By understanding the relationship between your
thoughts and your moods or feelings, you will see how thinking in certain ways
puts you at risk of feeling blue or suffering more intense depression.
By becoming aware of your thinking habits, you will be able to react more spontaneously to situations. You will have greater choice in how you react to events instead of being tied to old habits and hampered by unwanted feelings. You will have better self-control.
The treatment approach I mainly use when working
with people suffering from Depression is known as Cognitive Behaviour Therapy
(CBT).
CBT aims to change your behaviour, so that your
attitudes and moods are modified. CBT teaches you how to change your thinking
habits so that you feel better.
This approach teaches you how to change your behaviour by setting daily and weekly goals and exercises. By attempting activities that are challenging, you are able to build self-confidence and encourage personal growth.
To get the maximum benefit from counselling using CBT, you need to take into account the following:-
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Put skills taught to you into practice regularly,
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Make working towards change a high priority. Try not to make excuses, forget to practise, or do the exercises half-heartedly,
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Tackle your problems one at a time. This will make it easier to get started and stop you from feeling overwhelmed,
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Be persistent and patient. It takes time to change and develop mastery with new skills,
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Believe that you can change!
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Motivate yourself by asking the following questions:-
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What are the advantages of being more in control of my moods?
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What are the advantages of starting now rather than later?
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Do I have anything to lose by trying this approach?
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Expect lapses and forgive yourself for them. It takes time to change habits that you may have had for many years,
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If you are having difficulty applying new skills, ask yourself whether you are putting in enough effort each day to change and if you are expecting too much too soon.
Simply
knowing what to do does not mean you will always be able to do it! If you have
suffered with severe levels of depression in the past, it is important for you
to understand that getting better does not follow a smooth, upward progress
curve, but rather a bumpy one. If you have a bad day or two in the future, it’s
not a sign that you are getting worse and that the skills do not work! You can
bounce back after a rough patch without letting it become a deep depression.
Modern society is educated and pressured to mainly be joyful, peaceful, and powerful but the fact is that we are human and we experience all aspects of being including feeling sad, mad, and scared. Part of what I do is to help you to accept these sad, mad, and scared aspects of your being and where depression becomes overwhelming help you to put skills in place to assist you with managing it.
It's okay and it's normal to feel uncomfortable and to accept discomfort as part of being a human is all part of the process of life.
If you’re feeling down or blue and depressed and it’s becoming overwhelming then seriously consider Counselling using Cognitive Behaviour Therapy. I am a trained and professional Counsellor who will keep you focused and enable you to become better equipped to cope with ups and downs of everyday life and to be a healthier, more self-respecting person.
