How to Stop Feeling So Damn Depressed by Jonas A. Horwitz

Author:Jonas A. Horwitz
Language: eng
Format: epub, pdf
Publisher: New Harbinger Publications
Published: 2018-11-19T22:21:10+00:00

Always remind yourself that the Beast is trying hard to make you more depressed by making your problems appear much worse than they are. The Beast wants you to think only about the negatives in almost every situation. It actively hunts for negative information and drools every time it can come up with something, especially self-criticism or judgment (that is, I’m worthless… I’m an utter failure.). But your depression does not stop there. It also purposefully ignores positive information. The Beast hates positive information, and it especially hates any small good things you can say about yourself!

Now say this out loud: “The Beast gets stronger by looking for the worst in every situation. The more negative pieces of information my depression can find, the stronger it grows.” If your Beast is whispering in your ear that there is nothing positive you can say about yourself because you are a complete failure, loser, and so on, tell it that you know, for certain, that you are really good at emotionally beating the crap out of yourself.

Once you begin to monitor your thoughts, you will notice how often you are playing negative and self-demeaning “tapes” in your mind, and how often you disregard evidence to the contrary. If you remember anything from this section, it should be this specific trick: Once you identify a negative thought, grab hold of it and slap it down on top of a blank piece of paper. Draw a line down the center of the paper. On the left side write down the pieces of negative data that seem to support the thought, and on the right side all the pieces of positive data that do not support it. When working on the right side of the page, don’t forget to purposely slow your mind down and include every possible piece of positive data you can find, especially that which seems really small and unimportant. The key to this whole exercise is to go through the process of writing down the thought and listing the pros and cons. I am not saying that with a good amount of practice you won’t be able to just do this in your mind, but there is something about the physical process of writing that makes a crucial difference and directly targets the neurochemistry that feeds the Beast.

Challenge the Language of your Beast

Does the Beast yell in your ear, This ALWAYS happens to me! if another driver cuts you off? Does the Beast shout, This happens EVERY time! Every damn time! when you hit a red light while running late? The words “always” and “every” indicate that these experiences are absolutes that happen every time you drive in traffic or encounter a stoplight. Their use alone means that whatever the Beast is telling you is factually wrong. The statements are lies. You don’t always get cut off in traffic, nor do you encounter a red light every time you drive.

The Beast loves to use words that are categorized as absolutes, such

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