Depression: Gaining a Better Understanding

Today, I want to briefly discuss 5 areas to help understand how your life experiences are connected and their overall influence on your life.

Having a deeper understanding of them and how they interact can help you better understand current problems.

These areas are your environment, behaviors, thoughts, moods, and physical reactions.Each of these areas directly influences the others.  The way we think about ourselves and life is heavily influenced by family, culture, religion, gender, and traumatic events. 

A change in your behavior can be caused by a change in your environment due to a life event.  Likewise, a change in your automatic thoughts (images/words that randomly pop into your head) can influence how you feel, both emotionally and physically, therefore resulting in a change in your behavior.  Typically, when a mood is experienced, there is a thought connected to it that helps define it.  Mood intensity may cause a distortion in the thought; therefore, it is important to check the validity of our moods and beliefs.

There is good news!  A small change in one of these areas can subsequently cause changes in the others (a domino effect) by improving understanding of how these areas are currently interacting.  These five areas are connected. Therefore, small positive changes can lead to changes in all other areas.  The hope is that this exercise will provide a practical way for you to better understand your problems by paying attention to what you are experiencing in these five areas.  While changes may need to be made in several areas for you to start feeling better, changes in your behavior are important if you want to create long-term beneficialimprovements.  With the help of a therapist, you can get the support you need to take this journey. 

Write down the five areas and see what connections you can find and what you can do now to start your change. 

Ask yourself:

1. Are my thoughts and moods affecting my behavior?

2. Did a change in my environment or a life situation lead me to make changes in the other areas?

3. Do I see a connection between my present mood and thoughts?

Review the following example. 

Although Ebony is going through a tough time, what connections can be made between the five areas and her feelings of depression? What small positive change can Ebony make in her life? 

Example (Ebony)

Life change/situation/environment: She was sexually molested by her father as a child; he is now remarried and has other children. She is single and hasn’t been in a meaningful relationship in a long time.  She is overlooked and overworked at her present job. She has received negative feedback at work due to poor performance. She has low self-esteem and a negative body image.

Behaviors: She is avoiding family/friends, although working out, she is eating unhealthy foods to self-soothe, and consistently getting to work late

Thoughts: “I’ve failed in both my work and personal life”, “No one loves me, I’m never going to get married, “Talking to friends and family drains me, I'd rather not go.”

Mood: Depressed

Physical reactions: Although oversleeping, she still feels tired most of the time and has low energy.

Now you can fill these 5 areas for yourself.

Understanding your problem 

Life change/situation/environment: _____________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________________________

Behavior: ______________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________________________

Thoughts: ______________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________________________

Mood: _________________________________________________________________________________

Physical reactions: _____________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________________________

If there is an area where you feel stuck, please reach out to us. We are here to help.

Janet Henry, MA, LAC

Helping individuals heal and develop skills to find their purpose in life. Janet is available in Midland Park, Fort Lee and telehealth. Sessions are available in English and Spanish.