I overcame depression a few years ago and have been meaning to write about how I did it, but honestly, the current me is so different from the old me, that I don’t even remember how being depressed felt.
I do remember some of the things that got me out of the depression:
Coming independently to the insight that I should “Avoid Misinterpreting my Emotions”. One day, I was sitting there thinking the same old depressed thoughts I’d usually thought. Something like “what’s the purpose of doing anything.” But, I realized that when those words went through my head that day, I didn’t feel depressed thinking them. Then, I realized that whatever words were going through my head were not the cause of my emotions. In general, it’s true that we can unlike our emotions from our thoughts. By doing this we can optimize feeling better and resolving whatever epistemic issue you think is the cause of your emotions separately.
Discovering LW helped in a lot of ways.
Doing lots of mind mapping / writing therapy, using GTD for managing stress/productivity, and to a lesser extent CBT.
I overcame depression a few years ago and have been meaning to write about how I did it, but honestly, the current me is so different from the old me, that I don’t even remember how being depressed felt.
I do remember some of the things that got me out of the depression:
Coming independently to the insight that I should “Avoid Misinterpreting my Emotions”. One day, I was sitting there thinking the same old depressed thoughts I’d usually thought. Something like “what’s the purpose of doing anything.” But, I realized that when those words went through my head that day, I didn’t feel depressed thinking them. Then, I realized that whatever words were going through my head were not the cause of my emotions. In general, it’s true that we can unlike our emotions from our thoughts. By doing this we can optimize feeling better and resolving whatever epistemic issue you think is the cause of your emotions separately.
Discovering LW helped in a lot of ways.
Doing lots of mind mapping / writing therapy, using GTD for managing stress/productivity, and to a lesser extent CBT.
EDIT: Also, getting out of high-school.