Posted by pedr on January 8, 2002, at 9:06:53
I hold irrational distorted beliefs about becoming severely depressed which my psychologist believes are a fundamental obstruction to me getting better. I often believe that should I be tired, hungover, hungry, bored or have nothing planned to do, I will get severe, life-threatening depression.
This is a bit of a catch-66 situation because I already have severe depression which I struggle with daily. My psychologist calls these convictions regarding sinking into a worse depression a "double depression" or "depression about depression" and maintains that challenging these irrational convictions is key to me getting better.
I fanatically obeyed these beliefs [e.g. made sure I was never ever hungry, always went to bed early, desperately attempted to avoid boredom] for 5 years before seeking help and beginning to challenge them over the last 3 years. Successful challenging still eludes me and I got even more depressed this Christmas due to fear of boredom during all the free time that goes with it.
Does anyone else hold similar irrational fears about situations/activities that exacerbate depression? Does anyone have any advice regarding challenging beliefs like these? I currently am doing REBT [a form of psychotherapy] and take reboxetine.
Many thanks in advance,
pete.
poster:pedr
thread:16440
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/social/20020102/msgs/16440.html