When we’re depressed, it’s common to start ruminating, getting stuck thinking about the same problems again and again, and dwelling on regrets and worries. Rumination is a pattern of repetitive negative thinking that usually begins when we try to solve a problem, but we don’t get anywhere, and the more we do it the worse […]
Read More… from Rumination and Depression: Reduce Repetitive Negative Thinking
Sometimes completing thought records and consistently practicing cognitive restructuring is enough to change our habitual negative ways of thinking. But if we find the same automatic negative thoughts arising again and again, or keep falling back into old patterns whenever we start going through a difficult time, then it’s helpful to look at the core […]
When we’re depressed, even basic advice, like getting more active or doing things we enjoy, can feel impossible. It’s not that these strategies don’t work, but depression makes everything feel harder. When we’re depressed, even small steps can seem like too much, and negative thoughts can convince us that nothing will help. In this video, […]
Read More… from Why Overcoming Depression Feels So Hard—And What Helps
Seasonal affective disorder (SAD) is a type of depression that starts in the fall or early winter and lasts until spring or early summer. The DSM term for SAD is major depressive disorder with seasonal pattern. And it’s sometimes just known as the winter blues. […]
Read More… from The Winter Blues: Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD)
Feelings of guilt and shame are common when we’re depressed. Feeling guilty is often related to the cognitive distortion Personalization and Blame. We blame ourselves and hold ourselves personally responsible for negative situations and outcomes that aren’t totally within our control. And as a result we feel guilty or ashamed of ourselves. On the other […]
Read More… from Personalization and Blame: Reducing Guilt and Shame
In the last post we learned how the cognitive distortions Personalization and Blame can lead to feelings of guilt and shame. “Should” statements, also knowns as “shoulding,” can also leave us feeling guilty. Shoulding, Guilt and Depression Transcription This transcription was auto-generated by YouTube. I’ve only added minimal editing, so I apologize for any errors, […]
In the last couple of posts we’ve looked at how Martin Seligman and his colleagues developed a theory of optimism out of their research into learned helplessness and depression. Our Explanatory Styles/Attributional Styles determine how pessimistic or optimistic we are. In this video, you’ll learn how to assess whether your own Explanatory/Attributional Styles are optimistic […]
Read More… from Increase Optimism and Decrease Depression & Pessimism With CBT
We all know what optimism means, but there are a few ways to conceptualize optimism in psychology. Martin Seligman defines pessimism and optimism in terms of our explanatory styles or attributional styles. Learn the Three Ps—Permanence, Pervasiveness and Personalization—that determine whether we have pessimistic or optimistic explanatory style, and how pessimism leads to depression, while […]
Read More… from Depression, Optimism and Attributional or Explanatory Style
In the 1970s, Martin Seligman and his colleagues conducted research into the relationship between learned helplessness and depression. Learned helplessness describes how, when we learn that we’re helpless in one area of our lives, we can carry this helplessness over into other areas of our lives. Learned helplessness is a type of pessimism. We’ve resigned […]
Decisions can be hard to make. And while it’s understandable that we’d have trouble making important decisions that are going to have a big impact on our lives, sometimes even the smallest decisions can be agonizing. And when we’re feeling anxious or depressed, it can seem impossible to make any sort of decision. In this […]