Going to psychotherapy requires a commitment and effort to change on the part of the patient with his/her reality.

Healthy changes in behaviour are not possible without willpower, effort and motivation. But… How is it possible to be motivated when I feel depressed? Here are some concepts that will help you to identify depressive symptoms and tools to fight them.

Symptoms

Depressive symptoms create an unpleasant feeling for the sufferer, it is experienced:

  • Loss of pleasure
  • Feelings of worthlessness
  • Irritability
  • Changes in sleeping and eating routines
  • Lack of energy
  • Inactivity
  • Insulation
  • Etc

These negative characteristics are finally a set of unpleasant symptoms that are replacing the things we liked to do with others. This is how we can begin to see that it is possible to recover the experiences that generated our well-being before we were depressed.

What to do about depressive symptoms

First of all, it is important to know that as long as we are focused on the negative aspects in any aspect of our life. As long as we focus on the bad things that happen to us, we are taking attention away from the good and positive things . This ends up becoming a habit for your mind. When depression has been with you for a long time, this connection is so important that it practically cancels out everything positive. It’s a sabotage of everything that might be good, because your brain automatically looks for something negative to replace it, since you’ve somehow programmed it to do so.

Now, one thing I warn you about is that it is not possible to change the connection and the focus of attention from one day to the next . But you can start by identifying the things you used to like to do and now don’t. As you identify the “negative programming” you have built up with constant negative thoughts and reinforcing behaviours, you can plan a new programming with a more positive focus.

Attention is the ability to concentrate on a particular stimulus that we have selected from among others. To attend to one stimulus it is necessary to neglect others. For example, when we are watching a movie that is interesting, we take our attention away from the mobile phone or other things around us. Depression is a disease that collapses people’s attention span and thought processes respond to an involuntary demand for attention. It is therefore important to take stock of what is being given importance. With therapeutic help you will be able to change the focus of attention characteristic of depression to recover motivation, enthusiasm and moments of well-being.

Depressive behaviors take time to settle in your body and mind. It is very likely that the trigger of this disease comes from unpleasant experiences or also that you don’t know exactly where it comes from. The important thing is to analyze to what extent you have programmed your mind so that the moment of sadness remains in you.

Why do you get depressed?

Depression is a way of connecting with the world and facing life , it allows us to constantly remember what we could not do, our defects, what we lack, etc. The difference with a positive connection is to look at all these aspects and in turn look for a solution. Therefore, we would be connecting with the things that can be changed, we would begin to change the focus of attention with a balance of thoughts that are not inclined to the negative.

It is normal, natural and healthy for you to feel sad at different times in your life

But when that sadness comes to change your environment and you stop doing the things you like, you abandon projects, hopelessness grows in you, sadness becomes a pathology, so it is important a self-evaluation to prevent that pathological sadness, depression, continues to take away your moments of enjoyment and wellbeing.

Coming out of depression

It’s not easy, but it’s possible. If you slowly build a stimulating environment around you, focusing your attention on the positive things you have, and planning activities that allow you to connect with the things you like, things will fall into place.

The depression will fade over time . It is important for you to know that just as depression takes time to set in, you have to be consistent in implementing positive behaviours to change your perception of your environment. If you don’t do this, depression will take up more and more space in your mind and body, going through different degrees of mild, moderate and severe. Even in chronic cases, other mental disorders may be associated with depression because of the magnitude of the lack of control over your habits and thoughts. Therefore, it is important to make changes in your thinking processes and behavior that can influence the creation of an environment that is conducive to greater well-being and growth.

Depression is an illness that all people can suffer from. And, unlike sadness, it is a lifestyle that is adopted with the negative habits that are repeated daily in addition to the thoughts that allow depression to persist.

It is essential that you go to a mental health professional since the techniques described above are only useful strategies that by themselves do not substitute for what is a process of psychotherapy. The psychologist will intervene individually in your case so that you can have the necessary tools to confront your depression effectively.

  • You can contact the psychologist Miguel Angel Rizaldos through this link.

Bibliographic references:

  • Barondes, S. H. (1998). Mood Genes: Hunting for the Origins of Mania and Depression. New York.

  • Beck, J. (1995). Cognitive therapy: basics and insights. Gedisa Editor.

  • Kramer, Peter D. (2006). Against depression. Barcelona: Seix Barral.

  • Jackson, Stanley W. (1986). A history of melancholy and depression. Madrid: Turner.