E4. Zombies & Depression Quicksand

FRESH from the Therapy Couch: ZOMBIES & DEPRESSION QUICKSAND!!!

Psychotherapy Adventurers: Gamer Girl Heather, Super Bookwork Sarah, & Squirrel Girl Debbie

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Show Summary: In this episode . . .

TherapyBites Podcast is the home of the A.R.T. LAB which investigates, explores, & educates all about the neuroscience of Accurate, Realistic Thoughts & Life Affirming Beliefs.

Today we tackle the dark depths of depression.

As a child, I loved movies about adventurers trekking through jungles checkered with quicksand. The common wisdom was to remain motionless or you’d sink FASTER! Depression is its own kind of quicksand and it’s tempting to let it ZOMBIFY us into stopping all the practices in which we used to find meaning and value.

Differently from the common wisdom of vintage movies, “behavioral deactivation” can make you sink more QUICKLY and more DEEPLY into the depths of depression QUICKSAND. Distorted thoughts - beliefs which aren’t supported by evidence - increase the rate and depth of “sinkage” into the depths of depression.

One of the most sabotaging types of thinking is “emotional reasoning” which is THINKING that any emotion is EVIDENCE. There is no FEELING that is good evidence of being loved or not, your worth, your value, your guilt, or your future. Depression is also deepened by UNDER-thinking which is ignoring important aspects of your value, potential, and worth.

“Motivation” is also NOT an emotion but a DECISION based upon the VALUE & MEANING you attribute to certain tasks and behaviors. Crawling from the quicksand of depression requires realizing the VALUE in life tasks and engaging in them REGARDLESS of any emotions. MOVE - MOVE - MOVE!!!

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For the full show notes, visit https://therapybites.podbean.com/e/zombies

FOR OUR READERS . . . GOBBLE UP THE WHOLE THING!!! (Transcript): https://docs.google.com/document/d/1VJpBFWOITk5IRfTkoir3LO0LW7JYVrS9PT1pQEuwVWU/edit?usp=sharing