Self-Management of Depression

We live in a society where it is impossible to escape comparisons. Growing up, your parents probably compared you with other siblings and in school you compared yourself with other students. As an adult, you continue to compare yourself with your peers at work, your neighbors, your friends and relatives, and people you come across on social network sites or other media outlets. There are two kinds of social comparisons (Taylor & Lobel, 1989): 1. Upward social comparison: You compare yourself with others whose performance and abilities are better than yours. 2. Downward social comparison: You compare yourself with others who are less fortunate than you are in the attributes you are comparing. People compare themselves to others when they need an external standard against which to judge their abilities or opinions (Festinger, 1954). Comparison helps you manage your negative mood, especially with downward comparison, which makes you feel better realizing that there are people who...

You probably have heard or read a few self-help books on depression. Here's a new book  The Complete Guide to Self-Management of Depression ,  which to date is the most comprehensive self-help book on depression, and will change how depression is treated in the future. What makes this book different from others is highlighted by the following features unique to this book: 1. Depression is a complex illness, which presents in a myriad of ways and almost 60-70% people treated with antidepressants fail to achieve a symptom-free state when first treated with these medications. The treatment of depression cannot be pigeon-holed into one or two kinds of treatment modalities. This book offers the reader a broad menu of options for self-management of depression above and beyond medications. 2. Self-management is increasingly becoming the standard of care in people with long-standing medical conditions. Self-management puts one in the driver's seat with regards...

People with depression often have negative or irrational beliefs, which continue to fuel their depressive thinking. According to the cognitive model of depression, the emotions in depression such as sadness, guilt, hopelessness, worthlessness, helplessness, anger, frustration, and anxiety are triggered by a dysfunctional thought process. This dysfunction involves misinterpretation or misattribution of situations, past events, memories, and even feelings leading to irrational thoughts – also called cognitive distortions – that in turn perpetuate depressive symptoms. These irrational thought patterns are described below: 1. All-or-None Thinking: This type of irrational thinking is also called black-and-white thinking or dichotomous thinking. This is thinking in extremes or absolutes with no consideration for any alternatives in between the extremes. For example, if you get a below-average performance evaluation and feel that you will never get a good performance evaluation in th...

Anxiety, fear, and panic are associated with irrational thoughts involving themes of threat or danger. These irrational thoughts take the form of “if” or “what if” beliefs. For example, a person who is afraid of heights may think, “If I am on the elevator alone and it gets stuck, no one will be able to save me,” or a person with panic disorder may believe, “If my heart beats too fast, it means that I am probably having a heart attack.” The “if” and “what if” thinking in anxiety disorders is a byproduct of your irrational thought patterns, including magnification, catastrophizing, overgeneralizing, and “should” and “must statements.” Sometimes, anxiety is a result of genuine problems or situations that have no solutions. How does one then decide to challenge one's irrational thinking or problem-solve, or try acceptance strategies? The seven questions that will help you guide your decision to choose one path over another to overcome anxiety are as follows:  What is the likelihoo...

There are several internet-based psychological treatments available for treating depression. Most of the commercially available treatments are based on the principles of cognitive-behavioral therapy (Titov et al., 2014). Studies comparing internet-based therapy with face-to-face therapy demonstrate that internet-based treatments are as effective as face-to-face therapy (Andrews et al., 2010). Similar to other evidence-based therapies for depression, internet-based cognitive-behavioral therapy is a structured program divided into modules with assigned reading, worksheets, self-assessments, and homework. This may not be suitable for individuals who prefer a less structured therapy. In addition, like traditional face-to-face therapy, internet-based approaches may take time to be effective. If you don’t see any effect within 3 to 4 weeks after starting an internet-based depression intervention, it may be time to discuss potential barriers to using the program or other treatment op...

What is Self Assessment? Unlike other fields of medicine where illnesses can be diagnosed using laboratory tests or imaging techniques, psychiatry heavily relies on an individual’s account of their current and past symptoms. This is also true for depression. However, recounting one’s depressive symptoms without using an objective self-assessment tool is fraught with inaccuracies. People overemphasize symptoms that need urgent attention and miss some, especially if they are unaware of the full spectrum of depressive symptoms. What are the Available Tools for Self-Assessment? The internet is flooded with the so-called "depression tests" with questionable validity. The following self-assessment tools have been extensively used in research and/or clinical settings and can be downloaded for no charge from the internet.  Quick Inventory of Depressive Symptomatology-Self Report (QIDS-SR 16 ): This is a 16-item self-rating scale used for screening depression or assessi...

You probably have heard or read a few self-help books on depression. Here's a new book The Complete Guide to Self-Management of Depression: Practical and Proven Methods , which to date is the most comprehensive self-help book on depression, and will change how depression is treated in the future. What makes this book different from others is highlighted by the following features unique to this book: 1. Depression is a complex illness, which presents in a myriad of ways and almost 60-70% people treated with antidepressants fail to achieve a symptom-free state when first treated with these medications. The treatment of depression cannot be pigeon-holed into one or two kinds of treatment modalities. This book offers the reader a broad menu of options for self-management of depression above and beyond medications. 2. Self-management is increasingly becoming the standard of care in people with long-standing medical conditions. Self-management puts one in the driver...

Grief and depression may have some overlapping symptoms such as sadness, crying, fatigue, reduced concentration, and sleep and appetite disturbances. However, grief and depression are not the same. Grief is a normal reaction to a loss, whereas depression is a clinical condition. Other distinguishing features between grief and depression are as follows (American Psychiatric Association, 2013; Shear, 2012):   Although in grief, individuals feel sad and are tearful, the predominant mood in grief is a feeling of emptiness and loss. In contrast, in depression, the depressed mood is persistent, and there is an inability to anticipate happiness or pleasure. Bereaved people feel sad because they miss a loved one, whereas individuals with depression feel sad because they see themselves and/or the world as inadequate, flawed, or worthless. Self-esteem is preserved in grief, whereas depression is usually characterized by feelings of worthlessness and self-loathing. Feelin...

If you are human, you will have problems. Having problems means that you are normal and solving them means you are a happy normal! You can use problem-solving skills to solve major life events such as losing a job or having a serious medical condition, or ongoing daily stressors such as financial issues, arguments with your spouse, or difficulties relating to co-workers. In essence, a problem represents the discrepancy between your current state (what is) and your desired state (what you want). Problem-solving therapy is an effective treatment for depression but has received little attention as most popular books on self-help of depression heavily rely on cognitive-behavioral techniques (Kirkham et al., 2015). The problem-solving steps are described next (Martell et al., 2010; Nezu et al., 1989). Problem-solving steps 1. Define the problem in clear and specific behavioral terms, i.e., what specific behavior needs to be addressed or changed. You will be able to genera...

What is self-management? You probably have heard the term “self-help” and may have also read a few self-help books. Most self-help books on depression focus on acute treatment of depression based on a particular model of therapy, usually the Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy (CBT). While the self-help approach tries to address a condition using a focused treatment modality over a short period of time, self-management is learning new ways to manage an illness over a longer period of time. In other words, self-management is using the resources and learning the skills to “positively manage” an illness (Lorig et al., 2006). Lorig and colleagues (2006) further elaborate on self-management; it is a “management style” wherein you are a positive self-manager who not only uses the best treatments provided by healthcare professionals, but also approach your illness in a proactive manner on a daily basis, leading to a more healthy life. For example, good self-managers of diabetes, besides ta...