Is there any hope for me?

[YoullNeverWalkAlone]

Hi Mrs M...glad you are starting to feel better.
As I said in my earlier post, I Told you the sun will start shining again, it can’t stay behind those clouds forever. Lots of love xx

[Carnation]

Yes, that's the one Mrs M, she's brilliant!

[Carnation]

Nice words You'llNeverWalkAlone x

[Mrsmitchell1984]

FYI BlueIris, I haven't had decent nails for years!

I have just been to a therapy session and I just wanted to report back so that you can see what is helpful - maybe someone else would find it helpful too:

am I the only one feeling this way? Am I alone? We often hear it reported that 1 in 4 people suffer depression and/or anxiety at some point in their lives. My counsellor thinks it is 50% that suffer and she says that the rest are either in denial, have developed their own tools and/or usually have some other problem. So we are not alone. There is a you tube video by Joe Oliver (I think) called Passengers on the bus. It is uses research of thoughts of lots of people who have suffered and you realise the thoughts you have are very similar- this means that we are not alone.

why do we feel this way? It’s in our DNA to think negatively for survival. So going back to the days when we were living in caves or in the forest- if we heard a russle in the bush- and we think positively - that it is just the wind- then we are putting ourselves in danger. If we assume the worst then we can be more prepared. Now we don’t have the same problems - but we still have negative thinking in our DNA. But this negatively thinking can be changed with rewiring the brain with CBT (see the you tube video neurons that fire together wire together).

what else can help? There is so much research which shows that CBT, acceptance and commitment therapy and mindfulness cannot only shorten a depressive/anxious episode but also cure you for life. The keys seems to be accepting these feelings and becoming aware of how thoughts affect you with mindfulness. A great app mindfulness association which can (over time and with lots of practice) strengthen the ability to see the thoughts as just thoughts and create some distance so they don’t always lead you into the black
hole. My counsellor showed me a picture of a man who kept falling down the same hole and struggling to get out. She said we can keep falling down it if we are on autopilot. However, If become more aware of what leads us into that hole and use mindfulness- we can see the hole before we even fall down it or make it easier to get out if we keep falling down the hole. Ruby Wax is a big advocate of mindfulness and she always books herself into a retreat (lucky thing) if she feels herself getting depressed. She says this reduces the duration of the episode each time- I won’t put timescales as that may frighten people.

Therefore, we are not alone and there is also a lot we can do to help ourselves.

From someone who has been to the lowest of the lows- but is feeling more positive today xxxx

[Mrsmitchell1984]

It's okay, I promise. We've all needed it at some point before, and we'll probably all need it again at some point.

Thank you Blue Iris - how true is that xxx

[Mrsmitchell1984]

Hi Mrs M...glad you are starting to feel better.
As I said in my earlier post, I Told you the sun will start shining again, it can’t stay behind those clouds forever. Lots of love xx

lovely words- thank you. How are you today? X

[Mrsmitchell1984]

Yes, that's the one Mrs M, she's brilliant!

She is Mrs C- I really felt better having listened to her xxxx

[BlueIris]

It does my heart good to hear you sounding so much better.

[Mrsmitchell1984]

It does my heart good to hear you sounding so much better.

Thank you BlueIris xxxxx such a lovely thing to say x

[YoullNeverWalkAlone]

Hi....

Thank you carnation....

I’m struggling a bit at the moment Mrs M, mainly with the HA side of things. I have about 4 Claire Weekes books think I will dig them out again, they were my bible at one point. Xx