Hope for Depression

February 28th, 2016

Lately, I have been working on bringing more mindfulness into my life. I was never good at meditation. You have to sit there, focus on your breathing, maybe repeat a mantra, spine straight, legs crossed etc. I am not sitting or breathing normally, my back aches and my mind wanders. It's not a pleasant experience and I generally give up within four days. What I like about mindfulness is that I am not trying to empty my mind. As a matter of fact, my mind is engaged: noticing the smells, sights and sounds around me, tuning into the sensations in my body, my feelings and thoughts. I can practise mindfulness while I drive, walk, cook or shower. This approach works for me. The goal of mindfulness is to connect with the present moment instead of ruminating about the past or anticipating the future.

Lately, a client was asking me about cognitive behavioural therapy. When I was completing my BA in Psychology, many of the courses were based on behavioural therapy. We learned to use reinforcement and punishment to increase or extinguish behaviours through techniques like "shaping". It was my least favourite approach to psychology because it was all very clinical with research conducted on animals (think Pavlov's dog) and applied to humans. I preferred humanistic and cognitive approaches because they treated the client as an active participant in therapy.

I wanted to help my client find a cognitive behavioural resource near here so I began a search online. I found an interesting combination: Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy. The research is very impressive, especially for individuals suffering from chronic depression. The research indicates that MBCT helps clients identify the negative thoughts that lead to a relapse. There are associations between thought patterns, moods and relapsing into a depressive episode. By acknowledging that these are only fleeting thoughts, challenging these thoughts and replacing them with facts, clients interrupt the sequence and are able to avoid triggering a relapse. In a study comparing the outcome of participants on medication with participants undergoing MBCT, they found that people on the medication needed to stay on the medication whereas, individuals who had participated in MBCT were less likely to experience a relapse. The medication may be successful in increasing the amount of serotonin in a client's brain but MBCT creates new neural pathways through the hippocampus.

People experiencing depressive episodes lasting months at a time, are living in fear of the next onset, holding their breath. When they feel the darkness looming, they experience helplessness and anxiety. They don't know how deep they will go or how long it will last. For loved ones, watching someone suffer and not being able to help is devastating. When someone is sick with the flu, you know it will pass, you can make some soup, buy soft tissues with lotion in them so their nose isn't as irritated, you can check on them, refill their water, you feel useful. There isn't much you can do when your loved one is depressed. You can be there and love them but trying to "cheer them up" only makes it worst. If taking a walk and getting some fresh air helped, they would be doing it. You can feel sad and helpless while getting frustrated as well. Then you feel guilty for getting frustrated.

That is why I wanted to share this approach. I have just started reading about it, I forwarded it to my client and, I will be looking into the requirements of training in this approach as well. One more tool in my therapeutic toolbox. To find out more for yourself, visit www.mbct.com.

Anne Walsh
www.artnsoul.org