
A depressed brain is a stressed brain with high levels of cortisol, of stress hormone, and the person will find it difficult to think clearly and logically. The first step, therefore, is to slow everything down by practicing self-hypnosis and meditation so that the person can make contact with that part of themself to start to identify what needs are not being met. We all have primary human needs, both physical and emotional that if not met, will cause problems. In our busy day-to-day lives it is perhaps not possible to meet all our needs fully; Indeed, busy “doing” lives do not give us time to even be cognisant that there is an unmet need. It has also been noted that depressed people often have “all-or-nothing” “ black and white” thinking styles. Daily mindfulness meditation will teach us to observe ourselves – what we are thinking, feeling and sensing. Often we are so busy being a “human doing” that we lose touch with the “being” part of ourself.
Our behaviour and how we relate to others has a lot to do with the feedback we received in our childhood; From our parents, teachers and friends. The covert and overt messages that we received from our environment about what is and isn’t ok about us causes us to have negative beliefs about the world and ourself and we give up, and deny parts of ourselves and present what we believe would be a self that is acceptable to the environment. This can cause us to feel that there is a void which we try to fill by becoming addicted to food, work, sex, drugs or alcohol. When we have depressive/low mood states it is a message that things are “not right” in our life.
When one suffers s from depression, it feels like nothing can ever help, and nothing will ever change; That is what depression does to our thinking. It makes us feel certain that we can never feel happy again. It drains the pleasure from things we used to enjoy, makes us see everything through grey-tinted glasses and eradicates hope and energy. In short, depression is a parasite that feeds off our lives. However, when we understand the cycle of depression, know how it works, what it needs to sustain it, then we can start to gain power over it and hope starts to sprout again.
I have been trained in an approach to help a person understand the cycle of depression and a treatment that focuses on getting a person feeling better quickly. The very first thing I will do in a session is to ensure the person understands why he/she is feeling this way.
When the person leaves my rooms after that first session, I would expect him/her to feel better than he/she has in a long time. However, of course depression doesn’t shift overnight; In subsequent sessions we work together to:-
- Reduce the amount of worrying and introspection that the person is doing
- Resolve any practical problems that are causing stress
- Work on any relationship difficulties he/she may be having
- Help him/her to balance thinking styles so as not to be plagued by negative thoughts
- As the person feels better, to gradually introduce elements to the person’s life that will
protect him/her from becoming depressed again
Contact me today on 082 929 5142 to make a booking and begin to understand the cycle of depression!
Go to this page for booking information to alleviate depression.