RE: How do you deal with depression when you're out of touch with your emotions?
July 18, 2020 at 7:04 pm
(This post was last modified: July 18, 2020 at 7:04 pm by Belacqua.)
(July 18, 2020 at 5:23 pm)Porcupine Wrote: And what do you do when your GP doesn't have anything to offer either?
I know a psychiatrist who works with chronically depressed people. In private she has harsh words for GPs who tend to hand out whatever pills the drug companies are pushing this year. They aren't set up to help you. So if there's a problem there, it's no surprise.
And I know a psychopharmacologist who believes adamantly that getting depressed is a natural and predictable reaction to the way the world is now. So it's certainly not something to blame oneself about.
From your other threads you seem like a guy who isn't afraid of books, so I'll mention a few here. You may know them already. They've helped some people, although everyone's different.
Feeling Good by Burns is kind of a classic. It can be pirated for free here:
http://gen.lib.rus.ec/book/index.php?md5...A043ABFD99
Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for Dummies is an introduction to that type of therapy. Not to imply you're a dummy, but it's a clear overview.
http://gen.lib.rus.ec/book/index.php?md5...7C7E9C9245
Cognitive therapy is criticized for being short-term, but I say short term is better than nothing. It's also a kind of therapy that you can do on your own, more than most. If it appeals you can get into the more academic stuff in the field, by Aaron T. Beck and others.
The Noonday Demon by Andrew Solomon is more about how depression occurs in our culture, rather than how to treat yourself. But it might make you feel less alone.
http://gen.lib.rus.ec/book/index.php?md5...8FB8DEFA5C
Books aren't treatment, of course, but I've found them a way to focus and think with other people about depression, rather than leaving it a formless cloud of gloom.
Good luck to you.
