Mindful your Black Dogs: Self Help Tips in treating Depression

The feelings of depression

Depression is more than just a mood. It can go unseen, unrecognized and undiagnosed. For someone who is suffering from depression is undergoing the misery life journey in a way that it is unclear and invisible for others to recognize. Although depression is a common mental disorder, and it challenges and affects people’s daily life; however, not many people understand what is really like of going through a deep, dark depression and its influence on the individual who is undergoing this process.

The inner journey of depression

“The midst of depression was like a “black dog” chasing after me. My black dog’s name was depression. My black dog used to show up in front of me without giving any advance notice to me, and it seemed mastering my life and led me entering to the endless dark tunnel without way out.” This is the description of a lady who suffered with major depressive symptoms.

How do I know if I have depression?

Everyone goes through some deep sadness and grief, these feelings usually would fade away after certain periods of times, depending on the circumstances. But if sadness lasts for more than two weeks that influences your normal functioning, then it may be a sign of depression.

According to the DSM-5, some of the common symptoms of depression are:

Deep feelings of sadness for most of the times

Dark moods during most of the day

Feelings of worthlessness or hopelessness

Appetite changes: Overeat or stop feeling hungry

Sleep changes: sleep too much or can’t sleep

Lack of energy

Inability to concentrate

Difficulty getting through normal activities

Lose pleasure in life. Lack of interest in doing the things that used to enjoy

Social withdrawal

Have aches or pains; such as headaches, cramps, joint pain, back pain, or digestive problems

Suicidal thought or thoughts of self-harm

If you have five or more of the above symptoms for at least two weeks, then you are suggested to talk with your family doctor, clinical psychologist, or psychiatrist for further evaluation or treatment.

The self help tips in treating depression

Mindfulness Intervention. Happiness is a developed skill

If we embrace the idea that our peaceful mind and mental health is a skill that can be cultivated, then mindfulness exercise is a way to open the door for developing our mindsight and healthy brain structure. It can reshape and redirect our inner experience, let us to have flexibility for choices, open up new possibilities and more power to create the future. Research showed that mindfulness, which defines as paying attention to the present moment without judgement, can activate our brain regions which links to positive emotion and bring us happiness. The focus of the present moment, can shift our emotional state from unpleasant to calmness. We can learn to use our mindsight to change the structure and connection of our brains. We can shift our attentions to the pleasant and positive moment by focusing on the moment to moment sensation to capture the positive and present moment (Siegel & Hartzell, 2014).

Dr. Sara Lazar, a neuroscientist had done some studies to evaluate the effectiveness of mindfulness practice. She selected people who had never participated in any mindfulness exercise before, and put them into the MBSR training program. Result supported that individual with extensive mediation experience, in compare with the control group, the gray matter concentration was increased in the left hippocampus, posterior cingulate cortex, the temporo-parietal junction, and the cerebellum. The changes of these brain areas promoted better learning, memory processes, and emotion regulation, self-reflection processing and logical thinking. It showed the significant of the neuronal firing and wiring, how it builds new neural pathways and how neurobiology facilitates the process of changing old negative thought patterns and explained the science behind how we actually change (Hölzel, Carmody, Vangel, Congleton, Yerramsetti, Gard, & Lazar, 2011).

How to take care of yourself in different aspects of life?

Getting an overall picture about depression helps to make sense of what is happening for those people who are under the suffering of it. If you have aware somethings went wrong with your feelings, thoughts and behavior, that affects your emotions, your physical activity, diet and sleep; then, the proper way for you to do is seek for professional help. Moreover, some self-help guideline can also help you to form a good habit and increase your consciousness to look after yourself in different aspects (Depression.org.nz.).

If we learn how to appreciate our bodies, our souls, our minds for giving us all signals for our inner experiences, we may learn how to let our souls, our bodies to voice out and express our gratification for their existences, as they are our most loyal friends, that keep on working very hard for us on each day.

Body

Many researches suggested exercise could help our brain to produce dopamine, which is a brain neurotransmitter, and it plays an important part in mood. Hence, to develop a habit of doing exercise, choose the one that you love, which can be enjoyed anytime, anywhere, can bring a lot of advantages for both your physical and mental health.

Spiritual

If you have your own religion belief, then you may spend a regular time with God, and lift all of your burdens, worries, anxiety to God. You may read some spiritual books and bible, mark down the scriptures and re-read them periodically. When you feel down or worry, those scriptures and notes can be one of your sources of comfort to calm down your emotions.

Mind

Since our minds is like our body muscles, we can train our minds to remember and think positively through our daily practice; thus, learning to understand our thoughts, our feelings, our reactions, and find out what factors may trigger our negative thinking; as well as try to remember the good, thankful things on each day is crucial for our brains to build a new neural pathways and facilitate the process of developing a new positive thinking patterns for us.

Social Support

Join a social support group and share your worries and emotion with someone who has the similar experiences as you. Inside the social support group, you may find a good supporter who is willing to listen to you, walk with you and encourage you when you are in needs.

Individual Psychotherapy

Even though you may be a person with high discipline and self-motivation to overcome your problem. However, having a well-trained professional to walk with you would give extra benefit for your whole well-being. Besides, your precaution can reduce the chance of relapsing rate in the future and to maintain yourself to stay healthy.

Schedule re-adjustment

Since stress is one of the crucial factors for leading to depression. Hence, to readjust your schedule, reduce your workload and setting priorities in coping with your daily challenges, avoid from making too many big changes at once can be helpful for you to reduce your stress.

The Gospel Messages

The gospel messages for everyone is, as human beings, we all have resilience for recovery. The most important point is to remove the stigma behind talking about our true feelings, and to understand asking for help is a sign of strengths. Therefore, please do not feel shameful for telling your feelings, symptoms to your health professional. Even though you are living under depression, but if you do not give up, hope and rainbow would be always in front of you, waiting for you to embrace.

References:

Davis, D. M., & Hayes, J. A. (2011). What are the benefits of mindfulness? A practice review of psychotherapy-related research. Psychotherapy, 48(2), 198–208. doi: 10.1037/a0022062

Depression and Other Common Mental Disorders. (2017, February 23). Retrieved from https://www.who.int/mental_health/management/depression/prevalence_global_health_estimates/en/

Depression, org.nz. (n.d.). Self-help. Retrieved from https://depression.org.nz/get-better/self-help/

Edenfield, T. M., & Saeed, S. A. (2012). An update on mindfulness meditation as a self-help treatment for anxiety and depression. Psychology Research and Behavior Management, 131. doi: 10.2147/prbm.s34937

Hölzel, B. K., Carmody, J., Vangel, M., Congleton, C., Yerramsetti, S. M., Gard, T., & Lazar, S. W. (2011). Mindfulness practice leads to increases in regional brain gray matter density. Psychiatry Research: Neuroimaging, 191(1), 36–43. doi: 10.1016/j.pscychresns.2010.08.006

Siegel, D.J., & Hartzell, M. (2017). Parenting from the inside out: How a deeper self-understanding can help you raise children who thrive. New York: Perigee Books.