The Mindful Way through Depression

What Hacker News says

1. devinjflickAug 2019
   For those interested in evidence based meditation for treating mental illness, I suggest the following video and book.

   The mindful way through depression: Zindel Segal at TEDxUTSC https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1A4w3W94ygA The book that the talk is based on: https://www.amazon.com/Mindful-Way-Through-Depression-Unhapp...

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2. devinjflickFeb 2019
   Please seek help if you have seriously considered taking your life.

   I've dealt with this exact issue in my life before. Here's a few of my recommendations.

   If homelessness is an issue, get any income you can. Whatever job you can get to get your bills paid, take out loans, credit cards do what you gotta do to take care of yourself. Every time you go to that job, no matter how you feel about it, tell yourself, this is the first step forward. This is me taking care of myself.

   There are a lot of free resources in most cities. Sometimes talking to a social worker is completely free and can be very helpful. Talking to an external non bias source who has "no skin in the game" can be profound.

   Somethings to consider:

   How much sleep are you getting? If it's on the low side (under 6 hours) this will greatly contribute to depressive thoughts or moods. Typically sleep can move you into better mental health than medication can.

   How regular is your sleep? Are you falling asleep/waking up at the same time everyday? If this is varying wildly it will throw your circadian rhythm off and your sleep will be of poorer quality, which will worsen your mood.

   How much physical exercise are you getting? Physical exercise has been shown to release a whole range of chemicals that will affect your mood. Try to get at least 20m of rigorous exercise a day no matter what. I prefer in the morning right after waking up. There's less resistance at that time and afterwards you can open yourself up to whatever you want to do with the rest of your day knowing you've taken care of yourself. I prefer yoga specifically this youtuber: https://www.youtube.com/user/yogawithadriene Her "TRUE" and "DEDICATE" series have helped me greatly both physically and mentally.

   Have you considered medication? Most people are very hesitant to go on an antidepressant or mood regulator. There's a lot of stigma that surrounds it. But at the worst you try one for a month and decide its not working and move on. The alternative (suicide) IS FAR WORSE and permanent. Please consider medication prior to any final step. There's a whole range that can be prescribed that can affect you differently, some can make you sleepy after taking them some can make you feel more awake. Talk to your primary care physician. They can typically administer a questionnaire and ask some supplemental questions that will help narrow down what will work for you. Don't let the medical cost be prohibitive. Typically this medication is cheap and can be prescribed after just an initial visit. Also request a full blood work up to check your Vitamin D and B and B12 levels, all these greatly contribute to depressed moods.

   Finally I'll recommend a book that has helped me break away from the idea that I am what I feel/how I feel. https://www.amazon.com/Mindful-Way-Through-Depression-Unhapp...

   I hope this helps. You're not alone. Many have been in your shoes. Take care of yourself friend.

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3. jm__87Dec 2018
   I've read and followed the advice in both "The Depression Cure" and "The Mindful Way Through Depression" and can say both helped quite a bit. I personally did not find that therapy did much of anything for my depression (though I will say CBT for sleep was a life saver for me, so it was worth it just for that).

   Depression is a pretty tricky thing to deal with, but I personally find that keeping a daily meditation practice helps a lot. Ultimately, being more mindful throughout the day means you'll ruminate less and dealing with the psychological component of depression is like 90% of the battle. Mindfulness will not improve your life in any of the areas that might have led you to feel depressed in the first place (e.g. feeling alone because you are alone, feeling like you have not accomplished enough, etc), but it will allow you to break away sooner from the rumination associated with these feelings so you can work on improving your life in some measurable way instead of wasting time feeling miserable.

   I also think depression can just be a tradeoff for some people with a given mindset. Some people are very hard on themselves when they fail. These people are probably going to have a better chance at being successful since they are always taking responsibility for their failures and trying to improve themselves, but they are also going to have a higher chance of becoming burnt out and depressed as a result of the high expectations they have placed on themselves. The state of being depressed is obviously extremely counterproductive to what they were trying to achieve in the first place - eventually the goals shift from trying to start that business or get that promotion to just trying to get out of bed in the morning, and ruminating on this setback only feeds the depression. Ultimately, cutting out the rumination is how to resolve this in the short term, and mindfulness is the tool for doing that. In the long term, these people need to realize they are only human and have limitations and figure out how to take better care of themselves or learn to not be so hard on themselves in the first place.

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4. jm__87Jul 2018
   Personally, I have found it helps to just always try to take a pragmatic perspective: how is what I'm doing right now helping me achieve what I want in life? If you spend an hour thinking about how you suck at various aspects of your life, how is it making you feel? When you feel that way, are you in the best state of mind to achieve your goals? Absolutely not. So you need strategies to deal with those useless thoughts. Distract yourself with something else or reframe your thinking somehow. In the long run, the ideal would be to not have those unhelpful automatic thoughts at all (this is what therapy is for) but in the short run, they are there and you gotta find a way to deal with and manage them if you want to move your life forward. Meditation/mindfulness can be extremely helpful in this regard. I'd highly recommend "The Mindful Way Through Depression" to learn some techniques to help. The goal here should be to catch yourself sooner when you're thinking unhelpful thoughts instead of marinating in them for a long period of time (and creating a more negative effect on your mood) and learning a strategy to get out of that mode of thinking.
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5. jm__87May 2018
   A lot of people here are offering up books with life advice (though I saw a recommendation for Sapiens which I can also highly recommend) which may or may not help depending on what your problem is. Why not just practice introspection daily through meditation instead? For some motivation and evidence on what it can do for you, I'd recommend "Why Buddhism is True". In spite of its title, the book aims to give some logic behind mindfulness meditation. If specifically you have been dealing with chronic low mood as a result of your life shattering crisis, I'd also recommend "The Mindful Way Through Depression". If that isn't an issue for you, I personally enjoy Jon Kabat Zinn's writing in general so I'd research and pick up one of his books. Joseph Goldstein, Sharon Salzberg and Jack Kornfield are some others in this field who have a lot of experience teaching mindfulness meditation in a Western context and have a lot of very useful advice when it comes to practicing mindfulness meditation. There is another popular "how to meditate" book out there called The Mind Illuminated which I see recommended on HN every now and then, though I personally feel it is a bit overkill (it is more of a textbook). With regard to Alan Watts, I've only read "The Wisdom of Insecurity" and personally found it to be a waste of time and money, though I guess you can read it online for free so that saves you the money at least :).
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6. crispinbOct 2017
   Firstly I would start with some introspection. Techniques from afar can help, but you may find that you have resources well known to you, near at hand, that may offer some immediate relief. What springs to mind if you imagine "running away"? Where and what would you like to run away to? What do you associate with joy and freedom? If you spend a little time introspecting & remembering, you might already find you know of some things to do, whether it be surfing or reading or walking in the moonlight. In my case a good run, or certain types of gigs, offer peaks that can counter much day-to-day difficulty. These resources can become a bit hidden by the daily grind. Digging them up and allocating time for them might be useful.

   Secondly, if you're a reader I think Jon Kabat-Zinn's book The Mindful Way through Depression is an excellent intro to meditation. Don't be put off by the title -- it's useful for more than just depression. It's a decent read, is very secular in tone, offers various ways in to thinking about and approaching meditation that have been fruitfully used in clinical settings, and has a set of guided meditations on the associated CD that are easier to start with than trying to remember instructions.

   Thirdly, if meditation appeals to you, why not find a local zen or vipassana group? There's something a little heightened about meditating with a group that can be motivating. Many such groups offer a weekly sitting, and are usually pretty relaxed (not demanding you believe anything, join up, etc).

   Good luck.

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