Submitted by Mrs. Z on Mon, 02/23/2009 - 3:22pm
Instead of prescribing traditional medication for mild depression, some doctors are telling their patients to read self-help and positive books and listen to positive music. This sort of therapy is actually more effective than drugs as they help the patient claim a more positive and healthy frame of mind instead of just treating the symptoms of negative energy.
While I wouldn't just quit taking my meds cold turkey (that's always a bad idea) I think talking to my doctor or therapist about including positive thought is a great idea.
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I just read an interesting piece about Dr. Rani Whitfield (aka "The Hip Hop Doc") who uses music, apparently very successfully, to treat heart disease and obesity in the African American community. You can read more about his practice here.
Imagine your mind as a CD burned with thoughts that replay to your inner self over and over. When this track is saturated with negative thought it inspires restless, nervous behavior and makes you susceptible to anxiety attacks. By replacing these negative thoughts with positive affirmation, you are better able to cope with day-to-day stress, and tension is dispelled naturally. It's not enough to just say it once, though. Burning affirmations to your consciousness CD takes repetition and repetition and repetition.
I have this nagging feeling that my "soundtrack" is more of an 8-track than a CD, because my favorite affirmation by far is something I borrowed from a 1979 Bill Murray movie, "Meatballs." The summercamping kids were all depressed because the rich kids at the neighboring camp were kicking their butts in every category of the yearly competition, as always. So counsellor-Bill Murray gave this unusual pep talk, the gist of which was, "It just doesn't matter!" In part:
"...and even if we win, if we win, HAH! Even if we win! Even if we play so far above our heads that our noses bleed for a week to ten days; even if God in Heaven above comes down and points his hand at our side of the field; even if every man woman and child held hands together and prayed for us to win, it just wouldn't matter because all the really good looking girls would still go out with the guys from Mohawk because they've got all the money! It just doesn't matter if we win or we lose. IT JUST DOESN'T MATTER!"
By now, all the previously-depressed kids are wildly chanting, "It just doesn't matter! It just doesn't matter!" This is not to say that nothing is worth caring about, it is to say that most of the individual things that cause us anxiety--if we step back and look at the larger picture--really aren't so terribly important that their consequences would be devastating, even if everything that could go wrong did go wrong.
I know exactly what you mean!
The best advice my mom ever gave me was "Pick your battles." This applies to so many aspects of my life. I've adapted it to the SEP Field from Douglas Adams' Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy. And to explain myself I'm quoting from Wiki because they ramble less than I do. :)
The SEP Field (Somebody Else's Problem) is something we can't see, or don't see, or our brain doesn't let us see, because we think that it's somebody else's problem.... The brain just edits it out, it's like a blind spot. If you look at it directly you won't see it unless you know precisely what it is. Your only hope is to catch it by surprise out of the corner of your eye.
SEP has become sort of a mantra for me, and I'm not alone. Psychiatrists often employ the SEP as a way to help depressed or stressed individuals deal with concerns that they should ignore.
For example: My 12 year old son's hair is a mop, following the current fashion. I don't argue about it, just throw an SEP over it, powered by the knowledge that he's making straight A's. However, I have warned him the SEP would most certainly fail should his grades slip.