Depression and depressive symptoms have been on a constant rise over the last few years, with COVID-19 drastically increasing the prevalence of depression (World Health Organization); there is a clear need to develop effective and safe treatments for depression. However, due to the complexity of depression and the variety of ways it can develop, depression is a very difficult mental illness to treat. Most current methods of depression treatment focus on limiting the effects of negative emotions and their psychological impact. Some researchers, such as Dr. Rebecca Silton, believes the traditional methods for treating depression are limited in their scope, and are actively trying to change how we go about treating depression. Dr. Silton believes that we should be treating depression not through decreasing negative emotions, but through increasing the experience of positive emotions. Dr. Silton believes that techniques such as savoring and mindfulness have the potential to be more effective at treating depression than current methods (Silton, 2020).
Savoring, a term
coined by Dr. Fred Bryant, is all about enjoying the moment and relishing
past/future positive experiences. Mindfulness Meditation is known to help
increase the capacity for experiencing positive emotions through directing
attention towards the positive aspects of life and increasing the overall
awareness of oneself (Silton, 2020). Dr. Silton and her colleagues argue that
savoring and Mindfulness Meditation may be an effective method to encourage
reflection on positive emotions in those with depression and have the potential
to help combat the symptoms of depression (Silton, 2020).
While Savoring and Mindfulness
Meditation may be similar, they are two distinct ways to increase positive
emotions. Savoring focuses on relishing the experience of positive emotions,
while Mindfulness Meditation focuses on reflecting on one's overall wellbeing.
The few studies on these topics have shown that those who engage in these types
of techniques have demonstrated an overall increased feeling of happiness and a
decrease in depressive symptoms (Silton, 2020). Both of these methods have the
potential to decrease the prevalence of depressive symptoms, however, further
research still needs to be conducted to understand the full effects of these techniques.
While Mindfulness
Meditation has a clear method through which it can be achieved (meditating),
there are a multitude of ways to engage in savoring. One method of savoring
that really stood out to me as I was reviewing Dr. Silton’s research, and
related articles was journaling. Journaling is a form of writing that involves
jotting down your thoughts and feelings on a daily basis. The reasons for why
people journal varies, some journal simply to create a record of their life,
while some journal to process their emotions. Dr. Sarah Allen, a researcher at
the University of York, wanted to understand how techniques such as journaling
can help people process their emotions and reduce their depressive symptoms. To
explore her theory, Dr. Sarah Allen and her colleagues investigated how writing
about positive life experiences on a daily basis can help reduce depressive
symptoms in a formal study. For this aspect of their study, they recruited
participants that were socially inhibited and experiencing symptoms of
depression (Allen, 2020). The reason they focused on socially inhibited
individuals is because these individuals are unable to engage in typical
depression treatments, such as therapy. Someone who is socially inhibited does
not enjoy interacting with others, so typical treatment methods of depression
symptoms like talk therapy are inaccessible to them (Allen, 2020). However,
positive writing/journaling is something one can do all on their own and
involves no social interaction. Therapy is also quite expensive and can be
inaccessible for those who are low income or don’t have good insurance.
Journaling presents itself as a potential affordable and accessible way to
combat depressive symptoms.
In the end, Dr.
Allen’s study found that journaling about positive experiences for only a
couple of days decreased depressive symptoms for their socially inhibited
participants. To achieve these results, they compared how participants reacted
to writing about a positive topic versus a neutral topic (Allen, 2020). Their
results demonstrate that positive journaling has the potential to help those
with depression combat their symptoms and gives an example of a tool that
researchers such as Dr. Silton can use to help treat those with depression
through positive emotion regulation.
References
Allen, S. F., Wetherell, M. A., &
Smith, M. A. (2020). Online writing about positive life experiences reduces
depression and perceived stress reactivity in socially inhibited individuals. Psychiatry Research, 284, 112697.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.psychres.2019.112697
Silton, R. L., Kahrilas, I. J., Skymba,
H. V., Smith, J., Bryant, F. B., & Heller, W. (2020). Regulating positive
emotions: Implications for promoting well-being in individuals with depression.
Emotion (Washington, D.C.), 20(1), 93–97. https://doi.org/10.1037/emo0000675
World Health Organization. (2022, March
2). COVID-19 pandemic triggers 25% increase in prevalence of anxiety and
depression worldwide. Www.who.int.
https://www.who.int/news/item/02-03-2022-covid-19-pandemic-triggers-25-increase-in-prevalence-of-anxiety-and-depression-worldwide#:~:text=In%20the%20first%20year%20of
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