Self-Management of Depression

A disconnect between your present accomplishments and your core values may make you suffer from  success depression,  wherein, despite “having it all” (e.g., successful career, stable relationships, healthy children, etc.), you still struggle with depression and view your accomplishments as hollow (Zettle, 2007).  The cure for this malaise is to clarify your core values and set goals and actions that are driven by them. Psychotherapist Russ Harris describes values as our heart’s deepest desires for the way we want to interact with the world, other people, and ourselves. They are what we want to stand for in life, how we want to behave, what sort of person we want to be, and what sort of strengths and qualities we want to develop (Harris, 2009). Values are subjective; what one may consider a value (e.g., being famous) may be considered as being cocky by another person. Moreover, values do change with time. For instance, you may value social popularity and raising a f...

Perfectionism and Depression If your thoughts are, “I have to do it right,” “I have to do it all,” “I cannot fail,” “I have to keep up with others,” “Is this good enough?” or “I need to be in control,” then you are letting perfectionism dictate your life. As a perfectionist, you hold yourself to high standards because of irrational thoughts. These irrational thought patterns include all-or-none thinking and “should” and “must” statements. If you don’t meet your perfectionist standards, you start to feel worthless, which then fuels more depressive thinking. Perfectionists often seek pleasure by focusing on the results of their activities rather than enjoying the process. This then prevents them from savoring the simple pleasures of everyday life. In fact, perfectionism increases one’s vulnerability to depression, possibly because of a lack of self-compassion (Ferrari et al., 2018). In other words, perfectionist individuals are more likely to judge themselves harshly and criticize ...