Depression the 'Black Dog'

Managing Depression with Cognitive Techniques: The Power of Our Thoughts:

·                Although we may not always be aware of our thoughts, they nevertheless can have a strong effect on how we feel and behave in response to a particular situation or event.

(a)   Re-learning our A-B-Cs:

·              According to the cognitive theory, the effect that our thoughts can have on our physical, behavioral and emotional responses to a particular situation can be illustrated using the following diagram:

A = Activating event or situation that we experience

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B= Beliefs or thoughts regarding the situation

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C = Consequence: How we feel or act based on these beliefs 

·              Let’s illustrate this model using an example:

Example 1:

Person 1:    A (Activating Situation) = A friend does not return your phone call

B (Beliefs/Thoughts) = “I must have done something to upset them. I am such a horrible person.”

                   C (Consequence/Effect) = Anxious, upset, depressed 

Person 2:    A (Activating Situation) = A friend does not return your phone call

B (Beliefs/Thoughts) = “They’re probably just really busy, and haven’t had time to get back to me yet.”

                            

C (Consequence/ Effect) = Content, neutral

·                    The above example shows how two people may experience the same situation (e.g., having a friend not return one’s telephone call), but have very different reactions to the event based on how they interpret and evaluate the situation according to their thoughts and beliefs.

Depression is one of the most common but least talked about mental issues and many of us will have to face it some time in our lives. In adolescence it is particularly common since we have to come to terms with leading life as an adult, sexual maturity, independence, self-reliance, friendships - future careers and, of course examinations. This is enough to get anybody down! Depression can be fairly common among first year university students and most colleges are adept at dealing with it. Cognitive Behavioural Therapy is a way in which we can help ourselves.

A major characteristic of depressive thinking is that we always think the worst, as in the example above. If somebody is grumpy or offhand with us we may assume they don't like us, when, actually, they may have just had a major row with their parents or just eaten something that disagreed with them. So, if we think differently we can alter the chain of thought that leads us to emotional self-abuse: and that is what it is. We punish ourselves because, in some sense, we believe we don't deserve to be liked. Most people's lives are too busy for them to go out of the way to target us for ill-treatment.

This change in thought pattern is often enough to stave off depressive thoughts and more serious illness. If it does become more serious there are very effective modern drugs such as PROZAC which can lift the mood by changing brain chemistry but they only work for about 50% of people. Counselling is often highly effective as we learn WHY we feel so badly about ourselves.

The important thing is to ACT which is often what we feel least like doing if we have this debilitating illness. So, ABC and ACT! There is something that can be done.