Appendix (4): Good Mood: The New Psychology of Overcoming Depression

Good Mood

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Good Mood:
The New Psychology
of Overcoming Depression

Chapter 10 Introducing Self-Comparisons Cognitive Therapy

All of us hanker for instant magic, a quick fix for our troubles. And that's what the simple-minded variety of get-happy self-help books promise, which explains why so many people buy them. But in the end there seldom is a one-stroke magical cure for a persons' depression.

The understanding of depression provided by cognitive therapy and Self-Comparisons Analysis is an exciting advance over the older ways of dealing with depression. But this new theory also shows that there is more to understanding depression than a single magical button. Instead, you must do some hard thinking about yourself. Whether you have the help of a psychotherapeutic counselor, or fight your depression by yourself, the battle takes effort and discipline.

Writing down and analyzing your depressed thoughts is a very important part of the cure. Some detailed suggestions are given below. Learning more about the nature of depression is worthwhile, too. I particularly recommend two excellent practical books, Feeling Good, by David Burns, and A New Guide to Rational Living, by Albert Ellis and Robert A. Harper, both of which are which are available in inexpensive paperback. Other works which have two or three stars in the reference list at the end of this book also are valuable for the depression sufferer; the more you read, the better your chances to find insights and methods which will fit your mind-set and your daily needs. When reading those books, you will quickly see how their general notion of negative thoughts can be translated into the more precise and useful notion of negative self-comparisons.

A bit later, this chapter discusses whether you should try to win the battle by yourself or seek a counselor's aid, and whether you can expect to sail into a permanent harbor of total untroubled bliss. First we must discuss the first requirements of almost any successful battle against depression.

Before proceeding further, here is a nice tidbit for you which -- even if it will not cure your depression by itself -- every depression specialist agrees is valuable therapy. Do some things which you enjoy. If you enjoy dancing, go out and dance tonight. If you like to read the funny papers before you start work for the day, read them. If you delight in a bubble bath, take one this evening. There are plenty of pleasures in this world that are not illegal, immoral, or fattening. Let it be the first step in your program to overcome depression to brighten up your days with some of these pleasures.

Pleasurable activities reduce the mental pain which causes sadness. And while you are enjoying pleasure you do not feel pain. The less pain and the more pleasure, the more value you find in living. This advice to find pleasure clearly is "just" common sense, and I do not know of any controlled scientific studies proving it is curative. But this shows how the core of the contemporary scientifically-proven cognitive theory is a return to the common-sense wisdom known for ages, though systematic modern research has made large advances with new theoretical understanding of the principles and practical development of the accompanying methods.

You Must Monitor and Analyze Your Thinking

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The understanding of depression provided by cognitive therapy and Self-Comparisons Analysis is an exciting advance over the older ways of dealing with depression. But this new theory also shows that there is more to understanding depression than a single magical button. Instead, you must do some hard thinking about yourself. Whether you have the help of a psychotherapeutic counselor, or fight your depression by yourself, the battle takes effort and discipline.

Writing down and analyzing your depressed thoughts is a very important part of the cure.

Self-Comparisons Analysis teaches that your negative self- comparisons, together with a sense of helplessness, cause your sadness. Obviously, then, you will have to eliminate or reduce those negative self-comparisons in order to banish depression and achieve a joyful life. But with the possible exception of drug therapy or electroshock, every successful anti-depression tactic requires that you know which depressing thoughts you are thinking. Cognitive therapy also requires that you monitor your thinking in order to prevent those self-comparisons from entering and remaining in your mind.

So there it is. Fighting depression requires the work and discipline of observing your own thoughts. Watching over anything--watching over a child lest it get into the fireplace, or taking notes on what is said at a meeting, or listening to a travel guide give you directions to your destination--requires the effort of paying attention. And it requires the discipline of paying attention often enough and long enough. Many of us are sufficiently short of such discipline so that without a counselor to hold our hands we certainly will not do it, and even with a skilled counselor we may not be willing and able to do it. On the other hand, if you decide to do it--and making that decision to break out of depression, to give up its benefits and to do the necessary work is a key step -- if you decide to apply yourself to the task, you almost surely can do it.

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