101 Ways to Brighten Your Mood and Heal from Depression

By Douglas Bloch

In seeking a way to heal from his depression, author Douglas Bloch came to develop a "better mood" recovery program that employs a "holistic," multi-modal approach to lifting one's mood. The result is the e-book, 101 Ways to Brighten Your Mood and Heal From Depression, which consists of 101 proven wellness activities that are designed to help the reader to live optimally and to manage his or her symptoms of depression and/or anxiety.

• Language: English
• Publisher: BookBaby
• Release date: Mar 17, 2015
• ISBN: 9780929671109

Douglas Bloch

Douglas Bloch's recent publication, Healing from Depression: 12 Weeks to a Better Mood, has been acclaimed as "a lifeline to healing." He facilitates ongoing support groups for people who suffer from depression and anxiety.

Book preview

© Douglas Bloch, 2015, all rights reserved.

ISBN 978-0-929671-10-9

Other self-help books by Douglas Bloch are listed below:

PRINT BOOKS

http://www.healingfromdepression.com/print-books.htm

Words That Heal:

Affirmations and Meditations for Daily Living

Listening to Your Inner Voice:

Discover the Truth Within You and Let It Guide Your Way

I Am With You Always:

A Treasury of Inspirational Quotations, Poems and Prayers

The Power of Positive Self-Talk:

Teaching Children Self-Esteem Through Affirmations

Healing From Depression: 12 Weeks to a Better Mood

Words That Heal the Blues: Daily Affirmations for Healing From

Anxiety and Depression

EBOOKS

http://www.healingfromdepression.com/e-books.htm

When Going Through Hell … Don’t Stop!

Beyond Prozac

Healing From Depression Naturally

My Child is Depressed: How Can I Help

Words That Heal: Affirmations and Meditations for Daily Living

I Am With With You Always

[e-mail]

www.healingfromdepression.com

Introduction

"There is not one of us in whom a devil does not dwell.

At some time, at some point, that devil masters each of us.

It is not having been in the dark house,

but having left it, that counts."

Teddy Roosevelt

If you have purchased this e-book, it is no doubt because either you or someone you love is suffering from depression or anxiety. I understand. I know what it is like to feel the despair, the torment, the hopelessness of major depression. Over the past three decades I have had four major depressive episodes and yet I have survived. My message is that you can heal, too.

In seeking a way to heal from my depression, I came to develop a better mood recovery program that employs a holistic, multi-modal approach to lifting one’s mood. Eventually, I shared what I had learned in my print book Healing From Depression: 12 Weeks to a Better Mood, which was published in December 2002.

Now, I have created this e-book, 101 Ways to Brighten Your Mood and Heal From Depression, to share more of these practical coping strategies with you. The e-book consists of 101 wellness activities that are designed to help you to live optimally while you manage your symptoms of depression and/or anxiety. This book will benefit you if:

• You have previously experienced one or more episodes of major depression or bipolar disorder and wish to stay well and avoid a relapse.

• You have dysthymia (low-grade chronic depression) and desire to elevate your mood, as well as prevent a major depressive episode.

• You have anxiety that is accompanying your depression.

• You are currently experiencing a major depressive episode and wish to use these strategies as an adjunct to medication and/or psychotherapy.

A subtitle of this book could easily be It Takes More Than a Pill to Heal From Depression. While antidepressant medications can be remarkably effective for some people, too often a doctor will prescribe a drug without recommending any other treatment strategies. This is precisely what occurred with me in the winter of 1996-97 when I plummeted into a dark, life-threatening depression. For nine months, I bounced back and forth between psychiatrists who prescribed medications that either were not effective or produced disabling side effects. Eventually, I was diagnosed with treatment resistant (i.e., antidepressant resistant) depression.

Unfortunately, this model of treating depression has it all backwards. This is especially true since recent studies have shown that antidepressants are only a little bit more effective than placebos in treating depression. In some cases, their side effects are so unpleasant that they have to be discontinued. Moreover, if you rely on medication alone, you run the risk of experiencing Prozac poop-out, a situation where a drug will stop working for no apparent reason.

A more effective way to treat depression is to employ a holistic body, mind and spirit recovery model. I outline such a model in my book Healing From Depression: A Body, Mind and Spirit Recovery Program. The foundation of the program consists of what I call the three pillars to mental health recovery. They are:

Set the intention to heal.

Reach out for support.

Treat your symptoms using a combination of mutually supportive therapies.

This book focuses on the third pillar—use a combination of mutually supportive therapies—by offering 101 mutually supportive activities that you or a loved one can apply, right now, to improve your mood. You can choose to follow these wellness tips in the order that they are presented, or you can gravitate to whatever topic speaks to you at the time.

The good news is that mental health recovery is within your reach. Scientists have discovered that far from being fixed, our brain has the remarkable ability to change itself and to rewire its nerves. The term given for the brain’s ability to heal itself is neuroplasticy (neuro means neuron and plastic means changeable, modifiable).

Neuroplasticity tells us that we are not determined by our genetics or by our history. Thus, no matter how many previous episodes of depression you may have had in the past, the future can be different:

• You can adopt new core beliefs.

• You can develop new behaviors and habits.

• You can change your physiology through diet and exercise.

• You can strengthen your psychological immune system and learn new ways to respond to