Self-Management of Depression

Anger is a normal emotion that we all experience in our daily lives. Not all anger is bad; it can help you focus on self-defense, mastery, and control, especially when you perceive that your goals are being blocked (Linehan, 2015). But anger can also become problematic if it is disproportionate to the triggering situation, leads to aggression or destruction, or occurs too frequently. People differ in how they express anger. What may make one individual angry may not be perceived as anger-provoking by another individual. In Aristotle's words, which ring true even today, "Anybody can become angry-that is easy, but to be angry with the right person and to the right degree and at the right time and for the right purpose, and in the right way-that is not within everybody's power and is not easy."  While it may not always be possible to predict when one may get angry, trying to understand the reasons behind this variation in the expression of anger would help one become mor...

What is overthinking? The Merriam-Webster dictionary defines overthinking as "to put too much time into thinking about or analyzing (something) in a way that is more harmful than helpful." Surprisingly, even a non-psychological lexicon considers overthinking more harmful than helpful. In psychological jargon, overthinking usually involves misinterpreting or misattributing situations, past events, memories, and even feelings. Some common types of overthinking patterns, also called irrational thoughts or cognitive distortions, include all-or-none thinking (always/never thinking), jumping to conclusions without substantial evidence, disqualifying the positives, magnifying things out of proportion, catastrophizing (assuming the worst-case scenario), taking things personally, using negative self-labels (e.g., “I am a loser”), and should/must thinking (imposing rules on yourself or others). While we all engage in these overthinking patterns periodically, sometimes these irrational...

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), every 40 seconds a person dies by suicide somewhere in the world and over 800,000 people die due to suicide every year. When it comes to therapeutic approaches that have shown to reduce suicide attempts, there are only a handful of evidence-based treatments. One of these treatments is cognitive-behavioral therapy (Brown & Jager-Hyman, 2014). A safety plan is a key element of the cognitive-behavioral approaches that has been widely and effectively used for preventing suicide. In a nutshell, a safety plan is a document that is developed though collaboration between the person at risk of suicide and a treatment provider and consists of a prioritized written list of coping strategies and supportive resources that a suicidal person can use before or during a suicidal crisis (Stanley & Brown, 2008). A study comparing Safety Planning Intervention with usual care found a 45% reduction in suicidal behaviors and the double the odds...