Speaker 1: Hey, everybody, it is Eric from the one you Feed
Speaker 1: with this week's mini episode, and what I want to
Speaker 1: talk about this week is the role of willpower in
Speaker 1: dealing with depression. I posted a tweet the other day
Speaker 1: that said the best way out of depression is to
Speaker 1: hate it and not let yourself get used to it,
Speaker 1: which prompted a response from one of my followers that said,
Speaker 1: not true. You cannot will yourself out of incorrect wiring
Speaker 1: in the brain. Watch the platitudes. So this kind of
Speaker 1: got me thinking about, well, what did I mean by
Speaker 1: that phrase, and what what is the role of will
Speaker 1: in getting better from depression? And I also am not
Speaker 1: a fan of platitudes. I first got this idea about
Speaker 1: the best way out of depression is to hate it
Speaker 1: and not let yourself get used to it from Andrew
Speaker 1: Solomon's book The Noonday Demon, and he said something to
Speaker 1: that effect, and I then thought a little bit back on,
Speaker 1: you know, how I've dealt with depression over the years. Also,
Speaker 1: Jonathan Rottenberg's an upcoming guest. His book is called The Depths,
Speaker 1: and in it he says a depressed person who still
Speaker 1: has the ability to get bent out of shape is
Speaker 1: more likely to recover. In that same book, he also
Speaker 1: talks about something called emotional context insensitivity, which is something
Speaker 1: that a lot of depressed people have, which basically means
Speaker 1: that regardless of the stimulus, positive or negative, we tend
Speaker 1: to react just about the same. The conventional wisdom is
Speaker 1: that depressed people are more likely to cry, so if
Speaker 1: you saw something sad, a depressed person would be more
Speaker 1: likely to cry. But the truth is not really um,
Speaker 1: a depressed person's range emotional range shrinks so dramatically that
Speaker 1: it doesn't really matter what is coming at us. We
Speaker 1: sort of feel the same. And so this idea of
Speaker 1: hating it and not letting ourselves get used to it
Speaker 1: is sort of a reaction against that. Um, you know.
Speaker 1: Johnny lydon A k. Johnny Rotten from The Sex Pistol said,
Speaker 1: anger is an energy, and so I think that anger
Speaker 1: is just a slightly higher to use people in the
Speaker 1: energy healing world, a slightly higher vibration. Right, there's a
Speaker 1: little bit more to it. There is energy in anger,
Speaker 1: whereas depression seems to be nothing. And so if we
Speaker 1: can take if we can make that small step and
Speaker 1: get a little bit more energy, then we can do
Speaker 1: something with it. I do not believe we can will
Speaker 1: ourselves out of incorrect wiring in the brain anymore than
Speaker 1: we can will ourselves out of heart disease. But with
Speaker 1: heart disease, just like depression, there are healthy actions that
Speaker 1: we can take. There are things that we can do
Speaker 1: that put us on the road to recovery. And so
Speaker 1: that's really what I'm talking about. So the will is
Speaker 1: not in saying cheer up. The will is in making
Speaker 1: small steps. So we could take a small a short walk,
Speaker 1: whether that be thirty minutes or three minutes. We could
Speaker 1: read something that we find and comforting or inspiring. We
Speaker 1: could call a friend, we could investigate professional help. We
Speaker 1: could eat a little bit better than what we normally eat,
Speaker 1: a little bit less sugar, whatever that thing might be.
Speaker 1: We can do something that moves us in the direction
Speaker 1: of healthiness. And regardless of how small those steps are,
Speaker 1: no matter how microscopic they may seem, they do add
Speaker 1: up over time. So if we can find ourselves in
Speaker 1: a spot where we are less willing to accept our depression,
Speaker 1: Martin Seligman talks about depression is learned, helplessness and anger
Speaker 1: is a slightly better approach than helplessness. Now, I don't
Speaker 1: want to get confused here, because anger and irritation can
Speaker 1: be a symptom of depression, particularly in men, So that's
Speaker 1: not what I'm talking about. What I am talking about, though,
Speaker 1: is directing that that will, that anger, that belief that
Speaker 1: things can be better, and a desire. It's not even
Speaker 1: the right word that I'm looking for. Dissatisfaction is closer.
Speaker 1: I guess what I'm trying to say is anything that
Speaker 1: causes is to take a stand, to try and build
Speaker 1: a resistance, anything that says I have had enough of this.
Speaker 1: I'm going to do something, no matter how small it is,
Speaker 1: to move away from it. I think that is what
Speaker 1: I mean in that statement about the the best way
Speaker 1: added depression is to not get used to it. So
Speaker 1: don't let it go on too long. The longer we
Speaker 1: allow it, the longer we tolerate it, the deeper its
Speaker 1: clause gets. So don't get used to it, and you know,
Speaker 1: build a real dislike for it. Not a dislike for ourselves,
Speaker 1: but a dislike for this depression and what it's taking
Speaker 1: from our lives. So I don't know if that's helpful
Speaker 1: at all, but that tweet exchange kind of got me
Speaker 1: thinking about that and the role of of will in
Speaker 1: dealing with depression and other mental illness and really anything
Speaker 1: in life. So um as always, thanks so much for listening.
Speaker 1: Um I'd love to hear from you. Emails are always great,
Speaker 1: iTunes reviews are as you know, always appreciated, and um
Speaker 1: I hope to talk with you soon and we'll have
Speaker 1: an interview out on Tuesday. All right, Thanks bye,