cause of depression

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mikenz66
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Re: cause of depression

Post by mikenz66 »

Hi Daniel,
danieLion wrote: Please cite a name, otherwise I'll treat this as hearsay.
I presume he means PeterB.

:anjali:
Mike
PeterB
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Re: cause of depression

Post by PeterB »

mikenz66 wrote:Hi Daniel,
danieLion wrote: Please cite a name, otherwise I'll treat this as hearsay.
I presume he means PeterB.

:anjali:
Mike
Indeed MIke...I am psychiatrist with nearly 25 years experience in the field..and along with many of my colleagues in the UK field I have used CBT for the last 12 years.
Uner the British NHS system there is no gain financial or otherwise to be had for preferring one type of treatment over another.
CBT is a enormously useful tool. And it has its limits. It usually does not address to any great degree the group of depressive conditions that used to be called "endogenous " Which are frequently genetically linked and are more like diabetes than they are a " mental " condition in that they involve metabolic dysfunction.. And those conditions are not "statistically insignificant "..it is a large group.
It certainly makes a change to have a lay person OVER estimating the usefulness of a given intervention..!
But I am also long enough in the tooth to recognise a fixed belief when I encounter one. :smile: ..so I will leave it there.
:anjali:
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cooran
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Re: cause of depression

Post by cooran »

Thanks for sharing your knowledge, Peter. Good to see you posting again! :smile:

with metta
Chris
---The trouble is that you think you have time---
---Worry is the Interest, paid in advance, on a debt you may never owe---
---It's not what happens to you in life that is important ~ it's what you do with it ---
Yana
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Re: cause of depression

Post by Yana »

hi,

When i suffer depression it's usually because of unwise attention and lack of mindfulness.

I am either caught up in a destructive or negative thought pattern and lack the awareness to take one step back to assess things.

Depression can sometimes feel too overwhelming that i can't really practice mindfulness or even "assess it" (well i can't function really) so i usually counter it with something positive or feel good.Something that cheers me up without harming me like going to the amusement park or go out a have a picnic or some place with beautiful scenery and surroundings.Then when I've brought my mind back to normal i can meditate again which has a way of suppressing any harmful thoughts.And being mindful helps prevent depression because as soon as i realize i am about to enter the same old pattern i just stop and change route.

Depression exists because something else existed before that,if i can stop that something else from existing then i am good to go! :tongue:
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PeterB
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Re: cause of depression

Post by PeterB »

Yana wrote:hi,

When i suffer depression it's usually because of unwise attention and lack of mindfulness.

I am either caught up in a destructive or negative thought pattern and lack the awareness to take one step back to assess things.

Depression can sometimes feel too overwhelming that i can't really practice mindfulness or even "assess it" (well i can't function really) so i usually counter it with something positive or feel good.Something that cheers me up without harming me like going to the amusement park or go out a have a picnic or some place with beautiful scenery and surroundings.Then when I've brought my mind back to normal i can meditate again which has a way of suppressing any harmful thoughts.And being mindful helps prevent depression because as soon as i realize i am about to enter the same old pattern i just stop and change route.

Depression exists because something else existed before that,if i can stop that something else from existing then i am good to go! :tongue:
Hi Chris. :hello:

What you describe Yana, sounds like the kind of condition that could benefit from CBT.

On rereading my previous post I realise that tempus has fugited faster than I thought... :smile:
In fact I have been a psych for nearly 29 years,,and a CBTherapist for fifteen...gulp.

:anjali:
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cbonanno
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Re: cause of depression

Post by cbonanno »

PeterB wrote:
Yana wrote:hi,

When i suffer depression it's usually because of unwise attention and lack of mindfulness.

I am either caught up in a destructive or negative thought pattern and lack the awareness to take one step back to assess things.

Depression can sometimes feel too overwhelming that i can't really practice mindfulness or even "assess it" (well i can't function really) so i usually counter it with something positive or feel good.Something that cheers me up without harming me like going to the amusement park or go out a have a picnic or some place with beautiful scenery and surroundings.Then when I've brought my mind back to normal i can meditate again which has a way of suppressing any harmful thoughts.And being mindful helps prevent depression because as soon as i realize i am about to enter the same old pattern i just stop and change route.

Depression exists because something else existed before that,if i can stop that something else from existing then i am good to go! :tongue:
Hi Chris. :hello:

What you describe Yana, sounds like the kind of condition that could benefit from CBT.

On rereading my previous post I realise that tempus has fugited faster than I thought... :smile:
In fact I have been a psych for nearly 29 years,,and a CBTherapist for fifteen...gulp.

:anjali:
CBT is soooo yesterday. ACT is the new thing, even closer to Buddhism than CBT.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acceptance ... nt_Therapy" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

I would not spend anymore time trying to figure out why you are depressed, the whole medical establishment could not tell you that. Just sit, breathe and watch. Believe me, it works.
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Re: cause of depression

Post by PeterB »

I am glad that works for you....it most definitely will not work for everyone however.
I wish it did..my life would be a lot easier.
daverupa
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Re: cause of depression

Post by daverupa »

PeterB wrote:I am glad that works for you....it most definitely will not work for everyone however.
I wish it did..my life would be a lot easier.
Dialectical Behavior Therapy made the rounds once upon a time, but never seems to get mentioned when CBT is on the table - I think CBT is more popular? More successful? More generally applicable?

ACT research still looks fairly young, though promising. I wonder about the use of a 'transcendental self' concept, however...

(Satisampajanna and anapanasati don't get mentioned nearly enough... :tongue: )
  • "And how is it, bhikkhus, that by protecting oneself one protects others? By the pursuit, development, and cultivation of the four establishments of mindfulness. It is in such a way that by protecting oneself one protects others.

    "And how is it, bhikkhus, that by protecting others one protects oneself? By patience, harmlessness, goodwill, and sympathy. It is in such a way that by protecting others one protects oneself.

- Sedaka Sutta [SN 47.19]
PeterB
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Re: cause of depression

Post by PeterB »

They use the same basic techniques daverupa...In general terms they are as good as the therapist using them..
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BlueLotus
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Re: cause of depression

Post by BlueLotus »

All I know is, we managed to land on the moon many years back but our well supported scientific community hasn't been able to still find an actually lasting and long-term-effective treatment to one of the most common psychological problems today - which is depression. Yes, I am sour. :tantrum:
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mikenz66
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Re: cause of depression

Post by mikenz66 »

Landing on the moon, or searching for the Higgs Boson, etc, is a matter of developing and applying some (admittedly quite interesting and challenging) well-defined science and engineering. Much simpler than fixing up a mind... [We physical scientists and engineers have it easy --- commiserations Peter... :console:].

:anjali:
Mike
PeterB
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Re: cause of depression

Post by PeterB »

I was going to write something similar Mike..but it seemed a bit presumptuous for me to do so.. :smile:
Beside which I always remember what my main mentor used to say.." what we are doing is more an art than a science "...Me..I am usually flying by the seat of my pants....
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BlueLotus
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Re: cause of depression

Post by BlueLotus »

Peter B is a psychiatrist? Sorry I didn't know
PeterB
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Re: cause of depression

Post by PeterB »

Blue Lotus...its absolutely OK to say what you think.. :smile:
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