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 20

cont.

Negative Self-Comparisons

The fight against depression best begins by learning which negative self-comparisons the sufferer habitually makes. This is done by noticing and recording the self-comparisons that you make when you are depressed.

The next step is to determine why the person is making those particular negative self-comparisons; this requires an understanding of the psychological structure that is related to such negative self-comparisons. You should also ask yourself why you feel helpless to change your circumstances or the goals that you set, and why you feel that you must make the particular self- comparisons that you do make. It is possible to get rid of the sadness-causing negative self-comparisons even without understanding why you make them, but the understanding often is valuable. The causation of depression is not simple. Understanding it soundly helps point you toward successful tactics for combating the depression.

Then you should formulate a strategy for attacking the depression. Improving the numerator in the Mood Ratio, by improving the accuracy with which you assess the actual state of your life, is often the best place to begin. If this tactic does not suffice, you may next attempt to change the denominator, the benchmark state against which you compare your actual state of affairs. If this still does not suffice, you may consider changing the dimensions on which you commonly compare yourself, away from dimensions on which you compare negatively and toward those on which you compare positively. Still a further step is to reduce the number of self-comparisons and self-evaluations you make, by immersing yourself in work or altruism, or by recourse to meditation or related devices. A combination of several intervention devices, including an effort to reduce the feeling of being helpless, may be best.

Values Therapy

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An extraordinary new (though very old) cure for some is Values Therapy. When a person's negative self-comparisons - no matter what their original cause - are expressed as shortfalls between the person's circumstances and her most fundamental beliefs (values) about what a person should be and do, Values Treatment can build on other values to defeat the depression. The method is to find within yourself other fundamental beliefs and values that call for a person not to suffer but rather to live happily and joyfully, for the sake of God or for the sake of man - oneself, family, or others. If you believe in the super ordinate value of a belief which conflicts with being depressed, that belief can induce you to enjoy and cherish life rather than to be sad and depressed.

Practical exercises are important, especially recording your negative self-comparisons followed by analyzing and demolishing them. And don't forget to plan and carry out lots of pleasurable experiences, an important part of therapy for depression.

In A Nutshell

Understand the key role of negative self-comparisons. Then study how you developed the propensity to construe your numerator or your denominator in such a manner that the self-comparisons are negative, and why you make self-comparisons as frequently as you do. Then decide what changes in your thinking you intend to make. Then develop the habit of thinking in these new ways which will reduce or eliminate your depression.

These are the possible tactics:

Improve the numerator in your Mood Ratio, by getting rid of misconceptions about yourself, or by learning that your capacities to influence events in a desirable direction are greater than you thought.
Alter your denominator to make it less formidable, by changing the benchmarks against which you compare your actual state of affairs.
Change the dimensions on which you habitually compare yourself.
Re-train yourself so you seem to yourself more competent and less helpless.
Reduce the number of comparisons you make each day, by immersing yourself in work or altruistic activity, or by recourse to meditation or related devices.
Examine your basic values to learn what is important to you that may influence your wanting to be depressed or wanting not to be depressed.

Others soon find their way back to joyful and productive life, and chances are you will, too. I wish you the best of luck.

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