Too Much Coffee Man has a great comic about depression. The main character goes through so many recognizable parts of depression: it's a visual tour through those moments, and the attitude behind them. Sometimes I just need to see the depression outside myself. It seems less clever and all-encompassing that way.
I find it helpful to express. Anything. Usually the expression starts out about being depressed, since that's where I'm at. Externalizing the depression without dwelling on it seems like some kind of evil paradox, but I think it helps to focus on how I'm handling the depression, what the internal interactions look like today. Realizing what, specifically, I'm going through at that very moment is incredibly helpful, even if I don't choose to do anything about it. I think it might help to separate the moments in my head, realize even depression has its variety.
So I write. Some draw comics. Both methods don't just provide something to do (distraction) but also allow the venting of internal process. Moving what's in, out, is sometimes all that's necessary to move past it. Even talking out loud feels more empowering than thinking.
Try it. Oh, and remember:
Wednesday, September 16, 2009
Friday, September 4, 2009
Motivation: when the carrot isn't delicious
Motivation: where can we find it in a depressive state? It's a catch-22 sometimes, when the very tool that would help is unavailable due to the conditions one is trying to remedy with the tool that is unavailable... we need our glasses to find our glasses.
What that means is that our tactics for moving through depression need to be incredibly sticky. They need to be simple, safe and so, so easy. This guy decided to make it cool, relying on our built-in desire to do things the accepted and desired way (and I think, the connection between cool and effortless). He identifies that many tools for depression offer brief ways of feeling better but never heal the foundation of the depression. He also notes how vital motivation is (along with strategy). The site is worth visiting just to scroll down and see a picture of him giving you a double thumbs-up.
Here is an article about a study that differentiates between our enjoyment of an activity and the motivation to reach for the experience again. We used to believe that depressed people didn't chase the carrot because we didn't feel as strongly how delicious a crunchy carrot tastes. But now scientists at Vanderbilt University have determined that actually, the decreased desire for pleasurable experiences is due to our inability to crave carrots. Anhedonia (termed laziness by many) is often scribed as the inability to experience pleasure. Symptoms include not doing the things you used to enjoy and boredom. But the article claims that dopamine, while still connected strongly to motivation and reinforcement, isn't necessarily related to enjoyment at all, and that anhedonia, which they related to decreased dopamine levels, is more about not having the connection between enjoyment and the seemingly obvious "play it again, Sam" order one's brain offers up.
Creepily, it's like the positive feedback still happens, but no one is there to hear it. Somewhere, lost in the bureaucracy of our brains, is a stack of memos telling us what's awesome. Down at "What Should We Do?" Central, there are only crickets chirping. Thus, the boredom.
And where does this leave us? Trying to balance out our dopamine levels. Eat ripe bananas and almonds. They're cool and delicious. And easy.
What that means is that our tactics for moving through depression need to be incredibly sticky. They need to be simple, safe and so, so easy. This guy decided to make it cool, relying on our built-in desire to do things the accepted and desired way (and I think, the connection between cool and effortless). He identifies that many tools for depression offer brief ways of feeling better but never heal the foundation of the depression. He also notes how vital motivation is (along with strategy). The site is worth visiting just to scroll down and see a picture of him giving you a double thumbs-up.
Here is an article about a study that differentiates between our enjoyment of an activity and the motivation to reach for the experience again. We used to believe that depressed people didn't chase the carrot because we didn't feel as strongly how delicious a crunchy carrot tastes. But now scientists at Vanderbilt University have determined that actually, the decreased desire for pleasurable experiences is due to our inability to crave carrots. Anhedonia (termed laziness by many) is often scribed as the inability to experience pleasure. Symptoms include not doing the things you used to enjoy and boredom. But the article claims that dopamine, while still connected strongly to motivation and reinforcement, isn't necessarily related to enjoyment at all, and that anhedonia, which they related to decreased dopamine levels, is more about not having the connection between enjoyment and the seemingly obvious "play it again, Sam" order one's brain offers up.
Creepily, it's like the positive feedback still happens, but no one is there to hear it. Somewhere, lost in the bureaucracy of our brains, is a stack of memos telling us what's awesome. Down at "What Should We Do?" Central, there are only crickets chirping. Thus, the boredom.
And where does this leave us? Trying to balance out our dopamine levels. Eat ripe bananas and almonds. They're cool and delicious. And easy.
Welcome - How to use
Having identified with depression for over fifteen years, I feel more intimate with the state of depression than with acceptance and contentment, aliveness and vigour.
The amount of things I've tried, work I've done and changes I've made have gotten me to this point: I feel like I can handle it. It's not gone, and the states of depression I can sink to are still incredibly low. I have also had long bouts of acceptance and pleasure in the details of my days and nights, I make healthier decisions (and i don't just mean eating an apple instead of a shot of whiskey) and I have several long-term sources of joy in my life. It's been a slow transformation.
Tt occurred to me that I've gotten better. If I wait until enlightenment to share this with people, it might be a while. I'm going to share what helps me, and maybe it can help you too. I can be a pretty stubborn person, and a bit of a skeptic as well, so I think the tactics I've created, borrowed and fiddled with are potentially quite powerful. Friends and co-workers I've shared some of these tactics with (and even just talked with) seem to feel better.
With an enemy as elusive and clever as depression, it's hard to tell what works and why. I'm a fan of the 'many-pronged' approach, that is, a little bit of everything. That's often how depression starts and builds in one's life; one deadly brick at a time. So we'll be taking the bricks down and building a nice fireplace with them, for which to warm yourself and your friends. Not every tip might work for you, that's okay. It will help another time, or maybe you're already healthy in that area of life.
Another effective part to the many-pronged approach: there is always something new you can try. A big part of depression is the feeling of being locked in cement; nothing will change, you'll always feel this way, everything will be grey forever... The strategy of simply trying a new thing often results in a sense of empowerment.
I'll offer reading material, nutrition tips, tools for emotional detachment and stability, ways to break past blockages and actually communicate with yourself, physical healing techniques, visualizations, stories and experience, and some tricks that are way out of the box.
Accept, loosen shoulders, move on.
The amount of things I've tried, work I've done and changes I've made have gotten me to this point: I feel like I can handle it. It's not gone, and the states of depression I can sink to are still incredibly low. I have also had long bouts of acceptance and pleasure in the details of my days and nights, I make healthier decisions (and i don't just mean eating an apple instead of a shot of whiskey) and I have several long-term sources of joy in my life. It's been a slow transformation.
Tt occurred to me that I've gotten better. If I wait until enlightenment to share this with people, it might be a while. I'm going to share what helps me, and maybe it can help you too. I can be a pretty stubborn person, and a bit of a skeptic as well, so I think the tactics I've created, borrowed and fiddled with are potentially quite powerful. Friends and co-workers I've shared some of these tactics with (and even just talked with) seem to feel better.
With an enemy as elusive and clever as depression, it's hard to tell what works and why. I'm a fan of the 'many-pronged' approach, that is, a little bit of everything. That's often how depression starts and builds in one's life; one deadly brick at a time. So we'll be taking the bricks down and building a nice fireplace with them, for which to warm yourself and your friends. Not every tip might work for you, that's okay. It will help another time, or maybe you're already healthy in that area of life.
Another effective part to the many-pronged approach: there is always something new you can try. A big part of depression is the feeling of being locked in cement; nothing will change, you'll always feel this way, everything will be grey forever... The strategy of simply trying a new thing often results in a sense of empowerment.
I'll offer reading material, nutrition tips, tools for emotional detachment and stability, ways to break past blockages and actually communicate with yourself, physical healing techniques, visualizations, stories and experience, and some tricks that are way out of the box.
Accept, loosen shoulders, move on.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
