itesCasual Contributor
Best resource for treating depression hands down
I've had clinical depression and some other fun things that I'm not even going to mention. It's the worst, it's the worst experience ever when every trace of happiness and joy is sucked out of your existence. Happily I no longer have any problems with depression at all, and not a small part of that I put down to reading this book:
http://www.amazon.com/Learned-Optimism-Martin-E-Seligman/dp/1442341130
A lot of depression in my experience has to do with the feeling that you're damaged goods and that there's nothing you can do to right yourself, that whatever you do you'll just be this kind of existental freak who got lost on the way to the right dimension. That's just the learned helplessness talking, but when you're in the thrall of it it's absolutely and utterly impossible to see it anything other than somthing as natural and inevitable as the birds in the trees and the stars in the sky. It's a shitty way to live and totally unnecessary.
Seriously, read this book. If you don't read books, start with this one.
There's also a test here to demonstrate how learned helplessnes can impact on your thinking; I've taken this a number of times and shown it to countless friends. If they're feeling bummed they always score the same way. http://web.stanford.edu/class/msande271/onlinetools/LearnedOpt.html
Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Me9TI9JhvZw
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/26123.Learned_Optimism
