Shawn

That's interesting. So, things have to get worse to get better in the end?

Wish it were that easy. I suppose I better stop ruminating over it as much as I do.

I don't feel much at all. I'm on two mood stabilizers and an antidepressant, so I don't know if that has anything to do with it. My emotions feel mute...

Interesting read: https://donaldrobertson.name/2013/01/18/cognitive-distancing-in-stoicism/

Is the answer ever so straightforward? It seems to me, that depression is under layers of thought and memory that isolating the cause is never so obvi...

One would think that after so much thought and so many threads, that some answer might come to my mind. Yet, here I am still pondering over this issue...

Thanks, that makes sense. So, in my own words, would you call this a metacognitive state of mind that Buddhism enforces, through the practice of mindf...

In CBT, there's a term called "mental filter". It basically, is stating the reality of what you experience regardless of whether it corresponds to rea...

Well, I do feel the symptoms every day, so I guess if it walks like a duck, talks like a duck, then it must be a duck. I don't see how you can dissoci...

I agree; but, that distinction is blurry when it comes to problems like depression. It's a mood that pervades your entire being. So, the latter reinfo...

This is an ongoing discussion we're having in the On Disidentification thread if you care to join us. In that thread, I attempted to disidentify from ...

I can add that, the process of dissociating yourself from a diagnosis, such as depression, might be a topic worth pursuing; but, isn't something that ...

I was thinking about it in terms of distancing myself away from the diagnosis, and the symptoms as just self-labelling. I was trying to not identify w...

Yes, that thought occurred to me, that I wasn't trying hard enough or my method of doing so was faulty. But, I did give it a good try. I didn't seem t...

It all sounds to me like wishful thinking to want to "wish away" the depression. I really do wonder how would a Buddhist tell a student or follower, h...

I want to analyze why disidentification didn't work for my depression. It seems to me that internal problems of the mind are harder to treat with disi...

Well, I gave it a try at disidentification, and it didn't seem to help with my depression, as thought. Guess not disidentification, then. What now?

Never tried that. Does that work for you?

What if the depression is hereditary? Meaning, in the genetic makeup of the individual. Does one just have to cope with it then?

It doesn't seem like anyone cares. Not your or my problem. And the depression continues.

Thanks, Bonnie, I'll think over it.

So, psychology isn't a science? I don't understand the negative outlook here. To be honest, I doubt my depression can be solved by this means. I don't...

Thanks for sharing mcdoodle. Sounds like a self-fulfilling prophecy to me. There is that danger, yes. But, the goal is to get better, so, as long as t...

Pragmatically, I would have nothing against believing in Jesus. But, I could create another belief in something else that may better suit my inclinati...

I don't quite see what is so depressing about it. Care to elaborate?

And, what are your thoughts about disidentification, if I may ask? My depression isn't that bad recently. Manageable; but, still bothersome.

I don't think it's that bad as you say. CBT and MCT have their foundations in scientific inquiry. They have empirical grounds where their efficacy has...

Reality is hard to change. Besides suffering is an endemic feature of depression in many cases that persists in different environments, hence it's dys...

I don't know I'm asking you or others. Yes, how is it altered? Think of a hard drive being the brain and software being the belief, how is the softwar...

Powerful story. I'm sorry to hear that she decided to go out like that. Being a nurse, I don't know what the suicide statistics for a female nurse in ...

There is a very narrow spectrum of animals that are capable of recognizing themselves in a mirror. I don't think cats are complex enough to fit the de...

So, do these metacognitive beliefs change into other metacognitive beliefs? Therefore metacognitive beliefs disidentify and become new or altered ones...

I think, by disidentifying with those beliefs that are inconsistent with achieving happiness through suffering? After all, one has to suffer to know h...

But, isn't there an issue here. Beliefs are altered by meta-cognitive beliefs, and meta-cognitive beliefs are altered by meta-meta-cognitive beliefs?

It could be that we're a generation of snowflakes. I suppose this is true to some degree. I don't mind talking about death; but, it's inherently more ...

But, on a meta-cognitive level, how does one stop?

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Yes, but what about the underlayer of the process of disidentification? How do you not think about the white polar bear?

I understand that; but, you have limited the range by excluding/restricting another dimension. I don't have anything more to add of coherence on the m...

Perhaps it's the target audience that my professor was worried might cause distress. If your 18-23 years old then you don't want to think about death ...

If I may interject. I think Buddhism provided the answer. The source of suffering is desire. Also, the permanence of treating the self as an entity th...

It was a comment posted by an unnamed author of this forum. I find it hard to disagree with either way, but, it's important to realize that it doesn't...

I think this is the point that Wittgenstein was trying to get across. That of ethics to be found in the ordinary deed done out of kindness or charity ...

See here. What do you think?

Yet, we do share them. And we can talk successfully about them. They're relatable by nature.

What do you mean? Yes; but, it can lead us down the wrong path of neuroticism, self-reinforcing concepts of depression, anxiety, or what have you. So,...

Yes, surely. That's the mystical aspect of life. Spirituality and all that jazz.

I don't doubt that. But, what is this grounded on? The satisfaction of wants and needs? Again, psychologism. There's more to life than the brute calcu...

Well, if you adopt a therapeutic stance towards speech and philosophical problems, then yes it is pertinent to the philosophy of language.

Depression, anxiety, OCD, self-identity, death. All of these influence what conclusions we arrive at. Reason itself is limited by what the emotive asp...