It is one of the great fallacies of modern-day thinking on the cause of depression that suddenly, a person’s Serotonin can plunge, without any external cause or thought processes involved, triggering depression. Likewise, most people attribute ‘reactive depression’ (ie – depression in reaction to an event such as divorce or the death of a friend, spouse or relative) to the event itself – ie – your husband/wife died, so you became depressed. However, it is not the event itself, but the thinking which comes from the event which is key.
Let me illustrate – If your spouse was to suddenly ask you for a divorce, you would think this would be a strongly negative event which would make you feel bad right? So what if you had been abused by your spouse or you had fallen in love with another person and were actually wishing you could get divorced? You would most likely be overjoyed and relieved if your spouse asked for a divorce under those circumstances.
So what I am trying to say is that it is not the event itself, but the ‘thought filters’ your mind overlays certain events which determines the emotional impact. Often, depression is characterized by inappropriately negative ‘thought filters’ and therefore, a large proportion of a depressed individual’s daily thinking is negative. For example – an offhand remark by your boss would be brushed off by the average person, however for a depressed person it may get run through their distorted ‘thought filter’ and result in thinking such as “I am going to be fired” – which will, without any shadow of a doubt, result in a low mood.
It is this constant negative thinking and resultant low mood which leads to low levels of Serotonin – which is where traditional antidepressants like SSRI’s come in as they break the feedback loop between negative thinking and low Serotonin (low Serotonin feels physically unpleasant also, which further feeds this vicious cycle). Of course, behavior is also a vital aspect of this feedback loop however it is not the subject of today’s topic so I will cover this at another time.
Okay, so now you are thinking – where does meditation fit in all this?
There are many different types of meditation such as counting the breath or reciting mantras. However there is another type of meditation which is involves watching your thoughts.
There are several variations of this depending on the tradition (Zen, Theravada, Tibetan Buddhism, Hindu traditions etc), however to illustrate simply -
1. Get comfortable and relaxed in the usual seated position you would normally meditate in
2. Take a few deep, relaxing breaths
3. Whilst breathing normally, simply wait for thoughts to pop into your head (which they WILL – trust me!). There are several variations of this too – you can simply sit without any object of focus or you can say in your mind “breathing in, breathing out” or similar.
4. When a thought pops into your head, notice it then label it. For example “thinking about what I am going to have for dinner” or “thinking about what my wife said to me earlier” or “hearing a dog bark” or “feeling itchy on my foot”
5. Once you have labelled the thought, let it go and go back to where you were. When starting out I think it is very important to keep the breath as your ‘anchor’ in the present. There are advanced techniques such as Shikantaza in Zen, where you have no anchor at all – however these are very advanced practices and nigh on impossible for beginners to master
So, what does this technique have to do with negative thinking and depression?
As you continue this practice on a regular basis, something quite magical happens. Slowly, a little screen goes up between “You” (or what you perceive as You) and “Your Thoughts”. So, eventually, one day, you will be going about your business in daily life and suddenly something amazing will happen – For example – someone will cut you off in traffic and you will probably start to get angry and suddenly you will find yourself labelling the thought “getting angry about being cut off in traffic”. This has the fantastic effect of short-circuiting what could have got you feeling quite uptight and possibly got you into a bad mood.
Taken to the extreme, the effect can be kind of like watching a movie from the third-person perspective – you develop the skill to sit back and ‘watch the show’ without getting too sucked into the plot.
Another skill that this practice develops is the ability to control the content of your thinking to a certain extent. With practice, you develop the skill to notice a negative or overly emotional thought just as it is bubbling to the surface. Through your practice you will have developed the ability to notice it, label it and then let it go.
This point cannot be emphasized strongly enough as conditions such as depression and Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD) are often characterized by a sense of being at the mercy of unwanted thoughts. Most non OCD sufferers do not realise that OCD is a type of Anxiety disorder – it is not just repeated hand washing or lock-checking, but the anxious thoughts which drive these behaviors. The key point here is that, with practice, you CAN gain control over you thoughts. By control, I don’t mean that you have the power to stop all thought (this is, by and large a myth surrounding meditation) – it means you have the power to let thoughts go and not be overly bothered by their content.
A couple of final thoughts – please let me be clear that this skill is not instantaneous – it comes with repeated practice and effort – but the rewards are more than worth it. Also, please note that this practice is not appropriate for anyone currently in the acute phase of depression, anxiety or OCD. If you are in the acute phase – first get professional treatment (drug, CBT etc) then, when you have ‘cooled down’ psychologically you can start working on something like this which will help your long term recovery from and prevention of future episodes of depression.
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