The analysis of X's actual-state numerator may be sufficient to demolish this painful neg-comp. But perhaps Ms. X is not easily convinced that she is playing the self-depressing mind game with her numerator that is shown in the table. People's capacity to fool themselves by using additional plausible- sounding distorted arguments is almost limitless. Therefore, let us go on to a second possible way to deal with this neg-comp, the denominator.

Ms. X agrees that her statement "I never do anything right" implies that others do better than she. Now she can ask herself, Do others really usually do things more right than I do? And is my benchmark comparison really appropriate? Hopefully she will see that this is not a correct assessment, and she is not on average a poor performer. Once more, she may come to see how her biased assessment of others is biased against herself, and hence will let go of the depressing neg-comp. And perhaps she will see the humor in this, too, which will help even more.

Table 10-1 shows still a third line of analysis. Is the dimension of Ms. X being late for meetings important and appropriate for her to rate herself upon? When she asks herself that question, she answers "No". Even if she is late for meetings, this does not mean that she is an incompetent person. And having realized this to be true, she can focus on other aspects of her life which are more important and on which she looks good to herself.

The analysis above provides three different tactics to deal with the neg-comp. Any one of these strategies may be appropriate and effective for a given circumstance for a given person. Sometimes, however, using more than one tactic increases your effectiveness in combating the neg-comp.

There are still other ways to address the problem Ms. X causes herself by telling herself "I never do anything right", and we will discuss them later. The important point emphasized now is writing down the analysis, as a way of forcing your thoughts out into the open so that you -- perhaps together with a therapist -- can analyze their logic and their factual support. The rest of this Part II of the book expands on this advice.

The moment just after awakening in the morning commonly is the bleakest, blackest of the day, depressives commonly say. Therefore, this moment is one of the most interesting to observe, just as it is one of the most challenging to deal with. It takes a bit of time, usually, to get one's morning thoughts directed onto a non-depressing path. This makes sense when you realize that when you first awake your thoughts have just been in the less-consciously-directed sleep state, which tends to be negatively-directed for depressives.

Can You Do It Alone?

Can you really conquer depression by your own efforts, or do you need the help of a professional counselor? Many of us can do it alone, and if you are able to, you will gain great satisfaction and renewed strength from doing so. And nowadays you can have the assistance of Kenneth Colby's computer program OVERCOMING DEPRESSION, which comes with this book and is based on the principles of Self-Comparisons Analysis set forth in this book; experimental research shows that computer-based cognitive therapy does as well as therapy with a counselor (Selmi et. al., 1990), and avoids several possible dangers touched on below.

In the example above, Ms. X can conduct the analysis in Table 10-1 by herself. And if she does so, she will gain considerable satisfaction from it. But a trained therapist can be helpful in helping X unravel her patterns of thought, and may help her discipline herself to proceed through the analysis.

Lest you doubt that a person can cure himself of depression without assistance from a physician or psychologist, keep in mind the millions of people who have done just that, in our times and in earlier times. Religion has often been the vehicle, though this is clearer in Eastern religion than in Western religion. The continued practice for 2500 years of Buddhism, which aims to reduce suffering, should itself be proof enough that at least some people can successfully combat depression without medical help. Granted, there do not exist scientifically-controlled experiments measuring whether just the passage of time would have induced as much improvement as such intercession, as we do have controlled experiments for cognitive therapy with the aid of a therapist (see Appendix A). But people's own experiments on themselves, sometimes using such depression-preventing methods and sometimes not, would seem to constitute rather reliable evidence.

People's power to radically change the course of their own lives has been quite underestimated in recent years, in large part because of the emphasis of Freudian psychology on childhood experience as determinants of the adult's psychological state. As Beck described the dominant view in psychotherapy prior to cognitive therapy: "The emotionally disturbed person is victimized by concealed forces over which he has no control."(2) In contrast, cognitive therapy has found that "Man has the key to understanding and solving his psychological disturbance within the scope of his own awareness."(3)

Even delinquency and drug addiction can be "kicked" by some people simply by deciding to do so. Alcoholics Anonymous provides massive evidence that it can be done. Another example is the Delancey Street Foundation of San Francisco: When a reporter asked its director about his "pioneering" new way of rehabilitation, he was told, with glee: "Yeah, you could say we have a 'new' way of fighting crime and drugs. It's a way that hasn't been tried lately. We tell 'em to stop."(4)

The simple fact is that all of us, all the time, make and carry out decisions about how our minds will act in the future. We decide to study a book, and we do so. We focus our attention on doing this or that, and we do it. We are not beyond our own control.

As interesting evidence that "ordinary" people can willfully alter their own thinking so as to make themselves happier at some times than at others, consider the example of Orthodox Jews on the Sabbath. Jews are enjoined not to think sad or anxious thoughts on the Sabbath (not even when in mourning). And for roughly twenty-six hours each Sabbath they do just that. How? The way a house-wife chases out cats when they come in--as if with a mental broom.

This raises the question: Why not perform the same simple trick all week long? The answer is that the world prevents it. A person cannot, for example, neglect thoughts of work all week; one must make a living, and the world of work inevitably implies strife as well as cooperation, losses as well as gains, failure as well as success.