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If stoicism is a kind of proto-Cognitive-Behavioral-Therapy, and CBT improves depression, it really should. Gratitude is IMO very important to improve depressio
by manmal 10y ago
If stoicism is a kind of proto-Cognitive-Behavioral-Therapy, and CBT improves depression, it really should. Gratitude is IMO very important to improve depression, and stoicism could help with that. Personally I must say that the negative visualization that Irvine proposes causes me problems rather than solve them, because it adds anxiety. Also, imagining things worse than what you have does not automatically make all things right - you can still long for a better version of your world while imagining a horror scenario.
Accepting reality as the only possible (and thus, best) reality works a lot better for me.
Identifying misalignments in my views of other people (or the world), which lead to negative knee-jerk emotions or general low-tune malaise, is another "mind hack" that works for me, but I would not necessarily call this stoic - but a CBT therapist might suggest that.
- bnjms 10y agoI wish to strongly second your observation that focusing on the worst case results in one steering towards the worst case and leads to rumination which results or at least worsens depression. And acceptance of reality as it is seems to he roughly the antidote. The below is dangerous for some minds. "By keeping the very worst that can happen in our heads constantly, the Stoics tell us, we immunise ourselves from the dangers of too much so-called ‘positive thinking’"