![]() It’s during moments like these when you need to stop focusing on what you’re doing, thinking, or feeling, and simplify your sensory awareness to just what you are. What does “satisfactory” mean? Is that just a polite way of saying “barely good enough”? Did I do something wrong? Is this the end of the line for me? For example, if you’re at a performance review at work, and your supervisor describes your efforts as “satisfactory,” that might be all it takes to send you into a tailspin of misery. However, when your focus is just on your interpretation, you can get bogged down by all sorts of unhelpful or unnecessary thoughts and feelings. Your everyday experience is made up of both the things that happen to you and your interpretation of them. No wonder those suffering feel exhausted all the time! Going through life while depressed can feel like trying to solve a 1,000-piece jigsaw puzzle while you’re drowning. The maelstrom of self-doubt, hopelessness, and despair can make it difficult to even breathe. Not only does it have to process what’s happening around you, it also has to process everything happening inside you, too. When you’re in a depressed state, your mind is working overtime. You may not be able to avoid that song forever but you can take steps to prevent yourself from spiraling if you hear it playing at the grocery store or in a restaurant. Becoming fully aware of your triggers and how they affect you better prepares you for experiencing them later. If, for example, a certain song reminds you of a traumatic moment in your life, you should make note of how it makes you feel when you hear it. ![]() The object isn’t to run away from these triggers, but rather simply identify what they are and how you react to them. Some triggers may be impossible to avoid. If you have a few minutes, Fabulous’s inspirational exercise The Mindbus can be a great help for banishing negative thoughts (though it’s no substitute for medical help). If this sounds a little too familiar, take a moment to relax and release some of those feelings. But if you find yourself unhappy with the change, the stress and feelings of inadequacy can quickly pile up. A promotion at work, for example, may seem like a good thing. The sudden death of a loved one or a traumatic injury are obvious examples, but triggers can also be unassuming. Causes of depression vary from person to person but depressive episodes have one major thing in common: A trigger. There is a biological difference in the brain between people who have suffered a depressive episode and those who have not. In The Mindful Way Through Depression, the authors spend the first few chapters explaining the connection between the mind and body and how that translates into depression for those suffering. If you’d like to read book yourself (and we highly recommend it), try your local library! Identify Your Triggers We’ve compiled our top three tips to help curious readers get started. MBCT gives patients a set of tools to keep themselves grounded and aware during life’s darker moments, and is showing to be a successful way to help not just sufferers of depression, but anxiety and post-traumatic stress disorder, too. Depression, the authors discovered, alters neural pathways in the brain in such a way that even normal sadness can lead to a recurrence of depression symptoms. Segal, and Jon Kabat-Zinn’s book The Mindful Way Through Depression. Enter Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT), a promising solution and the subject of J. Most conventional depression treatment focuses on the first half of treatment while neglecting the second, which can lead to high rates of relapse among patients. In other words, treating depression is a two-step process: First you must get better, then you must stay better. ![]() Sadly, depression is also episodic and recurrent, meaning that people who suffer once are likely to relapse or experience symptoms again. ![]() ![]() The good news is that depression is treatable, usually with a mix of talk therapy and medication. Healthy habits are the most powerful tools you can give employees. ![]()
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