Depression is often a chronic state interspersed with high and low periods. If you have a history of depression, then you know that the feeling can last several months or years before you are able to come up out of the hole. During the lower times, it may seem that there is no way to move forward and you will be stuck in the hole forever. However, the positive times see you hoping that the depression will not come back and haunt your life. While therapy should be present through both the good times and the bad, a simple solution may work wonders for helping to bring you out of the darkness of depression much quicker than usual.
A common advice from many professional counselors for a person in a depression is to think about times when they felt much better. The idea is that by remembering these times, the person will be able to recognize that they are capable of having a more positive life and can move forward to a more optimistic period. While this method works in theory, what it does not have is concrete proof. The memories of the good times are just visual images and thoughts and lack the tangible proof of something more physical. The method described below takes the same concept and gives it a physical form to be stronger than simply reflecting on better times.
When you are in a higher than normal period, the thing to do is make a list of how you feel, including all the things that make you feel good, your overall temperament on a daily basis, and how you are currently dealing with problems in your life. With this list, write a letter to yourself in the future that describes how you came out of your last depressive period and describing the positive side of your life. Be sure to include detailed explanations of the current problems you have and the steps you are taking to deal with them. Most importantly, explain that you understand what it’s like to experience depression and that you know how to move forward to a more positive period of life.
When the letter is finished, put it somewhere safe for the next time you find yourself in a depressed period. Reading the letter will show you that conquering these feelings of depression is imminently possible and that you have already gone through the experience before. Building up a stockpile of these letters will show you that depression is cyclical in nature and will not last forever. Knowing that you are capable of beating the depression is essential to fight against the hopelessness that is often associated with the condition.
Writing these letters will not prevent periods of depression and will not cure the problem, but they are a way to minimize the dark days when your depression is at its worst. Mention this idea to your counselor during your next visit and see if they think that writing future letters to yourself will help in your particular case.
Planning Ahead To Deal With Depression
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