To Overcome Depression, Think Flexibly, Not Positively

[Daniel E.]

Overcoming Depression Demands Flexible Thinking, Not Positive Thinking

A recent paper suggests there is nothing wrong with depressed people making negative interpretations. The real problem is an inability to change their views.

www.psychologytoday.com

...People with depression often interpret ambiguous situations in a negative, personal, and inflexible manner. For instance, when a depressed person who has donned a new hairstyle is told, “You look different,” he or she might interpret the statement as, “I am ugly,” or “I can’t do anything right.”

These interpretations “make sense” to the person with negative self-representations (e.g., as undesirable, unattractive, incompetent, worthless). The biased and inflexible interpretations (e.g., of the comment regarding the hairstyle) reinforce these negative views of the self, thus exacerbating depression.

As noted earlier, it is not wrong to pay attention to negative cues or consider negative interpretations of events. The problem lies with inflexible, automatic, and black-and-white thinking. With failing to modify one’s beliefs after obtaining evidence inconsistent with the interpretation.

For example, to believe failing a course means one is incompetent or stupid, and continue to believe so even after learning of the high percentage of students who fail courses, suggests an interpretation bias.

Not surprisingly, the most effective treatments for depression not only provide experiences that challenge dysfunctional and maladaptive beliefs but also promote flexibility in attention, and especially, information processing.

The goal of treatment is to help depressed patients:

1. Pay attention to both positive and negative information (e.g., notice positive information that disagrees with their negative core beliefs).
   
   
2. Flexibly integrate positive information into negative beliefs they hold, so as to develop a richer and more accurate understanding of themselves and their world.

The good news is modifying interpretation biases can improve depression. Indeed, an investigation of people with depression and generalized anxiety disorder found cognitive bias modification for interpretation (CBM-I) induced a more positive interpretation bias and resulted in reduced worry, depression, and rumination. (Rumination refers to repetitive thoughts that are focused, often passively, on one’s mood and its symptoms, causes, implications, etc.).

Cognitive bias modification promotes flexible and efficient information processing, opening the door to new possibilities for sustainable happiness and well-being.

 

[Daniel E.]

Sponsored by the National Institute of Mental Health:

MindTrails

A free online tool to help people reduce anxiety, provided by the University of Virginia.

mindtrails.virginia.edu

What Is Interpretation Bias Training?

MindTrails training gives you practice thinking about situations in new ways. This encourages more flexible thinking styles in your everyday life that can break your thinking out of negative patterns.