Doctor David Burns have found in his late research on cognitive therapy
that depression can be cured naturally. without taking any antidepressant drug
We're going to go through the process about doing so but first i want you to keep in mind
That you're not the only person , who's suffering from depression
taking in consideration that Others have gone through the same painful experiences
Can bring about , a relief and a sense of unity
Also if you're someone who's positive and you think that depression is not for you anymore
and that you have worked it out long ago
i think you should reconcider that thought again.
in many cases , positive people get so Egotestic about their positivity
to a point that they start resisting unpleasent emotions like sadness
it's like saying "oh i got to be positive"
"man are not supposed to cry , i can't fall into this sadness thing"
"because if i do i won't be able to maintain my positivity"
and ironicly by resisting their mood swing
they get depressed
sadness is not depression
it's okey to feel down every now and then.
The Big idea from this introduction is to stop resisting the state that you find your self in.
even clinging to positive emotions can make you depressed
Emotions are just 'chemicals' running through your body
and those emotional chemicals are not permanent.
they are meant to come and go.
just like any other experience.
everything is in a constant state of change.
and now with that said , let's move on to the cure for depression.
First we need to understand how you got depressed in the first place
and then we get to solve your illness.
think of it as a math equation , if we happen to internalize the rule
we can solve the equation.
let's say that we are sitting in a restaurant
and unintentionally , you a glass infront of me
since am positive , my reaction would be to laugh hysterically like if it was no big of a deal
it's funny for me.
as for you
you got pissed off by the noises it produced when it hit the ground
notice that , it's the same Event for both of us
the only difference is the way we perceived that event.
so the rule here is simple :
your thoughts create your emotions.
you feel the way you do because of the thoughts you're thinking right now
that's why in some guided meditations , they tell you to focus on what you're thinking at the moment
to identify what you're feeling.
if you're confused about an event that happened to you lately in the day
Then , your emotional , state at the moment could be confusion
Doctor burns describes how depression occurs
First : we have the event that takes place in the outside world
Second : we interpret the event with a series of thoughts this is called your internal dialogue.
and finally : your feelings are created by your thoughts and not the actual event
in other words
the way you think in any situation will determine how you will feel about it.
Now that you've got the rule , let's look at the equation.
When you interpret an event as negative , doctor burns describes that as "cognitive distortion"
if you perceive an event as negative you create distorted thoughts
and therefore unpleasant emotions.
sometimes you could be right
the event is unpleasant
it needs to be interpreted that way and we have to be realistic about it.
but , for people who suffer from "mild" levels of depression
those cognitive distortions become so habituated to a certain degree
That they start perceiving everything in black and white.
doctor burns cited ten different cognitive distortions that you tend to have when you're depressed.
let's look at some examples for the most common ones
let's say that you want to learn improv-comedy.
you took some classes and after a month you decided to give it a shot and go live.
so you go on stage and start cracking the lamest jokes ever since you're nervous and it's your first time.
the audience got bored and left
as a result , you think to yourself that you have no chance of becoming a comedian
or that you will never going to be good at doing anything
this kind of cognitive distortion is called all or nothing thinking
either i'm good at this or i will never be , even if i put it into practice.
either i'm a charismatic confident guy , or i will never be that way.
and you can clearly tell that it's all pure nonsense.
this type of cognitive distortion is conveying an exageration of a negative event
the event itself is negative but instead of perceiving it as a passing experience
you hold on to the cons.
this leads us to the second cognitive distortion
this one is called "mental filtering"
you take one negative thing in any situation and keep dwelling on it
this video as an example.
no matter how much i put the time to make valuable content for my viewers
there will always be that one guy who will filter all the value and leave a negative comment.
instead of saying "okey let's evaluate this objectively"
what did i learn from this video ?
i learned about something called "cognitive therapy"
i can cure my depression
without taking any anti-depressant drug
see ? at least you learned something.
to be honest i'm not resentful toward those people
because they are so addicted to negativity
that it became normal to them
just as normal as holding a fork.
people who perceive reality from a mental filter
no matter how hard you try to convince them that the event is actually positive
they will always find something negative about it.
let's say that you got hit by a car
you're on your way to the hospital
and no matter how much the doctors keep telling you that you didn't get a scratch
you just got dizzy and you're ready to go home in three hours
you keep thinking to yourself : oh my god what if i got brain damage ?
and if my brain is damaged will my girlfriend still want to go out with me ?
this one is called "jumping to conclusions"
this is like exagerating with your expectations.
and projecting to unrealistic conclusions.
since the process of emotion formation happens in a fraction of a second we have little to no control over it.
the good news is however , even if those thoughts get distorted and you fall into depression
you still have a chance to re-construct them after their occurence.
you have the opportunity to re-frame those distorted thoughts
and therefore change your mood.
it's scary how one thought can have the power
to change someone's life for the better or the worst
david burns presented us with some practical strategies for dealing with these cognitive distortions.
the first step : is to start being mindful enough to catch those automatic negative thoughts and write them down
don't let them buzz around in your head.
the second step : is to learn precisely how you are twisting things and blowing them out of proportion.
and the third : is to substitute a more objective thought that puts the lie
to the one wich made you look down on yourself.
if you hear a thought telling you that you are not good at doing anything
catch that negative thought and write it down.
now write a logical more realistic counter thought to it
try to find out all the logical reasons that convey clearly that you are good at something
no matter what the thought says.
you can read that paper every morning before you go about your day
and with time
the subconscious will re-wire itself.
and instead of weighing you down
your thoughts will start boosting your mood naturally.
this is the basic gist of cognitive behavioral therapy.
so far we saw three big ideas.
the first big idea is that your emotions are created by your thoughts and not the actual event.
the second big idea is cognitive distortions.
we saw the most common distortions that you tend to fall into when you're depressed.
and finally we looked at the practical side of the book.
wich is to fix those distortions by writing them and replacing them with more realistic logical thoughts.
and with time
your brain will re-wire itself for the better.
