A Permanent Cure for Depression: Prepare to Delve

A Permanent Cure for Depression

part 2 - Prepare to Delve

part 1 - Going Down

Prepare to Delve

I previously discussed that as the state of depression has a cause it must also have a solution. However down you may feel, this isn't a glib statement to cheer you up, but rather a call to arms to put into action your rational, logical mind to solve this very personal puzzle. Indeed, it has been shown experimentally that depressed people are more capable at problem-solving than non-depressed people; this is known in the psychology literature as depressive realism. Without the happiness pills many people seem to take, depressed individuals have a better grasp of potential outcomes without being suggestive to false hopes. The one caveat to this is that the situations be emotionally neutral. As soon as real life scenarios come to the fore with their messy personal and emotional parameters then depressed people's realism becomes tangled up and unable to function as effectively.

Herein, however, lies a possible path towards self-discovery: treat your condition in the third person. There are many paths to self-analysis and I just wish to go over a few during these articles. Different people respond to different triggers and the aim here is not to be all-inclusive but to outline some of the first steps. Treating your mind in the third person is a widespread method in the meditation literature. We feel so much in possession of our thoughts that we fail to notice how out of control they really are. This is a cultural programming that propagates the myth that we are truly in control without specifying who is really in control of what.

Just take the example of trying to remember something. You meet someone at a party; you recognise their face but just cannot recall their name. How do you dredge up that piece of information from memory? You cannot type in a keyword as it is that very word you are missing. You try to form connections. Where did you last see that person? What did you say to them? Were you formally introduced? Fanning out those connection may lead to a recall of their name... or maybe not. Having reached a blank you try to avoid contact so as not to show that you have forgotten who they are. But your mind continues to work behind the scenes. Your unconscious has not stopped that search algorithm. An hour later, whilst scoffing more canapés and downing your cocktail the name suddenly pops into your mind with crystal clarity.

This is a common occurrence not just at parties but with anybody who is concentrated on solving a particular problem, be they a scientist, writer or artist. It seems to me difficult to ascribe any control to such processes. All we can hope for is to catch those flashes of memory or illuminations as they happen and thank the universe for the gift. There has to be a conscious recognition of the solution but its discovery cannot be said to be a conscious act. One cannot look consciously for something that one does not know beforehand what it is! However unfathomable the search algorithm might be it is also important to consciously set it in motion.

Having given your unconscious some credit for the discovery also leads to the possibility that your unconscious is also hiding a lot of other processes. Perhaps it is also hiding things that are not so virtuous, not so self-aggrandizing, not so... you! Having seen that depressed people have an enhanced capacity to appreciate naked reality, and given that so much of conscious reality arises from an unconscious source, putting the two together should turn your attention to that inner world that is both the source of brilliant intuitions as well as dark secrets.

At this point, turning inwards is not a form of narcissism but a realistic view in the mirror. I also have the feeling that many people believe there is actually nothing inside! Our culture is an apotheosis of surfaces, an adoration of form over content, that to take seriously one's own internal psyche is tantamount to exposing one's internal organs in public. All those books about becoming more emotional seem designed to popping one's cork without being self-conscious rather than a deeper awareness of how the pressure builds. Being depressed is as emotional as being effervescent.

The depressed individual now has two modes in which to attack their depression: rational thought and inner meditation. Before embarking on this quest there is an important piece of equipment to buy: a diary. It is important to stop going round in circles, to stop having the same morbid thoughts resurfacing. The only way to stop this is to give flesh to those thoughts; to write them down. With all our technology I still think pen and paper are best. Firstly, it forces you to physically write down the thoughts, ideas, insights and research findings. Secondly, people's minds work in different ways and insights are not always constructed of words; sometimes they may be pictures or icons, even music or other senses such as smells. Pictures or doodles whilst writing may well be as informative as the words and this is far easier to do on paper than on a computer. Hand-writing also takes more thought than just printing some online documents and then highlighting whatever seems vaguely interesting. Yes, you can still do that but then condense what you've learnt and write it down. Remember that you're looking for a key, one key, your key, and not a whole bunch of them jangling you to distraction.

If you don't like the idea of a personal diary then just call it something else, such as 'research findings'. I used to include pages and pages of discoveries in psychology, analysis, science, religion, logic and so on, not just personal experiences. Very often the answer to a question becomes obvious only after asking the right question. Writing a diary as a sequence of questions and answers also helps the unconscious in setting off that mysterious search algorithm. Rational thought and emotional reactions are here but two sides of the same quest. I think it a mistake to try and separate them as our minds consist of both functions. Attacking the problem rationally may well lead to an emotional response so be prepared for this. This may be in the form of dreams or visions, or perhaps an outpouring of emotion from some esoteric well. Write it all down as these are signs of progress.

Armed with your razor-sharp sword of rational thinking and your book of personal knowledge, you are ready to set forth on your quest. Any protective armour should be discarded. You might realize at some point that it is too heavy and weighing you down – discard it when you no longer need it. You may at this stage feel like Don Quixote, dressed in the parodies of knightly garb and risibly unfit for the challenges ahead. But don't let this dishearten you, the tools of a mental quest are in your mind. Nothing else is needed at the start; just the first mental steps.

Next article coming soon...