Self-examination and psychotherapy for depression

With the rapid development of society and the accelerated pace of life, the number of patients with depression has shown an increasing trend year by year. Depression not only has a great impact on the patient's physical health, but also has a significant impact on society.

According to statistics from the World Health Organization (WHO), approximately 1 billion people worldwide suffer from mental disorders.

Depression is becoming a problem for most people.

6 signs of depression

Once these 6 signs appear, it indicates depression! If you have a somatization condition, please seek medical attention immediately.

1. Feeling of worthlessness and guilt <br /> Your sense of self-efficacy is very low, and you always think that all the misfortunes in life are caused by yourself. And you also feel that you are useless and can't do anything, and you are a complete loser. At this time, you may need to be careful.

2. Lack of energy and slow movements

You feel like you have no interest in anything. You used to love reading, but when you pick up a book again, you are surprised to find that you know every word, but you can't understand the text and can't read it. People who don't know you will think you have become lazy. But in fact, you are not lazy, but because you don't have the strength. You can't do simple things such as getting up, walking, and eating. When you do these daily little things, it's like walking in mud. You don't have the energy to socialize, and you are powerless in the face of such a predicament.

3. Difficulty thinking, concentrating, or making decisions

When depression is getting worse, you will find that you are losing your concentration. You used to be very efficient and methodical in your work. But slowly, you find that your memory is declining, and your thinking and problem-solving abilities are also declining. These changes make you feel like you are no longer the same person you used to be.

4. Bulimia or anorexia

In the past, you enjoyed delicious food, and eating delicious food would make you secrete dopamine and feel happy. But now, food has no appeal to you and you have no interest in it at all. But in order to replenish energy, you occasionally overeat, and always use this method to maintain inner peace.

5. Disordered daily routine

After suffering from depression, your daily routine becomes very chaotic. You often stay awake all night, and when you can't fall asleep, you become very anxious and suffer endless mental pressure. And sometimes you are sleepy and sleep for more than ten hours. But your energy is very low, just like a discarded battery, which is fully charged but runs out of power in a few minutes. Sleepiness and insomnia always appear alternately, making you exhausted physically and mentally.

6. Rapid changes in mood

And your mood changes very quickly. You are fine one second. The next second, you feel your heart is blocked for no reason, and then you want to cry, and you can't hold back the urge to cry. In more serious cases, you have a pessimistic view of life and even have bad thoughts. Depression makes people feel difficult to deal with, like a heavy burden that can't be escaped no matter what. Once you have depression, you will feel that the world is losing its color, and every day feels tired, empty, and desperate.

7 factors that cause depression

Why do some people suffer from depression and others do not? There may be more than one answer to this question.

Experts believe that the following factors may cause you to suffer from depression:

1. Genetic genes:

Depression is closely related to family history.

Studies show that if one of the parents suffers from depression, the child’s chance of developing the disease is 25%; if both parents suffer from depression, the child’s chance of developing the disease increases to 50% to 75%.

2. Environmental factors:

Depression can also be triggered by stressful life events and feelings of loss, such as

Widowhood (especially widowhood at an older age, almost 80% to 90% of people will suffer from this disease), divorce, loss of job, financial crisis, loss of health, etc.

3. Drug factors:

For some people, long-term use of certain medications (such as some high blood pressure medicines, arthritis medicines, or Parkinson's disease medicines) can cause depressive symptoms.

4. Disease:

People with chronic diseases such as heart disease, stroke, diabetes, cancer and Alzheimer's disease are more likely to suffer from depression.

Hyperthyroidism, even in mild cases, can lead to depression, which can also be a precursor to serious illnesses such as pancreatic cancer, brain tumors, Parkinson's disease, and Alzheimer's disease.

5. Personality:

Low self-esteem, self-blame, pessimism, etc. are all more likely to cause depression.

6. Smoking, alcoholism and drug abuse:

In the past, researchers believed that people with depression used alcohol, nicotine and drugs to relieve their depression, but new research shows that using these things can actually cause depression and anxiety.

7. Diet:

Lack of folic acid and vitamin B12 may cause depression symptoms. The above are the 7 common factors that lead to depression.

So how do we deal with depression?

In psychology, cognitive behavioral therapy can help you. The basic assumption is that it is your thoughts, not your situation, that influence your feelings and behaviors.

The core is the "thinking-behavior-feeling" cycle.

When a person's thoughts are always negative, he will behave badly, which will eventually give you bad feelings.

Let’s take a simple example.

“My leaders all think that I am not capable enough to do my job.”

At this time, you may become passive at work and evade responsibility. After being perfunctory at work, you will feel anxious and worried about being criticized or fired by your boss. At the same time, you may feel guilty and feel that you have failed your colleagues and the company's trust, and even have self-doubt and depression. If you keep thinking negatively, it will eventually lead to a vicious cycle. So how can you have positive emotions?

1. Positive thinking

Depression is often accompanied by a negative cognitive bias, which means that people tend to seek out and attach more importance to information that fits negative thought patterns and beliefs. To overcome this negative mindset, you need to first be aware of your negative emotions and actively seek out supportive positive evidence to counter these negative emotions. For example, if you have a habit of extreme thinking and often say to yourself

"I will never be happy",

Now you need to remind yourself:

“I may be unhappy at the moment, but it’s not permanent.”

Facing stress and challenges in life is inevitable, and we must learn to accept the discomfort that comes with it.

"Either you succeed or you fail"

Now you can tell yourself:

“It’s OK to feel sad, to experience failure, or even to take a break.”

For example, if you have ever experienced catastrophic thinking,

“I made a mistake at work and it was all over.”

In fact, you should tell yourself:

“It’s normal to make mistakes, it’s a learning opportunity and I can get better through this experience.”

At the same time, you also need to transform your self-evaluation of “I don’t deserve it” into a positive belief of “I do deserve it.” Cultivating a positive mindset is the first step to improving your emotional state.

2. Change Behavior

With positive thinking, the next step is to change your behavior. The core is that you should be goal-oriented.

Find the most important thing, set a goal for yourself, and then focus on the present.

When you accomplish your goal, you build confidence and you have new evidence that you can do it and that you have the ability to move forward, which can help you get through difficult times. Remember, our goal is to seek progress, not perfection. When you focus on the present and take positive action, you can activate your life.

3. Self-care

Finally, you must always pay attention to your own feelings.

Once you achieve something, tell yourself that it’s great, it’s really amazing, and thus build strong self-confidence.

You should also enjoy life, travel, exercise, and feel the beauty of life. Of course, the above are just some simple methods. If you are suffering from depression, you must seek help from a professional psychologist and receive targeted treatment according to the different stages of depression, so as to achieve a complete cure.

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