Overcoming feelings of sadness can involve treating yourself with compassion and self-care - which can be an effective, easy way to help depression. Researchers have discovered that having compassion for yourself during hard times can help lift feelings of sadness and despair.
Depression or feelings of sadness can involve blaming other people – or yourself. If you're depressed, you may dwell on your pain and frustration, obsess about how life should be, or criticize other people and the world in general.
This type of depression help - practicing compassion and self-care - is based on research from psychology professor Mark R. Leary of Duke University. He says, "Self-compassion helps to eliminate a lot of the anger, depression, and pain we experience when things go badly for us."
When You Practice Compassion to Help With Depression, You:
- Feel less anger, frustration, and pain, depression.
- Blame yourself or beat yourself up far less often.
- Get defensive or ornery less often.
- Struggle less with painful memories (real or imagined).
- Accept responsibility when things go wrong.
- Deal with negative emotions in healthy ways.
- Have a self-perspective that doesn't depend on the outcomes of events, but rather on your own positive view of yourself.
"Self-compassion helps people not to add a layer of self-recrimination on top of whatever bad thing happens to them," says Leary. This helps with depression because it lifts feelings of blame and shame.
How Do You Practice Self-Care and Compassion?
- Be kind to yourself (rather than critical). You know when you're being hard on yourself, and you have the power to stop.
- View your problem as a normal part of life.
- Identify and accept both the good and the bad with tranquility and peace.
- Focus on thoughts that make you feel safe, calm, happy, and peaceful.
- Turn away from bitterness, anger, disappointment, and frustration – after you've spent some time feeling the negative emotions.
- Breathe deeply, get fresh air, and enjoy the view (even if it's from your hospital room).
- Pray, meditate, or take "down time."
- Savor foods you love: chocolate ice cream, peaches, spicy chicken wings, gingerbread cookies, cheese-covered nachos. Practice moderation – because if you overindulge, you're no longer savoring.
Compassion and self-care can go a long way in helping depression and easing pain when things go wrong in your life. Compassion can be a more effective way to cope with depression than building self-esteem, in fact. Leary says, "American society has spent a great deal of time and effort trying to promote people's self-esteem, when a far more important ingredient of well-being may be self-compassion."
If you're kind and compassionate to yourself, you're more likely to survive depression and life at its worst.
Related Articles on Depression Symptoms, Treatments, and Help:
- How Do You Know If You're Depressed?
- Causes of Depression in Women
- How Aromatherapy Improves Depression
- Treatment Tips for Seasonal Affective Disorder
 |
