How to Overcome Depression
Is there a way to overcome depression? I think, it is useful to let arise something helpful in the middle of the depression. From that point on, one can switch between depression and the helpful state.
Outdated Forms of Psychotherapy Against Depression
Depression is a serious condition that affects how you feel, think, and handle daily activities. In the past, therapists used certain methods to treat depression that we now consider outdated. These include long-term methods like psychoanalysis or behavior therapy.
Increasing Problems by Old Methods
These old methods often created more problems than they solved. Psychoanalysis is lengthy and expensive. It often didn’t provide the immediate help that depressed individuals expected.
Short-term Therapy: Individual Approaches to Every Individual Situation
In contrast to these outdated methods, short-term therapies developed by professionals like Steve de Shazer and Milton H. Erickson have shown to be more effective. They focus on the individual and their specific situation, rather than trying to fit everyone into the same mold.
One such therapy is Solution-Focused Brief Therapy (SFBT). It helps you focus on solutions and positive aspects of life rather than dwelling on problems and negative experiences. The goal is to build a desirable future rather than mending a troubled past.
Using Personal Resources: Mind Rooms Concept for Self-help
A modern self-help approach is the concept of “Mind Rooms”. This isn’t therapy, but a tool you can use on your own to help manage your depression.
Imagine your mind as a house or flat with different rooms. Each of these rooms is made for a certain type of thoughts: intrusive thoughts, frightful thoughts, creative thoughts, and disciplining thoughts. You can bring all thoughts – yes, also the unwanted and unpleasant, to the rooms. And you can come back and pick them up when there is time for it. What might your life look like – in the future?
By organizing your thoughts in this way, you can have more free space in your attention. Being convinced that every thought gets its own “care”, you can dedicate your attention to the topic you want to work with in a moment.
Do you want to change your pattern and see what happens?
Explore the Mind Rooms short-time therapy self-help concept, based on hundreds of systemic treatment and counseling sessions on OCD, anxiety and conflicts.
Take five minutes and read the free reading sample of the e-book Mind Rooms – ready to download for you here.
Note: If you are dealing with severe depression, seek help from a professional. These self-help strategies are meant to complement, not replace, professional help.
