Self-Management of Depression

Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) is one of the most proven psychotherapies for depression and anxiety. It involves identifying, challenging, and replacing irrational thought patterns, also called cognitive distortions, with rational thoughts. However, not everyone is successful in doing so. A key reason for this is when one harbors deeper irrational thoughts, called core beliefs, which are harder to change as they sit at a subconscious level.   While identifying your superficial irrational negative thoughts, also called automatic thoughts, as a part of CBT, you may realize that some of these thoughts can be lumped under common themes. These underlying thinking patterns are called core beliefs or schemas. Whereas automatic thoughts are at the surface of your awareness and more straightforward to recognize, core beliefs are not that readily accessed or easily articulated. Core beliefs or schemas represent a set of attitudes, assumptions, conceptions, preferences, goals, and va...

Imagine you are invited to a friend’s house, and upon entering, you see a group of people laughing out loud. You can react to this situation in a couple of ways. You might think something is wrong with your appearance, making you feel that people are laughing at you. Alternatively, you might interpret their laughter as a sign that they are having a good time and you feel ready to join in the fun. This situation can evoke two responses: one makes you feel embarrassed, while the other makes you happy. So, what causes people to experience various emotions in the same situation? It’s all about how you interpret the scenario. Your beliefs influence your interpretation, which is the “B” in the “ABC” framework we will explore next. Albert Ellis (1962), the founder of Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy (REBT), introduced the “ABC” framework as a cognitive model for depression. “A” represents an activating event to which an individual responds. This can include current or past events, thoughts, ...

What is loneliness? Loneliness is a fundamental aspect of life; at some point, everyone will experience it to varying degrees. Even though it is recognized as a public health concern (Office of the Surgeon General, 2023), there is still a need for more discussion about what the experience of loneliness entails and how to recognize it in oneself or others. For starters, loneliness is the distressing feeling you experience when there is a discrepancy between the interpersonal relationships you wish to have and those you currently have (Peplau & Perlman, 1982). It is not the number or frequency of social contacts but your subjective appraisal of the quality of relationships and the satisfaction with the relationships that influences loneliness (Heinrich & Gullone, 2006). Moreover, loneliness is not synonymous with social isolation, nor is it an inevitable consequence of being alone. You can be in the company of others and still experience loneliness, whereas you may not feel...

Though sounding simple, learning to accept and change are powerful strategies that keep relationships intact. “Accepting” your partner means that you are tolerating your partner’s unpleasant or offensive behavior while at the same time trying to understand the deeper meaning of that behavior and putting it in the larger context of your relationship with your partner (Christensen et al., 2014). For example, an individual may become more accepting of their partner’s introverted nature or tendency to criticize. Do not confuse acceptance with submission. Submission is enduring offensive behavior from a position of weakness as one has no alternative. In contrast, acceptance is tolerating offensive behavior from a position of strength as you choose to do so while seeing the offensive behavior in the larger context of your relationship with your partner. Acceptance also doesn’t mean one cannot assertively differ from one's partner, resist one's aversive behavior, or try to limit it....

In layman’s terms, hope is the expectation that your future can somehow be better, no matter the present circumstances. In contrast, psychologists define hope in a more structured way so that they can measure this attribute. According to them, hope is the pursuit of your goals with the knowledge that you have the capacity and the motivation to achieve them (Snyder et al., 2006). In other words, hope has two key elements: 1. A sense of successful determination in meeting past, present, and future goals. 2. A sense of being able to generate successful plans to meet the goals. The first element is called the agency , and the second element is called the pathway , which, in layman’s terms, translates into the will and the way, respectively. These two components of hope are reciprocal and work synergistically but are not synonymous (Snyder et al., 1991). People with the will to achieve their goals may not have the ways to do it and vice versa. Both the will and the way are necessary...

It is difficult not to judge yourself or others or overanalyze a situation when going through challenging times. Strong emotions emerging from the cognitive processes of judging or analyzing prevent you from using your rational mind to arrive at solutions to solve a problem or use mindful acceptance if the problem is unsolvable. In these circumstances, observing ego, a skill used in many mindfulness practices, helps you increase your self-awareness and allows you to perceive an adverse event non-judgmentally.  The word “ego” in observing ego refers to your healthy, rational, logical, and compassionate self. An important function of the ego is the capacity for self-observation. This is your ability to monitor or reflect upon your feelings, impulses, and thoughts rather than impulsively acting on them (Glickauf-Hughes et al., 1996). While your thoughts, images, feelings, sensations, and physical body change, your observing ego, also called the observing self, remains the same (Harris...