Depression

 

As a Coach over the past 30 years, I have helped many people learn to approach their depression differently. Over 32 million people will suffer from depression sometime in their life (you are not alone). Whether you are suffering with these problems yourself or someone you care about is suffering with depression, the first step is to realize that there is help! I will take you through a series of steps that can help you develop a healthy approach to this problem.


Step 1: Learning the nature of depression – symptoms, types, and causes. It is important to understand what you are dealing with as you begin the change process.


Step 2: Learning the internal patterns within yourself that feed into and fuel your depressive reactions. We all have Perceptual Filters that affect what we experience and how we experience it. Powerful examples of Perceptual Filters that feed and maintain depression are: “The Time Machine”, “If Only…”, “Seeing Half Empty”, and “Shame vs. Regret”. Beginning to clean these filters has a profound impact on your depression. It is also important to realize we have feelings about our feelings – “Second-Order Feelings” – that fan the flames of anxiety/panic. The belief: “That’s Just The Way I Am” adds a powerless, hopeless dimension.


Step 3: Learning about the Adult Child Character. Understanding Self-Esteem is a key to unlocking the mystery of identity. The environment we grow up in has a powerful impact on how we learn our perception of self – Developing Self-Esteem. In all my years of coaching people struggling with depression, I have never found one that didn’t suffer from wounded parts of self that had been rejected and disowned. These wounded parts play an active role in depression.


Step 4: Learning to develop your own “Inner Coach” to approach the healing process. There is a healthy New Program approach to your depression. In my experience, how you approach the process of change is the key to successfully making the healthy changes in your life today. Change is possible in the present! It is a lifetime adventure of becoming, living consciously in the present, looking for Nuggets of wisdom about healthy change. Give yourself the tools needed for making healthy growth in your life today. The Action Plan shares some of the resources that can help you make your desired changes the path of least resistance.


Step 5: Realizing that this material is deep wisdom about the process of change, find someone to discuss and share your reactions with as you go through the material. This is a very important step in the healing of your depression. Select someone you can feel safe being open with in the sharing process, or look into a free support group like CAIR Self-Help Groups, or CAIRing Grace Groups.

 

© Copyright 2008 Psychological Asssociates                                      James O. Henman                                            Phone: 209.765.9528