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Are you tired of feeling depressed? Does the world seem cloudy to you, or is everything just black and white?
It is interesting how most people have a basic understanding, to say the least, of depression. Depression has been known as the most common disorder around the globe, so it’s no wonder that a lot of research has been conducted around this topic. The popular belief is that depression has low and sad feelings, and perhaps sleeping all day! Although this can be true in some cases, there is a lot more to it than that. As you may already know, depression is usually associated with low self-esteem, poor self-control, the complexity of emotions, poor decision-making, poor cognitive process, and low motivation. In addition to mental symptoms, there are some physical symptoms such as having low energy, headaches/bodily pain or sensations, change in appetite, fatigue and sleeping problems, losing interest in previously enjoyed activities, withdrawal and/or isolation.
Some common thoughts that can be associated with depression:
“Nothing works out, this is a disaster.”
“I don’t want to do anything, I just want to sleep all day long.”
” Life is just too hard, I can’t get things done. I don’t have any energy/motivation.”
“I’m a burden to others; I wish I didn’t exist.”
“I don’t feel like eating; everything I want to eat just tastes bland and uninteresting.”
“No body cares for me; no one ever has, no one ever will.”
“I’m always a failure, I failed in my relationships, I failed in my job, I just fail…fail…fail.”
Do some of these thoughts sound familiar to you?. You might now ask yourself, “I was not like this two months ago; how did I get here?” automatic negative thoughts (ANTS) that you may have about yourself, people, the world and the future can affect your mood. You might have heard of Cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT), which is deemed the most effective approach for treating depression. This approach focuses on the relationship between thoughts, actions/events, and feelings. It is called an ABC model – A for the “activating event,” B “or “Beliefs,” and C for “consequences.” To help you understand better, I’ll give you an example:
Lets you walk down the street and recognize your friend from a distance, but then they pass by you without recognizing you. This is the activation event (“A”) in this model. The following two steps, beliefs and consequences, are all upon the interpretation and meaning you give to the event. Let Let’sider two scenarios:
In the first scenario, you say to yourself that your friend might have been so busy with their errands that they did not even see you! This interpretation can be passed as a rational and healthy belief. Hence it does not affect your mood.
The second scenario is that you might have a cognitive distortion such as mind-reading, fortune-telling, or catastrophizing. For example, you might start thinking your friend could be mad at you. This maladaptive belief creates emotions that can negatively affect your mood.
As you can see, negative thoughts can trigger negative emotions, therefore, affecting our mood. It is fast and automatic, and outside of the conscious awareness. Becoming more aware of imbalanced thoughts, automatic negative thoughts (ANTS), stinkin’ thinkin’ helps improve emotional and behavioural balance. It for sure will be a challenging journey, but don’t worry; we are here to help you and hold your hands and walk you through each step! So if you feel ready, contact one of our therapists/counsellors to begin this amazing journey!
Check out this video to learn more about Cognitive Distortions!
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