In my years as a Marriage and Family therapist, I have worked with many clients who tell me they feel
depressed. After I take a history to better evaluate their depression, there is a strategy I have suggested
to a portion of clients with mild to moderate depression. when a client tells me they tend to be hard on themselves. The strategy is as follows:
Awareness: The first step is to gain more awareness of when the negative thinking (or over-thinking) begins.
Then, at the first sign of any negative or over-thinking: If seated, Stand-Up.
Once standing, Start Doing any activity with materials you already have at home. Examples: Reading, Searching on a computer for something of interest, Cooking, playing a game, or just having a conversation with someone will work as well.
The longer we indulge negative thinking, we are robbed of our energy, interest and motivation, thus causing symptoms similar to the symptoms of depression. By engaging in any activity, the negative thinking will automatically stop temporarily. Our brain can only focus on one topic at a time. If you are thinking about people who multi-task, they too can only think of one topic at a time. People who multi-task have this skill because their brain can move faster from one topic to the next. I stated above that with this strategy, the negative thinking stops temporarily. However, if you want to permanently reduce or stop your negative thinking, make this strategy into a good habit.
Feel free to let me know what you discover with this strategy.