Clinical Depression and Our Thought Processes

Clinical Depression can be addressed from more than one angle. We can start with medical treatments and drugs, or with our thought processes. Drugs and those types of medical treatments can cost a lot of money, which is fine, if you have it. The problem is those with clinical depression usually have reasons to feel depressed, like being out of work or other health problems, which affects finances. There is another resource, a tool we can use that will work, which is not expensive, other than a little self discipline that is available to everyone.

Clinical Depression and One of Its Deep Symptoms

For a moment we need to explain a little something about causes, and symptoms of things like depression, anxiety and stress, when those conditions become life damaging. Symptoms happen in layers. There are primary direct causes, then symptoms, and then secondary symptoms brought on by our change in behavior from our condition. As an example, if we feel bad, we may not eat right. The change in behavior of not eating right creates further feeling bad, and the cycle worsens. It is this type of situation we will touch on here, but with our thinking.

Clinical Depression and Our Thinking

When we feel bad emotionally for whatever reason, we change our perspective, which is our thinking. Our brain biologically seeks to make patterns, and when we feel bad, we naturally seek to see bad as well. If we feel hopeless, without drive and enthusiasm we will see only the things in our world that support those feelings. That is a brain thing.

Clinical Depression We See What We Feel

What this means is we lose our ability to see positive things around us, which would bring us good feelings and optimistic and exciting thoughts. Those things are still there, and those people and ideas are still coming into our mind, but we choose not to recognize them, let alone act upon them. Over time we will recognize only the things around us that mirror what we are feeling, and learn to ignore the positive things that would encourage us. As this cycle strengthens, what we see will discourage us even further and add to our depression.

Clinical Depression Seeing Our Feelings as Separate

What we need to do is to affirm that our feelings are separate from what is happening around us. While we may not feel like acting on those good things nearby, we must discipline our selves to focus on them and embrace them in our thoughts.These things might be pleasant things happening on the national or world scene, far removed from our locality, or they can be positive things we have experienced which we can be thankful for, or they can be just thoughts that give us good feelings when we think about them.

Clinical Depression and Training Our Brain

Sometimes examples are the best explanation. Here are a few; When we are in a particularly depressed mood, or experiencing a strong state of anxiety think about the most wonderful comforting person we have known. Alternatively, we can focus on the best thing that ever happened to us as a child. We can also think about we live in a great nation, and that we were not born in a third world country ruled by a dictator or living in a communist economy. We can also focus on having a pet, or holding a kitten, playing with a child or raising vegetables in our back yard.

Similar thoughts include meeting a pretty girl or handsome man, or learning of a job opening in another department in our company. We can imagine finding an item we always wanted in a neighbor’s garage, that they were going to give away, and getting it from them. We can imagine enjoying a motorcycle we always wanted or fishing on a stream up in the mountains, or walking on a beach.

More close to home we can imagine watching a favorite television show alone at home, or having a cup of coffee in our back yard on a Saturday morning. We can imagine walking around a very old building in a small town out in the country or exploring someplace new to us. We all have areas of fascination to us, things that set us on fire with enthusiasm. Everyone has them and so do you. Reconnect with them and bring them back into your world and thought life.

Clinical Depression And Why Imagine Good Things?

The obvious objection to daydreaming about pleasant things is that we are running from reality, and pretending is not changing anything, and makes us deny our problems. That sounds true, but none of it is. We are actually facing reality by imagining the good things just mentioned. Those types of things are happening all around us in our life now, it is just we are not seeing them, and we certainly are not feeling like acting upon such opportunities if we did notice them!

Clinical Depression and Facing Reality

By pretending such events, we are training our mind and our feelings to comfortably see and respond to them, when we do begin to notice them. Do more good things happen to enthusiastic and excited people than does happen to depressed and sad people? No, it is just that the enthusiastic and excited people see and respond to them more. We are actually forcing ourselves to face reality that good is out there and is happening, whether we feel like seeing and responding to it.

Clinical Depression and Exercising Our Brain

One side of our brain is our emotions; the other side is our reasoning. While different, each side influences the other. If we feel deep depression in the emotional side, it will affect the boundaries, which are opportunities and choices, we see on the reasoning side. Inversely, if we imagine good things on the reasoning side, it will affect the feelings felt in the emotional side.

Clinical Depression and Imagination

Remember what we said elsewhere, that our brain cannot tell the difference between a real event and an imagined one? Gradually the emotional side will adjust upward in its emotional profile towards normalcy, and then we will begin to see, and feel like responding to the good events we have been imagining previously.

While what we imagine may seem an eternity away from where we are today, we must start with little steps in that direction. With practice, we can make progress towards our sense of well being that we all deserve. And the best part is there are no bad side effects to our health, like with many anti depressant drugs, and there is no financial cost.

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