Action

TESS

You can change the way you feel by finding comforting things which you can say to yourself and believe in. It is actually very harmful for you to keep on thinking unrealistic and negative thoughts. This is because they keep the pain alive. Perhaps you do not believe that you have the energy to change the way you think. Cognitive therapy makes it easier for you to do so. You can also use the "thought form" below to help you change your negative thoughts at any time.

Realistic goals

It is important that you are active. Depressed people are inclined to avoid situations which seem insurmountable. Learn to set small and realistic goals. Perhaps you do not believe that you have the energy to do anything. But remember that you can increase your energy levels by keeping yourself going. It is therefore important that you are active. You can keep yourself going if you experience meaningful things. It is therefore also important that you continue to do things that gave you pleasure and interest you in the past.

Action helps

Life gets easier when you learn to analyze your thoughts, feelings and actions. This is because the way in which you think and feel is linked to the way in which you react and act. You can see the link between thoughts, feelings and actions here:

The above thoughts and feelings can lead to many actions but these actions can also lead to physical reactions such as:

• tiredness
• periods of intense sweating
• palpitations

Catastrophic thoughts

Depression can lead to many physical symptoms such as tiredness, spells of intense sweating, and pains in the chest. It can be easy to misinterpret these symptoms and thereby encourage catastrophic thoughts such as:

• I do no have the energy to do anything anymore, so I am no use to anyone anymore.
• There is no hope.
• I am useless at everything.
• I am dying. There is something wrong with my heart.

Such catastrophic thoughts have no basis in reality and you must therefore ultimately ask yourself what you can say to yourself that is comforting and healing instead of thinking negative thoughts.

Perhaps you could say to yourself:

• I am not very sociable at the moment but I am still useful.
• I am finding things a bit difficult at the moment but it will pass.
• I am not feeling all that great at the moment but I will take one thing at a time.
• I am vulnerable and hurting a lot at the moment, but anxiety is not dangerous and it will pass.

It is important to remember that the negative thoughts are symptoms. The foundations of these symptoms can however be laid down early in your life and they can therefore be difficult to change. They can also be difficult to change after the depression has passed.

If you have many catastrophic thoughts and find it difficult to restructure them, you can always seek help from a professional cognitive therapist. You can always do something! You can always help yourself!

Break the circle!