Each week I scan Google News Feeds to pick up interesting and relevant articles on depression, I am going to try and and pass on some more info now. This was quite a fascinating read, it got me pondering about how so many people can blur the distinction between depression and dementia. According to this article depression can masquerade as dementia, called pseudo dementia, the symptoms. Depression is very common for people with dementia.

Guess what is touted as one of the best way to prevent depression or dementia for that matter: exercise. Oh yes, at How I Beat Depression we advocate strongly for the positive effects of exercise, check out our podcast for more information.

From Helpguide.org

Related videos

Related articles

• Depression and elderley (helpguide.org)
• Vital Signs: Risks: Depression Linked to Later Dementia (nytimes.com)
• Alzheimer’s Caregivers May Be at Risk for Dementia (webmd.com)
• GPs missing early dementia — new study (esciencenews.com)
• Dementia (ask.metafilter.com)
• Common Causes of Dementia (final installment) (cdaamerica.wordpress.com)
• Depression or dementia? | Great Falls Tribune | greatfallstribune.com.

Humility and a determined never-say-die and can-do attitude mark this man above so many, his story is one that inspires and motivates, it’s easy to think influential figures like him enjoy a straightforward path to greatness, what makes his story so real so the fact it’s punctuated by failures upon failures, his dogged determination and ability to go through and face suffering in the face in spite of testing circumstances makes him so human, so admirable and his story so eternal.

From PsychCentral & The Atlantic:

Throughout his life Lincoln’s response to suffering — for all the success it brought him — led to greater suffering still. When as a young man he stepped back from the brink of suicide, deciding that he must live to do some meaningful work, this sense of purpose sustained him; but it also led him into a wilderness of doubt and dismay, as he asked, with vexation, what work he would do and how he would do it. This pattern was repeated in the 1850s, when his work against the extension of slavery gave him a sense of purpose but also fueled a nagging sense of failure. Then, finally, political success led him to the White House, where he was tested as few had been before.

Lincoln responded with both humility and determination. The humility came from a sense that whatever ship carried him on life’s rough waters, he was not the captain but merely a subject of the divine force–call it fate or God or the “Almighty Architect” of existence. The determination came from a sense that however humble his station, Lincoln was no idle passenger but a sailor on deck with a job to do. In his strange combination of profound deference to divine authority and a willful exercise of his own meager power, Lincoln achieved transcendent wisdom.

Elizabeth Keckley, Mary Lincoln’s dressmaker, once told of watching the president drag himself into the room where she was fitting the First Lady. “His step was slow and heavy, and his face sad,” Keckley recalled. “Like a tired child he threw himself upon a sofa, and shaded his eyes with his hands. He was a complete picture of dejection.” He had just returned from the War Department, he said, where the news was “dark, dark everywhere.” Lincoln then took a small Bible from a stand near the sofa and began to read. “A quarter of an hour passed,” Keckley remembered, “and on glancing at the sofa the face of the president seemed more cheerful. The dejected look was gone; in fact, the countenance was lighted up with new resolution and hope.” Wanting to see what he was reading, Keckley pretended she had dropped something and went behind where Lincoln was sitting so that she could look over his shoulder. It was the Book of Job.

Throughout history a glance to the divine has often been the first and last impulse of suffering people. “Man is born broken,” the playwright Eugene O’Neill wrote. “He lives by mending. The grace of God is glue!” Today the connection between spiritual and psychological well-being is often passed over by psychologists and psychiatrists, who consider their work a branch of secular medicine and science. But for most of Lincoln’s lifetime scientists assumed there was some relationship between mental and spiritual life.

In The Varieties of Religious Experience, William James writes of “sick souls” who turn from a sense of wrongness to a power greater than they. Lincoln showed the simple wisdom of this, as the burden of his work as president brought home a visceral and fundamental connection with something greater than he. He repeatedly called himself an “instrument” of a larger power — which he sometimes identified as the people of the United States, and other times as God–and said that he had been charged with “so vast, and so sacred a trust” that “he felt that he had no moral right to shrink; nor even to count the chances of his own life, in what might follow.” When friends said they feared his assassination, he said, “God’s will be done. I am in His hands.”

The Atlantic

the article

Related articles

• How Churchill and Lincoln beat depression (howibeatdepression.com)
• The Religion of Abraham Lincoln (truehumanist.wordpress.com)
• The changing face of Abraham Lincoln (salon.com)

1. Crying Andy describes continual and excessive crying.

2 Inability to cope with daily tasks.

3. Getting out of bed was a nightmare, was “murder”.

4 Vivid, frantic dreams.

5.Waking up tired, the dreams and inability to properly rest took a toll on him.

6. Like is mundane and difficult despite many things to enjoy.

7. Previous enjoyable activities are not so anymore, no pleasure, in fact now a chore.

8. Mornings are intolerable, midday were bearable, other times in the day were hot-spots for depression .

9. Start of recovery is diagnosis, not just Andy not coping, a doctor identifying depression and recommending medication.

Related articles

• How Harpeet beat depression (howibeatdepression.com)
• How Churchill and Lincoln beat depression (howibeatdepression.com)
• 10 Careers With High Rates of Depression (howibeatdepression.com)
• Positive effects of depression (scienceblog.com)

It’s downright scary: More than 20 million Americans can expect to suffer from depression in the coming year. But you don’t have to be one of them if you’re alert to the events and situations that can turn the blues into something more serious. Here, the 10 most common depression triggers — and what to do to prevent them from dragging you down.

Depression Triggers | 10 Biggest Depression Triggers | Caring.com.

I had to figure that one out on my own and it was not easy. You would think that happiness is instinctual and that it would come naturally. Not for me.

Generations of Depression: “Hey, Mom. I’m Finally Happy.” | Depression on My Mind.

Study coordinates depression treatment with disease care – latimes.com. Patients with heart disease or diabetes who suffer from depression as well are notoriously difficult to treat: They have more severe complications and a higher mortality rate than patients who aren’t depressed.

But help may be on the way. Research published Wednesday in the New England Journal of Medicine suggests that coordinating care to manage depression and chronic illness — together, at the same time — produces better outcomes for patients.

Listen up folks, this cannot be underestimated, exercise is, and will always be in my opinion, one of the most EFFECTIVE ways at beating depression. This podcast will be looking at why this is the case.

The 5 main points which are explained. Exercise helps

References:

Back from the Brink

Background from Back from the Brink:
Between August 2006 and January 2007, a link was established from the depressioNet website inviting visitors to participate in an online survey (read more). The URL for the survey was publicised in media articles throughout November. The survey was completed by 271 people.

Prepared and managed by Ultrafeedback, the survey sought to find out what people living with depression would ask people that had recovered, if they had the chance. It also asked participants to rate how effective different therapies were in helping with their depression. We then asked them to rate the effectiveness of various lifestyle factors.

Results
While I do not pretend that this survey was conducted in a rigorous scientific manner, I think the results demonstrate some interesting trends which mirror my own experiences.

Exercise is the winner in this assessment. This is interesting when you realise it is accessible to all and very inexpensive.
When you consider the epidemic of depression in the western world and the general decline in physical activity, you can’t
help thinking there may be a connection.

Support of family and friends and counselling therapies is not very surprising. Some people will be relieved that short-term
therapy from registered psychologists is now partly covered by Medicare.

Perhaps the most surprising of all the results is the ranking of Fulfilling Work which stresses how important this is to our
mental health. When I reflect on my 15 years experience as a recruiter interviewing people, I know there are a lot of people unhappy with their work.

The next group of factors (relaxation/meditation, drug and alcohol avoidance, nutrition, and prescription medicine) are rated
so closely together that it is difficult to differentiate between them.

It is interesting to note that of the top 10 factors that most help people with depression, eight are lifestyle related. Prescription medicine and counselling therapies are the only exceptions.

The other feature is that many strategies have very similar scores. What this indicates to me is that no one can afford to try
just one or two approaches. If you are serious about making progress you should consider the top 10 strategies and
determine with expert help which six you will focus on.

Other Helpful Strategies/Things Nominated by Respondents
Pets, Music, Journal Writing, Art, Hypnosis, Kinesiology, Reading, Gardening, Hobbies, contributing to others depressioNet.

Conclusion
It is clear that many factors positively affect people living with depression. Exercise, the winner, is probably one of the easiest to implement. The eight lifestyle factors in the top 10 show that there is much a person can do to contribute to their own recovery without waiting for drugs to work or to have a breakthrough with therapy.

While therapy and medications can be vital to depression treatment, one often-overlooked treatment is exercise. It not only improves health, but may help your emotional health. WebMD explores this topic and explains how exercise can benefit those with depression.

One of the most painful things when working and watching people battle chronic depression is seeing them trying to think themselves out of the depression, not realising that his type of mindset often got them into and is keeping them in the depression in the first place.

Excessive and unwanted rumination locks people in and losing focus and proper contact with the real world keeps them cocooned into self and their own universe. With not having proper nourishing contact with the outside world the sufferer can adopt learned helplessness and view the world as bleak, gray, profoundly uncaring.

One key way to beat depression is learning to properly focus on something external and lose yourself in that process. You being to slowly learn how to forget yourself. People who cultivate healthy hobbies often talk about how they are so meditative and how they can immerse themselves in what they are doing.

Check out this article to read more about this very simple, but profound truth in beating depression. It’s not always about years of psychoanalysis and psychotherapy to solve your problems, on a day to day basis learning to lose yourself is an art which must be learnt and practiced.

http://smartabouthealth.net/diseases/2010/11/13/update-why-being-unfocused-can-lead-to-unhappiness-depression/

I was diagnosed with Depression at the age of 24 at a time when I was at Law School and was striving to get the job of my dreams in the City. It was at this already strained time that my family life also became quite rocky and I finally went to see my GP at the insistence of my mother, however I was convinced that I just felt miserable so couldn’t see how it was a medical issue. To my surprise and relief, the GP heard me out and declared that I wasn’t “terminally chronically miserable and weepy”, rather I was suffering from depression. I had a textbook case, in fact.

I was encouraged to see a counsellor, which I did on a monthly basis while I completed Law School. During this time I began a relationship, and my life was generally looking better. At the same time as Law School wrapped up, the counsellor told me that she felt that I seemed much better and no longer needed her help. I agreed wholeheartedly.

My personal problems had meant that I had thrown myself into my books to take my mind off things, and as a result, after months of interviews, I did achieve what I thought was the job of my dreams at a city law firm. As soon as this job started, I began to feel the depression creep back, as a result of the constant demands of the new challenging environment, the inability to show any sign of weakness, and the long lonely hours that I had to put in at the office. Close to the beginning of my new role in the law firm, I got engaged. However the next 6 months were very tough in terms of feeling constantly miserable, but pretending to everyone that I was happy. I began to wonder how I could feel so hopeless when to all concerned, I should be overjoyed. I was engaged to a wonderful man, I had a great job in what was considered a glamorous area of a prestigious profession, surely I should be happy?

The more I told myself to try to be happy, the more miserable I became. My work suffered, my relationship suffered and 6 months into the engagement, my fiance and I split up. I felt that he couldn’t possibly be right for me as he had no idea how to handle my depression. What I didn’t realise was how hard he had actually tried, and how hard it must have been to be engaged to me.

Needless to say it was a vicious cycle because as much as the depression had caused me to call off the engagement, the break-up pushed me further into depression. I barely went out, as I was fed up of having to face people who would either look at me pityingly or would ask me how the wedding planning was going, unaware of the split. At this point I went back into counselling at the suggestion of the firm I worked for. My situation had become apparent to them and they were very supportive. I began to see a counsellor once a week and was put on anti-depressants.

Months of therapy helped me to recover. I slowly started to put my life back together. I did, however, feel that I needed to make a change to my life. I didn’t feel happy in my job, so 2 years after starting at the firm, I handed in my notice. People were amazed that a girl who had spent years striving to achieve this job that people would give anything for, I was giving it up. However I felt happier than I had in years. I left my job and set up my own business, which was a risky strategy as I would be working alone, but strangely I felt much more isolated in a building with five thousand other employees than I did working alone.

My health improved, my moods improved, my relationships improved. I no longer woke up with a heavy heart and dreaded the day. I don’t think that Law made me depressed, however it definitely was not the environment in which I would be able to recover from the depression I was suffering when I entered the profession. 6 Months after leaving law, I got back together with the man I had been engaged to. I had never stopped loving him, and had realised how hard my depression had been on him too.

I am very keen to tell my story as I feel that it can be of immense help to others. I have felt hopeless, suicidal and as though I must be deranged, however I was just poorly. I was lucky that my illness was spotted and I was encouraged to get help. Like me, there may be many others who think their life seems great, so perhaps their unhappiness is self-invented. What I would like to do is explain that no matter how perfect your life may look, you may be feeling down because of an illness. After all, illness doesn’t discriminate between different people’s situations.

My story brings together a number of factors that people may be able to identify with. I am female, of Asian origin (born and brought up here) and an ex-Lawyer. These groups suffer from high levels of depression, and sadly in the Asian background, mental health issues are still considered taboo, especially those of women.

I would also like people to understand the toll that Depression can take on relationships, and perhaps highlight the plight faced by those who are in relationships with someone who is depressed. I was lucky that I managed to resurrect mu engagement, however others may not be so lucky. If I could have better understood what my parents and my fiance had gone through, while being around me, I may not have been so harsh to them.

Thank you for taking the time to read what has turned into an essay! If I can be of any help in ANY way, please do get in touch. I would love to help someone, as I feel that if just one person can benefit from hearing my story, that is one less person who is suffering.

Thanks so much,

Harpreet

Related articles

• 10 Careers With High Rates of Depression (howibeatdepression.com)
• Churchill’s The Black Dog. A helpful analogy for beating depression! (howibeatdepression.com)
• Depression in My Own Words (ishanamaya.wordpress.com)
• Can Depression be Good for You? (psychologytoday.com)

We continue to investigate how some very famous and influential figures beat depression. Remember when we say beat we don’t necessarily mean getting rid of the depression altogether, it means not allowing it to severely impair functioning, relationships and happiness. It’s important to note that depression for many does come back and bite but for many who effectively build coping strategies it doesn’t sideline them so heavily.

How I Beat depression is all about learning from people who sucessfully took steps to not allow depression to completely impair and destroy their life.

Abraham Lincoln

President, awesome figure in history, if you don’t believe me check out his big statue in Washington, he’s so cool he get so sit down too, how many statues do you see  seated men? This man was something special, let that be known.

Recommended articles:

http://www.lincolnsmelancholy.com/

http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2005/10/lincoln-apos-s-great-depression/4247/2/

MORE TO COME SOON

10 Careers With High Rates of Depression – depression – Health.com

From Back from the Brink, these are people who have suffered from depression:

Sylvia Plath Poet. Ernest Hemingway – Author John Bunyon – Author Marilyn Munroe – Actress Pat Cash – Wimbledon Tennis Champion Bobby Fischer – World Chess Champion Gary McDonald – Actor Abraham Lincoln – President of U.S.A Winston Churchill – British Prime Minister Mike Tyson – World Boxing Champion Michael Hutchence – Rock singer of INXS Judy Garland – Actress.

Most people spend so much time trying to change the perceived external aspects causing persistent negative feelings: get more friends, be smarter, be more good looking, eat more, get a better job and so on. Often spend so long suffering needlessly and becoming more stressed, depressed and frustrated at the enormous effort reaping meager dividends. Life becomes too hard, what we seem to want we can never seem to obtain, frustration and lead to further depression and giving up.

Here’s the brilliant part. Change the self-image and lo and behold what you want changed we be done automatically! In Podcast 1 CBT, we looked at the importance of meta-thinking, that is thinking about our own thinking, stepping back at looking at a bigger picture. These processes are very helpful when in depression as the depressed mind is unhealthily skewed toward obsessive analytical rumination on specific events, people, past or projected future events.

Changing self image is similar to employing meta-thinking. It’s important to note that I’ve met with lots of depressed people who try and use positive thinking techniques and beat themselves up against a wall, not knowing why these techniques are not ‘sinking in’. If a negative self image is still underlying many attempts at positive thinking are unfortunately done in vain.

I came across an article five years ago which was about changing self image, it was by Maxwell Maltz and it really made a lot of sense. It focuses on how your perceive yourself and that vital relationship which is the most important relationship to mend when trying to beat depression. For many years I struggled in school and sank into persistent mediocre grades, I was myself as a poor student, and an incapable learner. I learnt from this article that I needed to change this perception, was I was able to change this perceptions and view myself as a person who is able to learn and thrive my results started to change profoundly. Changing self-image begins by realising you have a self-image and it can be

Image via Wikipedia

changed. I hope this article is able ti impart this truth to some readers. How does one actually change it? Various different ways for different people, but realise it can be changed and when it does get changed for the better depression radically starts to reduce. See links below for some more information. In my own journey I discovered faith in God and realised that we are made in His image, I personally found this to be the most powerful channel to correct my very faulty self image.

This piece was inspired by the article I read in a mental health analogy which borrowed from this book, don’t be put off with how old and 60′s looking the cover is, or that it sound nowadays like some sort of precursor to Scientology, it’s not. It’s a powerhouse of a book and imparted some very telling truths in my own journey out of depression. While generally I’m not a fan of large parts of the self help movement, there are contributions which simply can’t be ignored as they speak a lot of truth and  can powerfully change peoples lives with new understanding of their problems.

The secret is this: To really “live”, that is to find life reasonably satisfying, you must have an adequate and realistic self image that you can live with. you must find your self acceptable to “you”. You must have a wholesome self-esteem. You must have a self that you can trust and believe in. You must have a self that you are not “ashamed” to be, and one that you can feel free to express creatively, rather than hide or cover up. You must have a self that corresponds to reality so that you can function effectively in a real world. You must know yourself – both your strengths and your weaknesses and be honest with yourself concerning both. Your self-image must be a reasonable approximation of “you”, being neither more than you are or less than you are – from psycho-cybernetics

Here’s an interview with the founder which elaborated on this concept:

Related articles

• Depression and negative thoughts (medicalxpress.com)
• Fighting Through Depression (charityjh.com)
• Brain Basis for Emotion Recognition Deficits in Depression (brainposts.blogspot.com)

• http://www.ehow.com/how_5648990_overcome-depression-negative-self-image.html
• http://abundance-blog.marelisa-online.com/2010/02/16/change-your-self-image/

My boss at the time was my best mate and worst enemy. We were two hopeless basket cases, whose behaviour was always unpredictable. It swung between soppy romantics to super-violence. Yet don’t try and tell us we were addicted or drunks. You’d do the same if you’d been through what we had.

We were all surprised when my boss was seriously injured. No one knew what had happened to him. Then three months later, he emerged out of nowhere, looking fitter and healthier that he deserved. He looked incredibly well. Very intimidating. He wasn’t there for half an hour before I got a call to come up to his office. He was very blunt: I was an alcoholic but I wouldn’t have to die one. What? How dare he!

He explained to me that God could help me overcome my addiction. God? I hadn’t given any time to thinking about God for many years. I’d been thrown out of Sunday School and Scripture years before. I can still feel the hairs on the back of my neck stand up. I thanked him and walked away, pride shattered.

I was determined to prove to my boss and everybody else how wrong they were. I decided to party harder. I lasted one night. Sitting on my couch alone, very stoned, I had an overwhelming feeling that I was going to die. The thought of dying had never really bothered me. The way I lived, you’d think I was trying to, anyway. But I was petrified. For the first time I didn’t want to. But I couldn’t shake this feeling. I knew that tonight I would die. I had nowhere to turn. It was hopeless.

Then out of the blue, a strong, authoritative voice came into my head: Dial this number! I remember shaking as I dialed the numbers. The phone hadn’t worked for weeks. It was supposed to be broken. But the voice on the other end of the phone was loud and clear: “Welcome to Dial-A-Prayer”. As I listened, these words calmed me down. I clung to the phone, feeling safe. Over and over, the message repeated. When I put the phone down, all I felt was shame. I was a criminal, a con artist, a drunk. I was a hopeless case. Still that authoritative voice guided me: Go have a shower, go to bed…

The next morning, I woke up. I couldn’t believe that I had the gift of another day. There was no doubt anymore. God was real and had broken through into my world in a huge way. Six months later, 14 and a half years ago, I kicked my habit. However, this story has its conclusion 10 years after God first revealed Himself to me. It was the first day of full-time study at Morling Bible College. I had just moved back to Sydney after living for years in the country. As I stood in the College car park, I looked across the road. I remembered this place. I used to live near here. I looked across the road, and there it was: the unit where God had visited me 10 years before. I was well and truly on the other side of the fence now!

It would take a few years for me to realize that such a special visit from God was not the norm. Very few people can unequivocally state that God has spoken to them. Yet this unique visit by God drives me in my ministry life.

At age 10 I was also drinking alcohol and started smoking cigarettes.  To be cool and hang out with my sisters I would have done anything to fit in and eventually this took me down an ugly road into sex and drugs.  All of my sisters moved out of home and it was just me and my mum.  I hated my mum.  I felt as though all I was going through was her fault, I was so angry at her and at life in general.  I had many boyfriends, most of them took drugs and liked to party hard and they were always much older than I was.  I felt powerful and I felt in control, but I was anything but!

At age 17, after an abortion I overdosed on prescription medication and was admitted into hospital.  This scared the hell out of me but it was really a cry for attention.  I just wanted to feel needed and loved.  What followed were many more years of drugs, sex and sadness.  I started self harming to escape the inner pain of rejection and suffered many days

Wwhen I couldn’t even get out of bed.  I would cry all day and I was unable to hold down a steady job. I was severely depressed and addicted to drugs and alcohol.   I ran away from every commitment I ever faced and I hated the world and everyone in it.

At age 20 I overdosed again.  This time I wanted to die and was so angry when I woke up in hospital alive!  For weeks I wanted to overdose again but I was afraid that again I would just wake up in this miserable world.  My past three boyfriends were verbally and physically abusive and I wanted to escape so I moved away from the city and tried to start over.  What a joke.  All my problems went with me and I was soon in old patterns again, men, drugs and alcohol.  I wondered if it would ever stop.  At 22 I rushed into marriage and it fell apart after 7 months when I ran away with someone else that I thought could make me happy.  One mistake after another.

When I was 26 I had a miscarriage but later that my partner and I had a baby together but our relationship was rocky to say the least. I was terrified all through my pregnancy that I would lose my baby and that my past drug use or drinking would harm the baby. My partner was taking drugs and drinking still and because I had stopped once I fell pregnant with our daughter I found this very hard to cope with.  I was determined not to let my child experience the lifestyle I had endured all my life, I wanted to give my daughter the best life I could so I decided I needed to stop wasting time and get things in order.  I looked at my daughter and I could see all the misery, hurt and mistakes I made and I refused to allow it to happen to her.  Believe it or not I felt like I had to go to Church so I looked one up in the phonebook and went that weekend!

That weekend my life was transformed.  It was like the Pastor was speaking directly to me!  I stood up, accepted Christ, received a free bible and went home crying.  I had felt more peace in that church than I had experienced in years.  And this was a huge church, there was easily 500 people there that morning but the love and acceptance that radiated from within that building and from the Pastors words drenched me.  I was truly different.  For one I felt hopeful.  I felt like I could really turn my life around, like I had a second chance.

I was committed to going to church most weekends with my daughter after that.  My partner hated me going but I thought if we as a family were to have any chance of a good life I needed to finally be an adult and commit to something!!!!  We finally got married and I was trying very hard to put my life in order and do the right thing.  It was a long road but 2 years later my partner also started going to church and accepted Christ.  He really saw the change in me and couldn’t deny that I was happier and more ‘together’.

One thing amazing about my story is that my depression, my loneliness, my heartache, my pain all lifted once I accepted Christ and committed my life to him.  I have really tough days even now when I may have a flashback or a memory of painful times from my past, but I look around me and realise I lucky I am to be alive!  Sometimes I have to remember how bad things once were to be truly grateful for the here and now.

We have a son now too, he is beautiful.  Both of our children are healthy and happy and we are still married, we struggle from time to time but we are committed to doing the hard yards together.  That in itself is a miracle.  I have had to work through massive guilt and shame and disgust and it is ongoing but without God I think I would be dead by now.  Actually I am pretty sure of it.

The 5 main points which are explained. Exercise helps

References:

Back from the Brink

Background from Back from the Brink:
Between August 2006 and January 2007, a link was established from the depressioNet website inviting visitors to participate in an online survey (read more). The URL for the survey was publicised in media articles throughout November. The survey was completed by 271 people.

Prepared and managed by Ultrafeedback, the survey sought to find out what people living with depression would ask people that had recovered, if they had the chance. It also asked participants to rate how effective different therapies were in helping with their depression. We then asked them to rate the effectiveness of various lifestyle factors.

Results
While I do not pretend that this survey was conducted in a rigorous scientific manner, I think the results demonstrate some interesting trends which mirror my own experiences.

Exercise is the winner in this assessment. This is interesting when you realise it is accessible to all and very inexpensive.
When you consider the epidemic of depression in the western world and the general decline in physical activity, you can’t
help thinking there may be a connection.

Support of family and friends and counselling therapies is not very surprising. Some people will be relieved that short-term
therapy from registered psychologists is now partly covered by Medicare.

Perhaps the most surprising of all the results is the ranking of Fulfilling Work which stresses how important this is to our
mental health. When I reflect on my 15 years experience as a recruiter interviewing people, I know there are a lot of people unhappy with their work.

The next group of factors (relaxation/meditation, drug and alcohol avoidance, nutrition, and prescription medicine) are rated
so closely together that it is difficult to differentiate between them.

It is interesting to note that of the top 10 factors that most help people with depression, eight are lifestyle related. Prescription medicine and counselling therapies are the only exceptions.

The other feature is that many strategies have very similar scores. What this indicates to me is that no one can afford to try
just one or two approaches. If you are serious about making progress you should consider the top 10 strategies and
determine with expert help which six you will focus on.

Other Helpful Strategies/Things Nominated by Respondents
Pets, Music, Journal Writing, Art, Hypnosis, Kinesiology, Reading, Gardening, Hobbies, contributing to others depressioNet.

Conclusion
It is clear that many factors positively affect people living with depression. Exercise, the winner, is probably one of the easiest to implement. The eight lifestyle factors in the top 10 show that there is much a person can do to contribute to their own recovery without waiting for drugs to work or to have a breakthrough with therapy.

While therapy and medications can be vital to depression treatment, one often-overlooked treatment is exercise. It not only improves health, but may help your emotional health. WebMD explores this topic and explains how exercise can benefit those with depression.

Man and dog are companions, closest friends beyond all other creatures on earth. Depression too is an intimate relationship, highly person, unique and close to the person. Depression like relationships with a dog is not normally a brief or fleeting affairs, they are normally over a long period of time, it evolves, grows and deepens. Dogs are also unpredictable and sometimes prone to bite despite years of seemingly subdued and obedient behaviour.

This video nicely encapsulates why this metaphor is so important and vital to take hold:

A dog like depression is something that can be mastered with time, patience and the right methods of control! This is very encouraging and comforting! Very practical, pragmatic and comforting advice for the ages.

Raised in a solid, supportive and loving family, Graeme was always a high achiever and a go getter on all levels.  His parents recall  Graeme was a natural born leader, excelling in all endeavors he put his mind to. Although whilst very popular and successful he always grounded himself in community-building and charity events, this thirst to give back weaves a thread through Graeme’s entire narrative. In time Graeme translated his hard drive into a successful career in high level sales and marketing and then corporate headhunting.

Had a loving family and two children, from all outward appearances he was doing well. But then things went wrong, profoundly wrong. From a cursory outside perspective he was doing well, his inner life, however, was disorganised, fearful, anxious and profoundly depressed. Uncertainty about his career rattled his sleep, he would be wide awake at 3.30am in the morning staring at the ceiling, not knowing how to reach out and communicate his feelings and struggles.  Graeme felt that a man must be on top of things so he fought these feelings and struggled to work despite feeling very drained, the cycle of decline continued.

When you are in the midst of depression, you can’t even remember feeling well, and after a while it just doesn’t seem possible that you will get better.

In Graeme’s darkest hour he attempted suicide three times in one night with his wife and young daughter sleeping only rooms away. Graeme contacted Lifeline in desperation who referred him to a psychologist at a local area health team who suspected  depression, Graeme needed a referral from a GP to see a psychiatrist.

This next paragraph is word for word from Grame’s book Back from the Brink as it illustrates woeful and disgraceful medical practice and a blatant disregard for basic duty of care and powerfully reminds us why GP education about basic mental health first aid is vital:

That meeting was truly remarkable and knowing that I know now that doctor was not fit to practise medicine. After I told him ym story (including the suicide attempt), he concluded that I wasn’t really depressed, just a bit stressed. He was abusive to the psychologist for having the audacity to suggest I might be suffering from depression. Depressed people were catatonic and clearly I was able to converse. He prescribed some tranquilizers and suggested I cancel the appointment with the psychiatrist.

Graeme was admitted into a private psychiatric hospital, he quickly got back on his own to feet thanks to some medication, however once back in a pressure environment at work led to more unemployment and ongoing bouts of severe depression comprising of suicidal thought and anxiety. Graeme’s marriage dissolved, and we moved back in with his parents in Northern NSW. Another suicide attempt ensued and more treatment at private psychiatric facilities.

So how on earth did Graeme recovery, how did he not only beat depression but bounced back and thrive?

Graeme’s recovery, like most, was not instant it was steady and involved a lot of hard work and perseverance. A mosaic of different services coupled with Graeme’s own internal convictions and resolutions came together to slowly nudge Graeme’s mood up and up until he was able and functional to be independent again, from that moment on Graeme has learned the art of bouncing back from adversity, it hasn’t come quickly, easily or with any magic bullet, but it has come – much to his own and the communities benefit.

Whilst attending an outpatient course on depression management a focus was on setting weekly goals. Setting goals had been part and parcel for Graeme in his career mode, he transferred these skills into his personal domain and took a pragmatic approach to tacking his depression by focusing on smaller achievable goals. Graeme made the decision to up his exercise from around three days per week  to six days per week. He also made the effort to make regular contact with family and friends, something which wasn’t easy to do as when you are depressed the last thing you want is human contact. A  combination of of the upped exercise, human contact and positive effects of medication managed to raise Graeme’s mood from around 2/10 to 5/10 (Graeme has been in habit of scaling his mood which was helpful for him to see improvement and concerned ones knowing when we was entering a high risk period). A friend recommended Graeme try regular meditation and after attending a course on meditation he made the resolution to practice meditation twice per day. The increased meditation time helped bump his mood levels up to about a 7 or an 8. Graeme also reprioritised his life and created yearly goals for each domain which were broken down into monthly and weekly goals. Sometimes Graeme would still struggle to get out of bed, but still he was able to clearly track his improvement and his mood by reflection on these three goals domains.

vitality : improved diet, exercise

intimacy: increased family, friend time, connecting with older friends, attending support groups

prosperity: donating 10% to mental health charities , goal setting, book writing , contributions to the wider world

During his recovery Graeme realised he yearned for similar stories of other people who experienced depression, a similar yearning also motivated the creation of How I Beat websites.  Depression can be a very lonely business at times and its common for people who are stuck in deep depression to believe they are the only ones in the world going through this type of experience. While common sense and logic would easily reasons otherwise, the problem is  that when you are stuck in depression logic and common sense don’t come too easily, sometimes they barely turn up at all.  Similar stories can be vital in one’s own recovery, you feel less alone, less disconnected and hope can be so important, believing you can get precedes getting better.

Graeme decided to be proactive and compile a book covering stories of successful recovery from depression from a cross section of Australia, celebrities, sports stats, politicians and the common folk. In many ways this cross section reminds me of why 12-step programs are so popular and powerful, they, like Graeme’s book provide a melting pot of genuine stories and makes people realise the fact that no one is immune from mental health issues.

More recently Graeme followed up Back from the Brink with Back from the Brink Too, ‘Helping your loved one overcome depression’. Another fantastic books which looks at the critical function of carers for people with depression, most often close friends and family.

He’s now in a great place, he is much happier place now has learned more from adversities than successes. He views his long journey and battle with depression as incredibly formative and valuable. A furnace in which Graeme was able to reprioritise his  life and paradoxically he has never been calmer or more productive.

My personal journey with Graeme

I first met Graeme in a GROW support group in Chatswood during 2005. His gentle, kind and wise guidance proved invaluable in my own recovery. When I met him Graeme was he was trying everything to nearly no avail, it was hard because he was trying so hard to beat depression but nothing really was working. He tried the gamut of treatments and interventions, most were of little to no effect for him. His own psychiatrist called his depression the most severe he has ever come across. Graeme was in and out private psychiatric hospitals and undertook ECT as his depression was not responding to medication. Over the past 5 years I’ve seen monumental and lasting growth, one of the most satisfying things is watching Graeme take control of his mental faculties again and use many skills he acquired over the years into creating important books targeted first and foremost to depression sufferers and their carers.

Graeme has a new philosophy on depression: bounce back and thrive. He – like myself – are fans of positive psychology movement, a movement which argues that mental health papers and industry is consumed with negative ideas: disorders, dysfunctions, diseases, maladjustment. Positive psychology instead focuses on a persons strengths, skills and resilience and how they can use such . It is blatantly obvious Graeme has leaned on his strengths, resilience and wherewithal during his recovery from depression. When I hear Graeme’s story: exercise, goal setting and prioritising come to the fore as crucial factors he adjusted into order to balance his life and thrive. Good on him! – Justin Bennett

Graeme has used his experience to indeed bounce back and thrive and now is a highly sought after leader, speaker and writer in mental health issues and the workplace. His true nature, so evident in his childhood continues and thrives, his very dark chapters are now illuminating and radiating hope in the forms of books, CD’s which impart hope for thousands of Australians and many people around the world. His story can be heard in audio from the Black Dog Website:

Connect with Graeme on

Related articles

• How Harpeet beat depression (howibeatdepression.com)
• Middle Age Men and Depression: A Matter of Fact (menfightingfifty.wordpress.com)

I came across a new psychological philosophy term today, it was when I was listening to my usual Podcast All in the Mind, the topic was personal construct psychology. I must admit I was compelled on hearing the central tenets. Like existentialism this orientation leans toward philosophical underpinnings, the therapist aims to avoid imposing opinion and tries to facilitate the patient to discover and realize their own constructs and how they are indeed modifiable. In my opinion this isn’t radically new or different. I think of some of the humanist and existential perspectives definitely exhibit clear crossover intent. I guess when initially evaluate the various modes of psychology and healing they appear excitingly different and unique initially but the more I delve into each and understand underlying principles and thesis, I realize that so much compelling similarities manifest – in fact I really think the same when I encounter the human condition, underneath so many disparate personalities lie ridiculously similar urges, impulses, fear and desires. In my own experience with my Christian faith and churches I sometimes also discover a similar phenomenon, it’s disturbing how similar a high Anglican and a high Catholic service actually are! It got me thinking about all the various forms of therapy and orientations of therapy: psychodynamic, CBT, ACT, DBT, existential, music therapy, art therapy, self help, mutual help, ahhhh….so much and how often I meet people hell bent on the idea that certain modes of therapy, and only certain modes, will unlock their shackles of low mood and lingering clouds of depression, disease and bodily and psychological malfunctions.

How I Beat Depression reinforces  the fact that very rarely a single mode of therapy is going to be mutually exclusive and capable of solely causing a holistic and lasting recovery from depression.  I always believe a genuine recovery is made when someone actually tries to live a balanced life and puts his or her own recovery in a proper perspective and not view it as  the be all and end all.  In so many cases I honestly feel that the person’s own expectations and believe about the efficacy and capability of certain treatment largely dictates the actual effectiveness of the treatment; the good old self-fulfilling prophecy is so true, the placebo factor always seems to prevail.  How many times do people try up to 25 different types of anti-depressant medication, searching for the ‘right one’, or trial dozens of therapists and therapies searching for the right one. Unfortunately this rough and useless path is so common for so many. I work 2 days at a week at a private psychiatric hospital and I see first hand how tragically common is this trajectory is, a colossal waste of time for the person and the professional alike, a classic case of both parties being overburdened.

I think it’s so tempting in this day an age to refine, refine and refine treatment options in order to create highly exclusive and tailored treatment options for complex needs and unfortunately because of the tendency for the DSM 4 (turning 5)

Image via Wikipedia

to inflate sometimes harmless erratic behaviour into diagnosable  and clinical disorders, ‘complex needs’ proliferate in the mental health system. Got PTSD, depression, anxiety and alcohol abuse? Easy, says today modern thinking: go see a PTSD trauma specialist psychologist, a psychiatrist for anti-depressant medication, an anxiety disorder group for management of anxiety and a CBT group or AA for alcohol use. On the surface this appears logical and orderly plan of attack, a multidisciplined approach to a complex need, tacking each separate problem with a unique specialist designed solely for that problem. While for some this approach may indeed work – as long as each mode practices ethically and professionally and aims to phase itself out in due course – what I think is always inherently risky is that by so compartmentalising treatment to such a great extent, the sufferers own personal connections between certain behaviours and mental states vanish, or at least become distorted and confused. Not only that, many facets of treatment entails lots of time spent in treatment, this means  lots of meetings, appointments becomes overwhelming and all-consuming and always places the persons own mental health and recovery always at centre stage, paradoxically many mental health conditions arise out of a misplaced importance of self, the tendency of becoming beholden to so many meetings and therapy can often perpetuate and reinforce the egos misplaced sense of self.

But this is always a fine line isn’t it, what is healthy therapy and what is unhealthy dependence inducing emotional hugging? How I Beat believes it comes back to that word again: holistic. Standing back from rigidly analysing and becoming obsessed with one’s own recovery from depression (a function of ruminative analytical depressive traits) and the long and ultimately futile search for the elusive and non existent magic bullet, letting go of these limiting mindsets and making a bold, brave and radical decision to learn from other people who have recovered (mutual help), with the assistance of professionals when needed, and embracing the path of genuine growth. Many choose the wide and overcrowded path of over-medical quicksand pits, some choose the real path of personal growth and transformation. We hope your path is the latter

Related articles

• Exercise and depression – Always worth going over this again! (howibeatdepression.com)

In this first podcast from How I Beat Depression we will look at three simple CBT techniques to help assist with lowering depression. First the problem of tiredness causing inactivity will be explored. Then the tendency to downplay success and praise will be examined. Finally overgeneralisations will be challenged. We hope you get some benefit from this podcast. Take care – The How I Beat Team.

References

• GROW
• Wikipedia on GROW
• www.dictionary.com
• Definition of cognitive, behavioural and therapy

• Recommended reading
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cognitive_behavioural_therapy
• Tanner, S. and Ball, J. (2001). Beating the Blues: A Self-help Approach to Overcoming Depression.
• Beck, J. B. (1995). Cognitive therapy: Basics & beyond . New York : Guilford
• Willson, R. and Branch, R. (2006). Cognitive Behavioural Therapy for Dummies.

]]> http://www.howibeatdepression.com/2010/03/128/feed/ 7 cbt,cogntivie behavioural therapy,Depression,healing,hope,podcast,tiredness In this first podcast from How I Beat Depression we will look at three simple CBT techniques to help assist with lowering depression. First the problem of tiredness causing inactivity will be explored. Then the tendency to downplay success and praise w... (http://www.howibeatdepression.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/03/4479773969_95209cb956-150x150.jpg) In this first podcast from How I Beat Depression we will look at three simple CBT techniques to help assist with lowering depression. First the problem of tiredness causing inactivity will be explored. Then the tendency to downplay success and praise will be examined. Finally overgeneralisations will be challenged. We hope you get some benefit from this podcast. Take care - The How I Beat Team. References * GROW (http://www.grow.net.au) * Wikipedia on GROW (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GROW) * www.dictionary.com (http://www.dictionary.com) * Definition of cognitive, (http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/cogntitive) behavioural (http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/behavioural) and therapy (http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/therapy) * Recommended reading * http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cognitive_behavioural_therapy (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cognitive_behavioural_therapy) * Tanner, S. and Ball, J. (2001). Beating the Blues: A Self-help Approach to Overcoming Depression. * Beck, J. B. (1995). Cognitive therapy: Basics & beyond . New York : Guilford * Willson, R. and Branch, R. (2006). Cognitive Behavioural Therapy for Dummies. How I Beat Team no