According to the American Psychiatric Association, major depressive disorder (MDD) is a serious illness that is common and treatable. Major <a href="https://thehumancondition.com/mental-health/depression/">depression</a> negatively impacts how someone thinks, <a href="https://thehumancondition.com/category/emotions/">feels</a>, and acts and is characterized by feelings of <a href="https://thehumancondition.com/humanness-and-emotions/emotions/sadness/">sadness</a> or loss of interest in activities that they once enjoyed.

Major Depressive Disorder (MDD)

When someone experiences chronic, severe symptoms that require professional treatment, their disorder will typically be referred to as major depressive disorder or clinical depression.

Understand yourself and those around you.

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Psychology

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Personal Development

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Health

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Mental Health

Major Depressive Disorder (MDD) - The Human Condition

BPD is a personality disorder characterized by symptoms like impulsivity, substance abuse, self-harm, suicidal ideation, unstable sense of self, etc.As most mental conditions, it manifests itself in early adulthood and it can negatively impact your life in varying degrees. BPD is more treatable that it was previously thought, with DBT (Dialectical Behavior Therapy). It is understood that it can be in a state of remission, when you can manage it better and eventually master it.

What Is BPD?

They were chaotic, absolutely terrible. Like riding in a car that no one was driving and that I was barely driving myself. I had terrible mood swings, a huge difficulty managing my emotions. Anger issues were awful. Resentment and so many negative emotions flooded me all the time, it was hard to be alone. A lot of black and white thinking, splitting (changing your mind about people for sometimes seemingly small things) and I was so sensitive to rejection. Obsession was also a pattern that I had.

My First Years Having BPD

As I got older, medication and therapy helped me manage my emotions. My mood is stable and I'm less impulsive. Anger issues no longer plague me. I don't get flooded with very negative emotions often, also due to meditation and gratitude. It's not hard to be alone anymore. My mind is not a warzone any more.Black and white thinking is something that I was able to overcome with therapy and lived experience. Splitting happens occasionally but you are more tolerant and patient. Regarding rejection, I ended up learning to put it in perspective and rationalizing it.

Growing Older With BPD

My thoughts on the evolution of my case of Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD)

BPD and Getting Older

Before you're able to do anything about repetitive thoughts, you have to notice when they're happening. "Awareness is key," Dr. Aragam says. Examine whether the thought is moving you forward to leaving you stuck. Dr. Aragam suggests a few questions: "Is this serving me? Am I going to have an answer to this right now? What else can I do?" If you can't solve whatever you're thinking about right now, it's time to try a different tactic.

1. Notice the thoughts—and ask whether they're helping

Taking your mind off of the thought your brain is chewing on can bring a lot of relief. Dr. Magavi is a fan of puzzles in particular. "Puzzles can improve mindfulness and overall mood states," she says. "They can divert attention from painful rumination. Some studies indicate that puzzles can minimize brain cell damage and facilitate the growth of new neurons."Other activities might be checking in with friends and family, playing a sport, or exercising. Re-engaging in hobbies and interests that bring you joy can be effective, too.

2. Distract yourself

On TikTok, one psychiatrist has been posting "<a href="https://www.tiktok.com/@psychiachick/video/6923179480383065349?is_copy_url=1&is_from_webapp=v1">why you feel like shit in a pandemic </a>" videos and touched on the topic of repetitive thoughts. She suggested that a lack of novel stimuli—aka, seeing the same four walls, the same people, the same news stories again and again—can often be a ripe environment for repetitive thoughts, particularly if you're already prone to them.That's partly because we have so many fewer natural cues to change our patterns of thinking, Dr. Aragam says. Imagine a day pre-pandemic, where you maybe would have run into a neighbor or colleague in the middle of the day.

3. Do something you haven't done before

You've heard them before—and they apply here, too. When in doubt, get your sleep in order, eat well, and stay in touch with friends and family. Sleep is especially important. "When you're more rested, you have more control over your brain, and it's less likely to fall into the traps of overthinking, rumination, and worry.

4. Focus on healthy habits

What helped was trying to put the argument in my brain aside and focusing on something else. Start doing a creativity workbook, taking day trips to nearby towns. Having something fresh to explore.

The pandemic may be worsening rumination (aka repetitive negative thoughts)&mdash;here's what you can do about it.

problemsolving

Problem Solving

Repetition is Hell

<ol><li>Put on headphones and turn on the binaural EMDR music (<a href="https://open.spotify.com/artist/7L6OpwIhZukbabyh66knpa">here's a playlist </a>). "It immediately starts to soothe your system, because it's just so relaxing," Bernstein says.</li><li>Then for 20 minutes, just write. Spill all of your emotions onto the page, whatever you're feeling in that moment. </li><li>After those 20 minutes are up, put down your pen and meditate for 20 minutes after that. Lie on your back, and press your right hand on your heart and your left hand on your belly. </li></ol>

Rage on the Page

<ol><li>"If you're feeling anxious, stressed out, or afraid, tap between your ring finger and your middle finger," she says. "Tap right there on that meaty part of your skin." </li><li>While you're tapping, say to yourself: I am safe. I am safe. I am safe. "That's extremely settling to the system, to repeat that affirmation while tapping that point," she says. She even calls it the "holy shit" point for whenever you're feeling uneasy.  </li><li>Remember to breathe deeply and completely, and keep reminding yourself: I am safe. I am safe.  </li> </ol>

EFT Technique

<ol><li>Spend five minutes a day checking in with the fearful thoughts that are running the show. Notice them. Acknowledge when those fears crop up and call them out. </li><li>Take a moment to reflect on what you know about those fears: When do they tend to make their appearance, what's their origin, how do they physically feel in your body? </li><li>Ask them what they need. How can you react in a way that honors your true self? "We spend so much time pushing past these thoughts and fears and trudging forward. But what if we just spent five minutes a day getting to know them and listening?" Bernstein poses. </li></ol>

Get to Know Your Fears

Here, spiritual teacher Gabby Bernstein compiles the three simple therapeutic techniques that helped her work through her own past trauma.

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Mindfulness

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Money & Investments

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Meditation

3 Exercises To Heal Unresolved Trauma, From Gabby Bernstein

An inner voice that provides a running monologue internal chatter combining conscious thoughts and unconscious beliefs and biases, provides a way for the brain to interpret and process daily experiences.This critical inner voice can raise awareness of internal and external obstacles to achievement. It can also take a toll on one’s confidence, fostering shame and limiting personal growth.

Self-Talk

Destructive self-talk causes you to question yourself so constantly that you can soon become paralyzed with doubt and uncertainty.In constructive self-talk, you cheer yourself on, focus on the positive aspects of a situation, and allow yourself to feel good about what you’ve done. They insightful, thoughtfully constructed, self-reflective, and motivational in nature.Dysfunctional self-talk is focused on the negative aspects of challenging situations rather than on their positive aspects, and had a pessimistic attitude toward change of any kind. Also termed as catastrophic self talk.

Types Of Self Talk

<ol><li>All-or-nothing or black-and-white thinking</li><li>Overgeneralization—applying the results of one situation to all similar situations</li><li>Mental filter—dwelling on one negative detail in an otherwise good experience</li><li>Jumping to conclusions or catatrophizing—concluding the worst not necessarily substantiated by facts</li><li>Emotional reasoning—using our emotional state as evidence of objective truth</li><li>Magnification—exaggerating the significance of a negative event</li><li>Personalization—assuming responsibility for a negative event not under your control</li><li>Blame—blaming others as a way to feel more in control of a negative situation</li></ol>

Most Common Thought Distortions

<ol><li>Notice automatic thoughts. Notice the words and ideas being expressed.</li><li>Identify distortions. See if you recognize any thought distortions or irrational beliefs like should, must, have to, ought, always, and never.</li><li>Challenge your thoughts. This step is often the most difficult and may even require some courage to push through. Ask yourself: What is the evidence? Is there another way to view this situation? Is it in my best interest to hold this belief?</li><li>Rewrite your thoughts. Replace the thought distortions and irrational beliefs with more accurate, constructive statements.</li></ol>

Rewriting your internal script

<ol><li class="ql-align-justify">Personify your inner critic. Give it a silly identity that’s outside of you so you can gain distance from it. </li><li class="ql-align-justify">Play with your thoughts like sing the self-critical thoughts or use humor and lightness by imagining a funny font.</li><li class="ql-align-justify">Remind yourself with a rubber band snap and silently say “STOP.” to come back to the present moment.</li><li class="ql-align-justify">End with an “and.” to focus on what other facts might also be true.</li><li class="ql-align-justify">Draft power statements.A power statement is a reminder that helps bring you back to your center.</li><li class="ql-align-justify">Keep a brag file of accomplishments on a daily or weekly basis.</li><li class="ql-align-justify">Create a playlist</li><li class="ql-align-justify">Give someone else a compliment</li></ol>

8 Tips to Gain Control Over Negative Self-Talk

Ideas to recognise and reframe your internal critic and negative self talk

Recognizing our natural negative biases can help flip our internal script.

communication

Communication

Rewriting your Self Talk

<ul><li>Evidence in both psychology and behavioral economics demonstrates that we are not the Mr. Spock-like thinkers and actors that we think we are. </li><li>We are unaware of our unconscious mind, yet it exerts considerable influence over how we think, feel, and behave. </li><li>Primitive instincts, emotional baggage, and ingrained habits are three unconscious forces that can guide our lives. </li><li>Our executive functioning gives us the opportunity to not succumb to the blunt force of our unconscious mind or be driven by our past. </li> </ul>

Not As Smart As You Think

We like to think of ourselves as highly evolved and rational beings who think, feel, and act in ways that are intentional and reasonable. We hold this perception because it enables us to believe that we are “captains” of our lives and help us believe that we are in control of the choices we make and the direction our lives go. In reality, considerable evidence in both <a href="https://www.verywellmind.com/what-is-a-cognitive-bias-2794963#:~:text=A%20cognitive%20bias%20is%20a,and%20judgments%20that%20they%20make.&text=Cognitive%20biases%20are%20often%20a,attempt%20to%20simplify%20information%20processing.">psychology </a>and <a href="https://www.thechicagoschool.edu/insight/business/everyday-examples-of-behavioral-economics/">behavioral economics </a>demonstrates that we are far from the Mr. Spock-like thinkers and actors that we hold ourselves up to be.The reason why we don’t always think or behave in ways that are logical.

Who Has Control Of This Ship? 

Our Unconscious Mind The unconscious part of our minds is outside of our conscious awareness and is not easily accessible, meaning we can’t just conjure its content up like we can a seemingly forgotten telephone number (that resides in our <a href="https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/basics/unconscious">subconscious </a>). This lack of ready availability makes our unconscious minds both mystifying (“<a href="http://chan%2C%20david%2C%20%22why%20people%20self-sabotage%2C%20and%20how%20to%20stop%20it%22%20%282019%29.%20research%20collection%20school%20of%20social%20sciences.%20paper%203079.%20https//ink.library.smu.edu.sg/soss_research/3079">Why do I keep doing things that hurt me </a>?”) and seemingly beyond our control, often leading to a sense of frustration and helplessness.The unconscious mind consists of three forces that often lead us down unhealthy roads.

First, despite our being supposedly so evolved compared to the rest of the animal kingdom with our cerebral cortex and, more importantly, our pre-frontal cortex, we frequently still <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4451179/">respond to the world as animals </a>driven by our primitive instincts, emotions, and reactions (e.g., survival instinct, <a href="https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/basics/fear">fear </a>, and fight or flight, respectively). Not surprising given that these unconscious forces have been driving all living beings since we climbed out of the primordial muck around 3.5 billion years ago. In contrast, our cerebral cortex has only been around for about 250,000 years. L

Second, carrying around emotional baggage from our <a href="https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/basics/child-development">childhood </a>is, for most of us, a part of the human condition. Early in our lives, we develop certain ways of thinking, feeling, and behaving that help protect us from some perceived threat and survive in hostile environs of varying degrees. For example, to feel safe around an angry parent, we learned to be passive and accommodating. To be rewarded by a demanding parent, <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/313684716_Child_Perfectionism_and_its_Relationship_with_Personality_Excessive_Parental_Demands_Depressive_Symptoms_and_Experience_of_Positive_Emotions">we became a perfectionist </a>. These protective mechanisms were highly functional when we were young. Unfortunately, in adulthood, what had been functional can become dysfunctional

Lastly, the more that primitive forces and emotional baggage direct our lives, the more those characteristic ways of acting on and reacting to our world become habitual and the first response we make, even when it may not be appropriate or healthy. For example, when we perceive someone judging us, we react with defensiveness and <a href="https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/basics/anger">anger </a>because that’s the way we’ve always reacted, even though such a reaction usually does more harm than good.

The PFC allows us to engage in what is commonly referred to as “<a href="https://developingchild.harvard.edu/science/key-concepts/executive-function/">executive functioning </a>,” which involves the ability to guide our behavior in more intentional ways by weighing pros and cons, calculating risk and rewards, deciding what is best for us in the present, and, at an important level, empowering our conscious mind to override our unconscious mind.

At the same time, I don’t want to completely discredit any value that our unconscious minds may have; Mr. Spock made poor decisions despite his strong sense of what is logical. The unconscious mind isn’t driven solely by unhealthy forces. On the contrary, whether you want to call it your gut, <a href="https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/basics/intuition">intuition </a>, spirit, or what have you, we all have the capacity to allow our non-linear and emotional sense to guide us in making healthy choices and steering the direction we take in our lives. This intuitive part of us can draw on information that may not be readily available to our conscious mind,

Am I in control? Or just under the illusion of being in control?

Which force of the mind guides your life?

Our Unconscious and Conscious Minds Do Battle Daily

We spend hours consuming news because we want to be informed. The problem is news doesn’t make us informed. In fact, the more news we consume the more misinformed we become.News is, by definition, something that doesn’t last. It exists for only a moment before it changes. As news has become easier to distribute and cheaper to produce, the quality has decreased and the quantity has increased, making it nearly impossible to find the signal in the noise.

The News Does Not Keep Us Informed

Rarely do we stop to ask ourselves questions about the media we consume: <ul><li>Is this good for me? </li><li>Is this dense with detailed information? </li><li>Is this important? </li><li>Is this going to stand the test of time? </li><li>﻿Is the person writing someone who is well informed on the issue? </li></ul>Asking those questions makes it clear the news isn’t good for you.

The Media And Our Wellbeing

We’re surrounded by so much information that is of immediate interest to us that we feel overwhelmed by the never-ending pressure of trying to keep up with it all

We used to have to wait to get a newspaper or gossip with people in our town to get our news, but not anymore. Thanks to alerts, texts, and other interruptions, news finds us almost the minute it’s published.

The Problems With The News: Speed

Some people write 12 blog posts a day for major newspapers. It’s nearly impossible to write something thoughtful on one topic, let alone 12. Over a year, this works out to writing 2880 articles (assuming four weeks of vacation). The fluency of the person you’re getting your news from in the subject they’re covering is near zero. As a result, you’re filling your head with surface opinions on isolated topics. Because the costs to produce the news have dropped to almost nothing, there is a lot of competition.

The Problems With The News: Low Cost Of Production

News producers perpetuate a culture of “tune in, don’t miss out, someone knows something you don’t, follow this or you’ll be misinformed, oh wait, look at this!” The time used to consume news comes out of time that could be used for timeless content.Like a drug, the news is addictive. Not only does it alter your mood, but it keeps you wanting more. Once you start consuming news, it’s hard to stop.

The Problems With The News: A Drug -like Addiction

When the news is free, you still need to pay people. If people aren’t paying, advertisers are. And if advertisers are in charge, the incentives change. Page views become the name of the game. More page views mean more revenue. When it comes to page views, the more controversy, the more share-ability, the more enraged you become, the better. For a lot of people who create news , the more page views they get, the more they are compensated. A lot of these ads aren’t just static impressions; they’re also transmitting information about you to the advertisers.

The Problems With The News: Misaligned Incentives

Most of what you read online today is pointless. It’s not important to living a good life. It’s not going to help you make better decisions. It’s not going to help you understand the world. It’s not dense with information. It’s not going to help you develop deep and meaningful connections with the people around you.When all you consume is noise, you don’t realize there is a signal. Your attention is valuable. In fact, your attention is so valuable, it might be the most important thing you have. If you know it’s valuable, why would you consume it on something that is irrelevant tomorrow?

Junk Food For The Mind

The first thing you notice about people who read the news is how misinformed they are. Often, they cherry-pick one piece of information and give it enormous weight in their opinions. You realize that they have a tiny lens into a big and messy issue.You also see that you weren’t as well informed as you thought. The news didn’t make your opinions more rational, it just made you more confident you were right. Rarely do we read things we disagree with. It’s much easier to just put our walls up and tune out. Filtering our own news like this self-reinforces what we already believe.

When You Stop Reading The News

Stepping back from news is hard. We’re afraid of silence, afraid to be alone with our thoughts. That’s why we pull out our phones when we’re waiting in line at a coffee shop or the grocery store. We’re afraid to ask ourselves deep and meaningful questions. We’re afraid to be bored. We’re so afraid, that to avoid it, we’ll literally drive ourselves crazy, consuming pointless information.

News Is The Nothing To Do-Boredom Filler

Few things are as important to your quality of life as your choices about how to spend the precious resource of your free time.

We spend hours consuming news because we want to be informed. The problem is news doesn't make us informed. In fact, the more news we consume the more misinformed we become.

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Reading & Writing

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Society, Arts & Culture

Why You Should Stop Reading News

Most of what people care about can be considered a skill. For example, well-being is a skill; not suffering is a skill; noticing and regulating your emotions is a skill. Start to practice the skill of mindfulness, which is learning to notice the nature of your experience without reacting. For example, say you fear public speaking, and the default position is to have anxiety and worry in advance about that experience. So you talk to yourself about these concerns and think you have no alternatives.Mindfulness is a way just to feel your anxiety and be indifferent to it.

Well-being is a skill we can practice

Anxiety feels very similar to excitement. You feel these tingles. But the difference is the story you tell yourself. For example, you experience these feelings as excitement on a rollercoaster, but when you have an interview or are about to walk out on stage, you may feel it's unbearable. In these situations, just stepping back and realising the power of framing will help the physiology to dissipate.

The power of framing

Depression will tend to produce depressive thoughts, and the depressive thoughts will tend to feed back on the state. People may lose their commitment to doing everything that is good to do. You may have to push yourself to exercise and socialise and do things that you may not want to do. You feel kind of stuck. But that is the story you are thinking and telling yourself. You can reframe this continually and tell yourself a better story. You can change the code you're running.

The physiology of depression

Use gratitude. For example, when you're on your way to a job you don't like, and you're frustrated, you can think of all the negative things that could happen to you, and if you could just return to this moment, you would be thankful. Nothing about your reality change, but reframing how you think can let light in.

How to change the story you tell yourself

Eventually, we want to find ourselves in the usual position to effortlessly cooperate with creative and happy strangers. We want open conversation and have other people point out errors in our thinking and in the conversation we have with ourselves.

The generic state of being

Sam Harris gives an inspirational talk on overcoming anxiety & depression.

Sam Harris gives a truly inspirational speech on overcoming anxiety & depression. Follow this video's life advice and use meditation to seek happiness and change your future! Subscribe for Motivational Videos Every Weekday, Helping You Get Through The Week! http://bit.ly/MotivationVideos Subscribe to Tom Bilyeu’s channel for more inspiring speeches: https://www.youtube.com/c/TomBilyeu Follow us on: Instagram: http://bit.ly/2rhGNMY Facebook: http://bit.ly/2r85DC3 Twitter: http://bit.ly/2qir5TO Music exclusively created by BLU. YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCvzhTdrsG3Hnebu0a74eixA Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/blumusic_ Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/artist/3acyitLt6zs7sGDwvDrTUw?si=WlHcL2UpQOSEACYtdNST4A ----------------------------------------­­------------------------- Footage licensed through Videoblocks and Artgrid. ----------------------------------------­­------------------------- Help us caption & translate this video! http://bit.ly/Translate4Motivation

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Sam Harris gives a truly inspirational speech on overcoming anxiety & depression. Follow this video's life advice and use meditation to seek happiness and change your future!

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Motivation Madness

Sam Harris Life Advice Will Change Your Future (MUST WATCH)

The more you practice self-care and the more you appreciate yourself, the easier it will be to recognize the best things about you.Trust me, there are so many beautiful things that you can offer, even if you don’t realize it yet.In other words, no matter where you are in your life right now, you can always learn to become better and to appreciate yourself for the person you are, and the person you have the potential to become.

Believe In Yourself When No One Else Does

If you are asking yourself how can one learn self-appreciation, I have the answer for you — by accepting your weaknesses, recognizing your strong sides, and working on obtaining a growth mindset.Accepting your weaknesses means accepting the person you were, and the person you are right now.Recognizing your strong sides means learning who you can become, and striving to become a better version of yourself.Obtaining a growth mindset means that you already appreciate yourself, and that you recognize your potential. Everything can be learned, and this is no exception to the rule.

Learn Self-Appreciation — No One Else Will Do It For You

Self-care is recognizing your needs, listening to your body and mind, and providing your soul with what it demands.However, by all means, start appreciating yourself, what you do, and who you are. Because no one else will do it for you.Self-appreciations leads to self-love, which then leads to acceptance.Once you accept yourself the way you are, your life will be much easier and you will feel accomplished.Only then you will be able to see your potential and to explore the opportunities life presents you with.

Practice Self-Care — Treat Yourself Like You’d Treat Someone You

Start appreciating the things you’ve achieved and everything that you’ve learned up until this moment.Life is not easy, so why complicate it even more by doubting yourself and your capabilities?Stay positive, give yourself some credit, and keep believing in yourself.You have so much to offer.

Don’t be too harsh on yourself

I was too harsh on myself, but once I learned self respect and appreciation for who I am, I started to healed, and the path to follow in my life was more clear.

The more you practice self-care and the more you appreciate yourself, the easier it will be to recognize the best things about you. In other words, no matter where you are in your life right now, you…

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Habits

Compassion-focused therapy, or CFT, is a therapeutic practice that emphasizes compassion towards oneself and others to promote emotional healing. CFT defines compassion as “a sensitivity to suffering in self and others, with a commitment to try to alleviate and prevent it.”

Compassion-Focused Therapy (CFT): History, Process, Benefits, Effectiveness

Compassion-focused therapy, or CFT, is a therapeutic practice that emphasizes compassion towards oneself and others to promote emotional healing.

Compassion-Focused Therapy (CFT): History, Process, Benefits, Effectiveness - The Human Condition

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