I really encourage everyone struggling out there to subscribe to "The Depression Project" newsletter. They send you daily strategies which are really nice to read especially when you wake up and need some hope to go through the day. I will share with you the one that I've received today. Here's the link: thedepressionproject.com/
They also share good infographics in Instagram: instagram.com/realdepressio...
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FROM "THE DEPRESSION PROJECT" NEWSLETTER:
💪 How to fight back against hopeless thoughts
Below are three simple ways that you can do this.
✳️ Challenge hopeless thoughts with evidence to the contrary:
When you take a step back and examine the evidence that is contrary to what your hopeless thoughts are telling you, then you'll often end up with a much more hopeful, positive perception of things.
For example, the hopeless thought "I will never recover from depression". However, some of the evidence to the contrary could be:
"Depression distorts people's thinking - therefore, just because I wholeheartedly believe that I can't recover, it doesn't mean that that thought is true."
"There are a lot of strategies to recover from depression that I haven't tried yet. If I try them, then there's a good chance I will recover."
"I am still struggling with negative thinking, self-confidence and past trauma. If I can learn strategies to address these issues, then it will help me recover."
"If I implemented "recovery strategies" instead of just "coping strategies", then I would have a much, much bigger chance of recovering from depression than I do at present."
"I've never seen a therapist for an extended period of time, and if I did, that would also help me to recover from depression - in the same way that it's led other people to recover from depression."
"Therapy is unfortunately out of my price range, but there are other, much more affordable ways to learn therapeutic techniques that could help me recover" (such as online therapy platforms like BetterHelp or all the self-help books that are available).
✳️ Be mindful of "cognitive distortions", and try not to buy into them:
For example, one common "cognitive distortion" is overgeneralising - which is where based on a tiny, tiny sample size, you make general, sweeping conclusions.
For example, concluding that "all my relationships are doomed to fail" after 2-3 bad break-ups.
However, an alternative, non-generalised way to look at this could be:
"My first few relationships haven't worked out, but that doesn't mean that the rest of my relationships are destined to fail. After all, there are literally hundreds of millions of potential suitors in the world, and if I can just learn why my first couple of relationships didn't work out and what I can do moving forwards to choose a partner who's more compatible for me, then there's actually a pretty good chance that sooner or later, one of my relationships will work!"
✳️ Ask yourself: If a friend was in my position, would I be telling them the same hopeless things that I'm currently telling myself?
You've probably heard us mention this strategy in the past, but the reason we're going to repeat it is because asking yourself this question has the effect of distancing yourself from your situation and looking at it from a different, more objective angle – and when you do this, you’ll often realise that things are not as devoid of hope as you think.
For example, if your friend didn’t do as well in a set of exams as they wanted to, then would you think that they’re a failure, that they’ll never get a good job and that their career is over before it's even begun? You almost certainly wouldn’t, so therefore, you should never conclude the same thing about your own situation, either.
We really hope these techniques make it easier for you to combat hopeless thoughts!
All our love,
Danny & Mathew Baker,
Co-founders of The Depression Project
