Depression Getaway with Wendy Love

We have been chatting about cognitive therapy. It can be quite complicated and there are therapists that could help you. But I have a simple way you can do it yourself! Talk to yourself! That's right, talk to yourself. If you have to use a mirror to help you, talk to yourself! Pretend you are your own best friend and talk back to yourself.

When it comes to understanding something new or complicated, I get a little confused, kind of like this baby. But if someone gives me an example, it helps. But before I give you an example of cognitive therapy, we need to agree on something:  DEPRESSION IS AN ILLNESS OF LIES Most of the thoughts we have when we are depressed, are not true. Oh I know, they seem like they are true, but they are not. Do you agree with me? Because if you do then you will find this kind of therapy useful.

Cognitive therapy for dummies? Am I insulting you? Absolutely not! I was skeptical about cognitive therapy when I first heard about it. Then I found out how simple it was and how it could be broken down into one step at a time. Now don't take the 'dummy' part personally please. It is just that the whole idea of cognitive therapy seems kind of ominous and complicated and I thought if we could just 'dummy' it down a bit, we all might find it more digestable and then maybe more user friendly. Besides, we are crazy, we are not dumb, right?

If I gave you a 'depression report card' would you get an "A" for emoting! Now there is something I am good at. You probably are too! Depression is an illness of heightened emotions, mostly negative emotions unfortunately. But if I was going to get an "A" on anything, it would be emoting! Can you identify? Would you get an "A" for emoting on your depression report card? What are some of your strongest emotions when you are depressed? Anger? Sadness? Guilt? Self-pity? Worry? 

Improve your mood with food? Is it that easy? It might work and sometimes it has for me but I must confess: I have a hard time controlling my moods and those moods dictate the food instead of the other way around. Little did I know when I first saw this 'Canada's Food Guide' chart in Grade 12 health class (1977), that someday I would battle a mental illness and be looking back at that food guide for help. We all know how to eat healthy, just like we all know how to budget, but we don't always do it, I know I don't. The discipline to do this goes out the door when depression comes in. But if I can eat well when I am feeling well, then some of that might spill over into the bad times too.

Peanut butter for depression? Did you know that? I love peanut butter, by itself, on toast with sliced bananas or apples, or just spooning it onto apple pieces, yum! Finding out that it is good for depression is just a bonus. Did you guess it? Did you already know that peanut butter has antidepressant properties? (And did you know it was invented in Canada?) When I was teaching school, I remember hearing advice for calming down an ADHD (attention deficit hyperactivity disorder) child was coffee and peanut butter. The stimulant of coffee acts as a concentration boost and the peanut butter has calming effect.

Food for depression? Here's my 'go to' food when I'm feeling rotten: first choice ice cream, second choice jujubes and if I have none of that in the house cinnamon toast brings comfort. But they only feel good while I am eating them. Twenty minutes or so and up to a few hours after, I don't feel all that great. But when grab I for those things my mood is low anyways so I figure "I'm already down, how much worse can it get?" Food for depression? How far are you willing to go to feel well? Are you willing to change the way you live? How about the way you eat? Yes, depression has already taken a lot from your life. Changing the way you live is asking a lot I know, but hasn't depression already forced you into changing the way you live anyways? And besides, if some changes would help improve the quality of your life, wouldn't it be worth a try?

Beware of Christmas coming! Honestly, I don't enjoy a lot of it. The stress over present giving, not only mine but everyone's elses too. The socializing exhausts me. Plus there is all of that 'holiday spirit' pressure to make you feel that there is something wrong with you if you are not happy about Christmas. And then there is the guilt over not loving Christmas.   Beware of Christmas coming. It is not 'The Most Wonderful Time of the Year' for many, especially those of us who live with the challenge of depression. Apparently it is a stressful time of year for most people, for many different reasons. For us, we need to identify which part we find difficult and try to figure out ahead of time how to either avoid that part or cope with it using strategies.

Bipolar books have saved me, affirmed me, helped me feel less alone. Because those books address my particular type of mental illness I sometimes cling to them for truth and instruction and hope.  This picture is not me, but oh I can certainly imagine what a nice time this gal is having, the water, the nice weather and a good book! How therapeutic is that?! The second book I am going to tell you about is 'The Bipolar Disorder Survival Guide'. Now this only applies to those of us, like me, who live with bipolar disorder and not just clinical depression. Even though it is one of many bipolar books there are great ideas for any kind of mental illness!

Depression books have saved me many times during a dark period. I cling to the words, flip pages full of the hope and the anticipation that there is still something I haven't figured out yet, some clue to clear the road to depression recovery. One of the things I have done over the past years, whenever I hit another episode of depression is to go to our local bookstore and spend some time browsing through their books about mental illness. Almost every time I find one little tidbit that helps me put yet another piece of the puzzle in place. I don't buy many of these books. I just read while I am there. One of the books I ended up purchasing because it was so full of information that I wanted to be able to refer to over and over is  'The Feeling Good Handbook'. This is a resource book that you would never attempt to read at one sitting. Use it like a dictionary or an encyclopedia (remember those?) One of the useful parts for me is the assessments on the differe

'Twice in a Lifetime'  was a TV show all about do overs. Would you like a do over? If so, what life situation would you want to do over? For me divorce might be the biggest do over I would choose. Did you ever see the TV show 'Twice in a Lifetime' ? Just so happens it was a Canadian show, in case you didn't know. You might find it on Netflix. Anyways, I used to love watching it. Each week someone in the show would get a do over in their life. They could go back and fix the one thing that they are sure would have changed their entire lives for the better.

Tracking progress - that's right, I said 'PROGRESS'! Today I am going to share my progress report. Do you keep track of your depression progress? If you don't track your progress you will feel like you are not getting anywhere and you will get even more depressed. Here is how I have progressed. Keep in mind that I have bipolar disorder and so I have to track both my high moods and my low moods. I have learned to recognize when my moods are on the move, which unfortunately they usually are! I can tell when I am getting too high and I can feel when I am sinking.

Did you know that there is a part of your brain that remembers music even if you can't remember anything else?  One of my favourite music memories was in 1964, New York City. I was fourteen years old. My family and I were sitting in a theatre on broadway waiting for 'Funny Girl' to begin. Now this is the original live version with Barbra Streisand. I had already owned the soundtrack album long enough to memorize all of the songs. When the orchestra started up I was filled with anticipation and the experience was magic for me. I cannot hear that same overture without picturing that exciting memory and recalling every detail. We have been chatting about the therapeutic effects of music for depression. Last time I was telling you what kind of music I used for a depression getaway where I could lose myself. Today I am going to tell you about the kind of music where I can find myself.

Music power can be experienced by any age. My husband used to teach grades sevens and eights. They have their own taste in music but each year they read together and studied 'The Phantom of the Opera'. Once they became familiar with the story they listened to the music. This opera style music had a powerful effect on each one. To climax this experience he took them to downtown Toronto to see a live performance of 'The Phantom of the Opera'. These normally restless, sometimes poorly behaved, usually noisy young people became calm, mannerly and quiet as soon as the curtain rose and stayed that way until long after it came down. Music power, there is no denying it. Music is personal and different for each of us. You may like country and western while I like broadway musicals. Listening to your country and western will not have the same music power, the same therapeutic benefits for me that broadways musicals have. 

Music therapy for depression was something I experienced before I even knew what it was. Music and me go way back. I grew up in a home where Broadway musicals or big band music echoed through the house.  We have chatted about 'Singing For Depression' and some of the benefits. Singing is not the only kind of music therapy for depression. Singing is good because we actually DO it and the act of DOING is good exercise for the brain. However, music, in and of itself, has benefits for all of us which mankind has been aware of for some time. And you don't have to do anything, just listen to it! It's free!