4 ms·

There's some good stuff here, but it completely skips gratitude. Focusing on what you're grateful for is one of the more powerful and best proven methods to co

by dlsso 7y ago

There's some good stuff here, but it completely skips gratitude. Focusing on what you're grateful for is one of the more powerful and best proven methods to combat depression. I've been through clinical depression and consider it the key to my recovery.

WalterSear 7y ago
There's evidence to suggest that this isn't the case. https://news.osu.edu/gratitude-interventions-dont-help-with-depression-anxiety/ https://news.osu.edu/gratitude-interventions-dont-help-with-...
- dlsso 7y ago
  There's an overwhelming amount of evidence that gratitude is inversely correlated with depression, and a good amount that shows it to be useful as an intervention as well. Even the article that you provided as evidence to the contrary found positive effects, just not dramatically higher than placebo. For example, here are the first couple pages of results I got for gratitude studies. Every single one found a positive affect. https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/1359105315572455 https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/135910531557245... https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/01443410903493934 https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/0144341090349393... https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10902-014-9542-3 https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10902-014-9542-3 https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/spanish-journal-of-psychology/article/effects-of-counting-blessings-on-subjective-wellbeing-a-gratitude-intervention-in-a-spanish-sample/33A5D1DD01AD62CAE7B4E296A9C9EFC4 https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/spanish-journal-of-p... https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0092656607001286 https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S00926... https://synapse.koreamed.org/search.php?where=aview&id=10.12934/jkpmhn.2015.24.2.136&code=0199JKAPMHN&vmode=FULL https://synapse.koreamed.org/search.php?where=aview&id=10.12... https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0191886915004614 https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S01918... https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/15298868.2015.1095794 https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/15298868.2015.10... https://psycnet.apa.org/record/2016-51687-001 https://psycnet.apa.org/record/2016-51687-001 https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/sjop.12252 https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/sjop.12252
deleted 7y ago
[deleted]
chrismarlow9 7y ago
what if you find it difficult to have gratitude? you want to be grateful for what you have, but you're not, and can't explain why. if you don't care about anything, meaning you have no gratitude, how do you jumpstart this process?
- dlsso 7y ago
  Great question. I wouldn't worry about feeling grateful. Just reminding yourself of "what you have," as you phrased it, is enough. When we're depressed we have a tendency to fall into the mindset that everything is bad. Reminding yourself that there is something good in your life helps break that cycle. If you can make it a habit your brain actually gets better at finding the positives and it starts to create a positive feedback loop. P.S. If you want to learn how to make habits easier I highly recommend Atomic Habits https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/40121378-atomic-habits?from_search=true&qid=pGPUpwag2G&rank=1 https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/40121378-atomic-habits?f...
  - chrismarlow9 7y ago
    i actually just finished that. you're right it's A great read
- sstangl 7y ago
  There are two options I'm familiar with: 1. Without wondering if you sincerely mean it, make a point to say "thank you." Typically if you are depressed you will be alone, and so it is possible to recognize situations where you took an action now to make something easier for yourself later: for example, doing the dishes now instead of waiting for them to pile up. When that happens, verbally thank yourself on behalf of your future self. If you're capable of doing this, it jump-starts gratitude after a while. 2. Instead of feeling gratitude for things you perceive as positive, look for things that you perceive as neutral. The majority of your sensory experience is neutral. If your emotions are very negative, instead of looking for a dichotomy between negative and positive, look for a dichotomy between negative and neutral. You will perceive that neutral is not-negative. Because neutral is not-negative, increased perception of neutral sensations is a positive. If you perceive neutral sensations as positive for long enough, it jump-starts gratitude after a while.

by dlsso 7y ago

WalterSear 7y ago

There's evidence to suggest that this isn't the case. https://news.osu.edu/gratitude-interventions-dont-help-with-depression-anxiety/ https://news.osu.edu/gratitude-interventions-dont-help-with-...

dlsso 7y ago
There's an overwhelming amount of evidence that gratitude is inversely correlated with depression, and a good amount that shows it to be useful as an intervention as well. Even the article that you provided as evidence to the contrary found positive effects, just not dramatically higher than placebo. For example, here are the first couple pages of results I got for gratitude studies. Every single one found a positive affect. https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/1359105315572455 https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/135910531557245... https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/01443410903493934 https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/0144341090349393... https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10902-014-9542-3 https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10902-014-9542-3 https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/spanish-journal-of-psychology/article/effects-of-counting-blessings-on-subjective-wellbeing-a-gratitude-intervention-in-a-spanish-sample/33A5D1DD01AD62CAE7B4E296A9C9EFC4 https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/spanish-journal-of-p... https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0092656607001286 https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S00926... https://synapse.koreamed.org/search.php?where=aview&id=10.12934/jkpmhn.2015.24.2.136&code=0199JKAPMHN&vmode=FULL https://synapse.koreamed.org/search.php?where=aview&id=10.12... https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0191886915004614 https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S01918... https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/15298868.2015.1095794 https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/15298868.2015.10... https://psycnet.apa.org/record/2016-51687-001 https://psycnet.apa.org/record/2016-51687-001 https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/sjop.12252 https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/sjop.12252

deleted 7y ago

[deleted]

chrismarlow9 7y ago

what if you find it difficult to have gratitude? you want to be grateful for what you have, but you're not, and can't explain why. if you don't care about anything, meaning you have no gratitude, how do you jumpstart this process?

dlsso 7y ago
Great question. I wouldn't worry about feeling grateful. Just reminding yourself of "what you have," as you phrased it, is enough. When we're depressed we have a tendency to fall into the mindset that everything is bad. Reminding yourself that there is something good in your life helps break that cycle. If you can make it a habit your brain actually gets better at finding the positives and it starts to create a positive feedback loop. P.S. If you want to learn how to make habits easier I highly recommend Atomic Habits https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/40121378-atomic-habits?from_search=true&qid=pGPUpwag2G&rank=1 https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/40121378-atomic-habits?f...
- chrismarlow9 7y ago
  i actually just finished that. you're right it's A great read
sstangl 7y ago
There are two options I'm familiar with: 1. Without wondering if you sincerely mean it, make a point to say "thank you." Typically if you are depressed you will be alone, and so it is possible to recognize situations where you took an action now to make something easier for yourself later: for example, doing the dishes now instead of waiting for them to pile up. When that happens, verbally thank yourself on behalf of your future self. If you're capable of doing this, it jump-starts gratitude after a while. 2. Instead of feeling gratitude for things you perceive as positive, look for things that you perceive as neutral. The majority of your sensory experience is neutral. If your emotions are very negative, instead of looking for a dichotomy between negative and positive, look for a dichotomy between negative and neutral. You will perceive that neutral is not-negative. Because neutral is not-negative, increased perception of neutral sensations is a positive. If you perceive neutral sensations as positive for long enough, it jump-starts gratitude after a while.