Any anecdata on successful ways to shed sticky thoughts once depression has been (mostly) beaten?
replies(6):
The initial stage of dwelling gives thoughts footholds and reinforces them without evaluation of their validity. If a thought is worthwhile, you'll come back to it because it will stand out in the landscape of thoughts that went by.
Adopt of mindset of letting thought flow over and through you rather than catching each one and dwelling on it. When thoughts are shallow and numerous, this is like brainstorming.
I self-taught this method at a young age and have picked up a few other "quiet mind" techniques over the years that do similar-ish things. The principle, from my pov, is to basically sit with it and proactively teach your brain to stfu, one thought at a time.
At one point, the videos became less necessary. It was unhealthy in the highest year of the crisis, but less unhealthy than thinking about winning an argument with a bully.
Of course, who knew that having a lot of distractions and sources of satisfaction could lead to fewer addictions, but sometimes you don’t have them / can’t afford them.
Close your eyes. For every thought you have, imagine it to be a soap bubble, floating upwards. After a few seconds of floating upwards, it pops and is gone.
The way to deal with an unpleasant thought or feeling is to experience it. Find a quiet place where nothing will distract you. Sit down, call back the unpleasant emotion, and experience it. Don't try to "let it go" or anything; don't do any kind of thought processing. Instead, dive into the feeling completely and even "turn the volume up" on it. "These people treated me so wrong!" Let it scratch you. Let it have its say, as fully as possible.
What usually happens for me, strangely, is that the emotion has its say and then I... somehow forget what I was feeling. My mind drifts, the edge blunts, the unpleasantness becomes harder to recall. I try to call it back again with all force, and it comes back, but weaker and weaker each time. And then it becomes just another abstract item of memory, its power over me gone forever.
I think that you're pointing out an important nuance of that method - wether to keep a distance to the emotion or "going into it". I guess something important can also be said about the difference between ruminating - i.e. thinking about the hangup - or sitting in your feeling about it (kind of like massaging the painful thought) and observing how your body and mind responds to it.
I don't really have a clear conclusion about these nuances - apart from it being helpful to try out the variations to see what works.
Thinking: trying to logically reason yourself to a satisfying conclusion.
Feeling: Keeping the thought in the front of your mind and take your time to feel what the thought feels like. See how your body reacts to it.
I believe it can be very effective if done right for certain emotions, but not for everyone.
The more days I tackle the little things, the more empowered i feel. And the more I notice, now even on days where only half the list of those basic wellbeing hygiene things get done, I still feel tremendously better. Different. And the less need I feel to treat those chores as the goal and lore as a simple means to living a simple good life, and enjoying the good moments. I see the interplay of physically taking care of yourself and others, incremental progress and good habits, and a more balance outlook on life all toed together and all part of a healthier and happier mindset.
Tldr when I start to slip and spend less time diagnosing and more time finding something, anything, small to change course, and am surprised at the ripple effect is (now) has.