When you’re dealing with depression, it’s easy to fall prey to lies telling you you’re not good enough and that your life is not worthwhile. These lies weigh you down, anchoring you to a false view of yourself and the world around you.
Take a look at some of the biggest lies of depression, along with truths to counteract them.
“I AM WORTHLESS.”
Depression has a nasty habit of hampering your productivity. You have the best intentions to get up in the morning and conquer your to-do list—until you wake up feeling emotionally paralyzed, that is. Consequently, you accomplish nothing, and you feel like you are worth nothing.
But here’s the truth: You are a human being, not a human doing. Even if you don’t move an inch today, you have inherent value. You are not defined by what you do or don’t do. Yes, your choices matter, but you have the capacity to make better ones. You don’t have to stay stuck in past failure or regret. Each day is new, and so are you.
“NO ONE UNDERSTANDS ME.”
One of the worst things depression does is isolate you from other people. You think you’re different from everyone else because they seem happy. They don’t wake up with a cloud hanging over their head. They actually feel good or even just OK most of the time. They’re able to accomplish so much more, while you feel like you’re barely getting by.
But it’s a mistake to compare your insides to other people’s outsides. You don’t know what they’re dealing with every day. They may not be depressed, but that doesn’t mean their life is easy. And they can’t hope to understand how you feel if you don’t open up and tell them. Not everyone will empathize with you, but plenty of people will. And you may be surprised to find out that some of your friends feel exactly the way you do. You are not alone.
“EVERYONE WOULD BE BETTER OFF WITHOUT ME.”
Have you ever watched the classic Christmas movie “It’s a Wonderful Life” and thought that if you had never been born, it wouldn’t matter quite as much as when George Bailey was never born? His life changed the entire town of Bedford Falls, but it feels like your life has barely made a ripple.
First of all, there’s no point comparing your real life to a fictional one—especially if it puts you on a downward spiral. Second, and more important, do you really think the people in your life wish you were gone? Wouldn’t they actually be devastated if you left them? Wouldn’t grief and guilt make their lives worse? “Everyone would be better off without me” is an insidious lie because it looks like it’s taking others into consideration, when really it’s just self-centered. If you care about even one other person, show them your love by sticking around.
“NOTHING IS EVER GOING TO CHANGE.”
When you’re depressed, you think that you’ve always felt this way, you’ll always feel this way, and nothing is going to change. Sure, there are times when you come out of it, but you always end up back in this pit, so why bother trying? It feels like an endless cycle, a game you’re always losing. But that’s the depression talking, and it’s not the truth.
The reality is that life is not linear, as much as you may want it to be. You want to feel better than you did yesterday, and to keep moving up from there. Instead, life is more like a roller-coaster—and that’s the case for everyone, not just those with depression. You take steps forward and you take steps back. Great things happen and terrible things happen. You can never know exactly what each day will hold. But as long as you’re alive, there’s hope.
TREATMENT FOR DEPRESSION
Depression has a way of tricking your mind into believing lies about yourself and about the world. It’s a negative, self-centered perspective that keeps you from doing the work to get better. But you don’t have to stay stuck in that faulty mindset. With compassionate care at a mental health treatment center, you can gain the tools you need to change your thoughts and live a life of freedom.
Article source: www.beachsiderehab.com
