Time Heals Nothing...

Time can heal, but not on its own.
It requires a proactive approach.

factors that increase vulnerability to depression:
- parent/s were depressed -
a depressed parent can’t teach coping skills if they don’t know them
- gender
- how you interpret events, your attributional style
- genetics - doesn’t play as much of a role as might think
genes can make a person more prone to depression
but are not the sole factor (except in bipolar disorder)
- biochemical imbalance
- systemic inflammation
- psychosocial stressors
- cognitive distortions
- lack of environmental and social rewards
- social inequities
- cultural/familial influences
mishandling key vulnerable situation
dietary issues
lack of physical exercise

Key risk factors:
1. Internal orientation
Using feeling as though true in relation to the ambiguities of life (making the mistake of _______believing yourself). Negative interpretations of events.
"Trust your feelings, follow your heart’ is often really bad advice; your feelings can easily _______deceive you.
The goal is to learn to reality test. Go outside oneself to test whether this is what’s really _______happening?
Remedy: Make multiple explanation for events and distinguish between facts and _______inferences.

2. Stress generation
Making bad decisions that make decision worse.
Mood influence decisions about exercise, socialising, avoidance, drinking - "I don’t feel _______like it."
Mood states influence memory, interpretations and decision making.
Bad decisions cause and increase depression.
Remedy: Take action in prioritising the goal rather than the feeling.
Do it anyway, even if I don’t feel like it.
Take small steps that are achievable for success.

3. Ruminating about negative and past events
Rumination affect sleep because the brain doesn’t stop.
Rumination generates anxiety and makes you feel worse.
"I’ll never be able to… because I never have."
Epigentic research shows environmental conditions regulate DND expression in mood;
changing what you do changes your brain and your DNA
You are more than your history. Don’t define yourself by your unchangeable history.
Remedy: Convert rumination to action. Action must be appropriate, timely and effective.
This may concern relationships from the past.
What positive actions would you be taking if this event hadn’t happened? Do them!

4. Global thinking
Global thinking is what makes issues seem so big they can’t be handled.
it leads people to feel overwhelmed and paralysed into inaction
"All I want is to be happy."
(Too generalised; seeing the forest but not the trees)
A goal without steps is merely a wish.
Remedy: Have goal with a flow of steps (sub-tasks).
Specify about particular wants & needs.

5. Unrealistic expectations
We judge ourself and others on the basis of how well we/they match our expectation: what _______if expectations are unrealistic?
How much of depression is caused by hurtful relationships including with self?
Remedy: Learn to distinguish realistic from unrealistic expectations for senf and others. Where the _______evidence this is reasonable to expect?
~

People who focus more on the future than the past do better.

~

Antidepressants can help do two things:
stabilise sleep and appetite,
raise the floor on depression.
But on their own they are never enough.

No amount of medication can teach:
- effective coping (stress management) skills
- realistic explanatory styles
- skills to build and maintain positive relationships
- flexible and discriminating cognitive skills
- sophisticated problem solving skills
- effective decision-making strategies
- how to build and maintain a support network
- how to transcend an adverse personal history
- how to build a realistic and motivating future
~

EMDR works brilliantly for PTSD
if one reads the book by Francine Shapiro so one understands how and why it works
and if one goes to a therapist who has been properly trained in the method.