But before we move on, a recap of what CBT is will be quite beneficial.
Cognitive Behavior Therapy - how it can help you defeat depression!
Cognitive Behaviour Therapy is a form of psychotherapy that talks about
How you think about yourself, the world and other people
How what you do affects your thoughts and feelings
CBT can help you to change how you think ("Cognitive") and what you do
("Behavior)". These changes can help you to feel better, less depressed. Unlike some of the other talking treatments, it focuses on the here and now problems and struggles. While it is often important to look at the past and understand how our past impacts our lives and how depression has arisen, CBT mainly focuses on looking for ways to improve your cognitive processes and your mental well being now. CBT looks at the event which causes our depression and how we interpret that event - what we think or what meaning we give that event or situation.
For instance, someone who's depressed might wake up in the
morning and think: "This is going to be another awful day", "I'm going to
mess up again", or "What's the point of anything?", which will make them feel
even more depressed (feelings), and may prompt them to pull the covers over
their head and stay in bed (behaviours). It's very likely that this will increase
their negative thoughts, which in turn will increase the feelings of depression,
and make them even less likely to get out of bed. A vicious cycle is the result
- continuing to think and act the same way will help maintain our depression.
CBT can help you to break these vicious cycles of negative thinking, feelings
and behavior, and can help you defeat depression. When you see the parts of the vicious cycle clearly, you can change them - and therefore change the way you feel. It can also be useful to
look at the way our thoughts and feelings affect our bodies, and the physical
sensations we can experience
CBT aims to get you to a point where you can "do it yourself", and work out
your own ways of tackling problems. CBT has often been described as guided
self-help, and this self-help course will help you learn how CBT can help you.
The following self-help steps will enable you, with or without the help of a
therapist or mental health professional, to gain some useful insights and begin
to address and work through your problems.
Step 1
Identifying Thoughts, Feelings & Behaviours
Now we can begin to look at what's helping to keep your depression going.
Let's use a recent example, when you've been depresses - perhaps something
has happened in the past week or so when you've felt particularly depressed.
What was the situation? What happened? When did it happen? What else
was going on? Was it a situation that you often find yourself
in? Who were you with?
What thoughts or images went through your mind just
before or during that depressing time? What disturbed you? If you had
that thought, what did that mean to you, or what did that say
about you or the situation? If your thought was a question, try to
answer it.
What distressing emotion/s did you feel? Depression
What did you notice in your body? In depression, we can feel tired, lethargic, exhausted, experience appetite and sleep changes, aches and pains, headaches, digestive changes (e.g.
constipation), agitation and feel unable to settle, experience lack of interest in
sex, and have slow movement or speech.
What did you do? What didn't you do? How did you cope?
Stayed in bed, pulled covers over your head, didn't go out, sat
and stared, watched television, didn't answer the phone, turned down an invite
from a friend, didn't go to work, ate more (or less), slept more (or less), paced
around , kept starting to do things but couldn't finish, no interest in others, no
interest in sex, no interest in anything.
Practice noticing these thoughts, feelings and behaviors - the more
you practice, the more you will notice them. The more you notice
them, the more you will be able to make helpful and effective changes in controlling depression.
This Vicious Cycle form below will help you practice the most important skills needed in learning to cope with depression.. Photocopy or print the form and write down at least one situation every day for the next few days.
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