Posted by sid on January 8, 2002, at 10:16:57
In reply to fear of depression, posted by pedr on January 8, 2002, at 9:06:53
I am now out of major depression, and I am very afraid of it coming back. However, CBT has given me tools and confidence in myself to recognize the signs of it and to act so as to avoid relapses. Perhaps my fear made my major depression last longer, I am not sure... but you need to trust yourself better. Boredom and depression are very different. Perhaps you can learn to rationalize oyur fear better. Everybody gets bored from time to time. Not everybody gets depression; there is no link between the two. Have you tried CBT ?
> 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:sid
thread:16440
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/social/20020102/msgs/16449.html