If you are feeling depressed – ACT can help

By Peter Gillogley

In this article you will find answers to some Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) about Depression based on some recent research. Questions address by this article include:

How common is depression?

What evidence-based treatments are there for depression?

Will my depression ever get better?

How does rumination cause depression?

Treatment for rumination

Where can I get help for depression?

How can I get help for depression?

How common is depression? 

You are not alone, actually depression is pretty common. According to the National Survey of Mental Health and Wellbeing, around half of Australians experience a psychological problem in their lifetime, with about one-in-five people  experiencing a common psychological problem in the last 12 months. More than one-in-twenty Australians experienced a clinically significant disturbance in emotions or feelings, such as depression in the previous 12 months. That’s a lot of people, some of which may be experiencing trouble sleeping, appetite changes, libido changes, or difficult feelings such as despair, melancholy, misery, sadness, hopelessness, worthlessness, unmotivated, and low energy.

What evidence-based treatments are there for depression?

Fortunately, recent research is telling us that Acceptance and Commitment Therapy might help. Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) is a modern form of cognitive behaviour therapy (CBT), that teaches specific, structured evidence-based skills to help you better manage difficult thoughts and feelings, so they are less an obstacle to you living a life that is guided by who and what is important to you.

ACT is an evidence-based approach for psychological problems, with an impressive research base of over 200 Randomised Control Trials supporting the effectiveness of ACT. ACT helps depressed people, as effectively or better than other established psychological treatments.

Will my depression ever get better?

It is common for people experiencing depression to feel like things will never change, or that any gains made during therapy in managing difficult thoughts and feelings will “wear off”.  Recent research is much more optimistic. In one Finnish study, over two-thirds of depressed participants who received ACT treatment, no longer met diagnostic criteria for depression. And the gains made during ACT therapy are still detectible 3 years later. A similar study found gains made during ACT treatment were still detectible 5 years later.

How does rumination increase depression?

Sometimes, reflecting on past experiences can be a useful way of learning and becoming wiser. However, if there is a gap between what we have and what we want, our problem-solving minds can try to be helpful by trying to figure out what went wrong, or what we need to do next. This might work more often, if figuring out what to do with difficult thoughts and feelings was as easy as every-day challenges in the physical world, like finding your missing socks. When our problem-solving minds don’t achieve immediate success, they often turn the intensity dial even higher, screen out distracting experiences from the outside world (that might hold useful information), so your mind can focus on what is happening inside your head. So, despite your mind trying to be helpful, this pattern of thinking can turn into unhelpful brooding. A consistent finding of resent research is that repetitive negative thinking (rumination) prolongs and deepens sad and depressed mood. 

Treatment for rumination

ACT is sensitive to the rumination behaviour and provides a vantage point to notice what is happening and provide more flexible ways of responding when difficult thoughts and feelings arise and you find yourself brooding or ruminating over and over again. Notice that ACT is not trying to change your negative thoughts (although your thoughts might change) or make them go away. When you notice yourself hooked by a particular thought, ACT teaches you how to unhook from that thought and focus more of your energy on living a meaningful life, rather than struggling with your thoughts. One recent study showed that even a brief two-session ACT intervention can help unhook from difficult thoughts and increase valued living.

In summary, depression is common, and ACT can help you live a more vital life.

Where can I get help for depression?

Therapists at the Brisbane ACT Centre are trained in evidence-based treatments for depression, such as Acceptance and Commitment Therapy for depression.

How can I get help for depression?

You are welcome to make an appointment with me today (Book an Appointment with Peter Gillogley) or one of my fellow ACT therapists at the Brisbane ACT Centre.

Work Stress and Burnout – Finding a better Work-Life Balance

By Peter Gillogley

I enjoy my work as a psychologist, using ACT psychotherapy skills to help clients struggling with anxiety, depression, PTSD along with other common and often highly distressing psychological problems. Yet, some days at the workplace seem full of vitality and purpose, and other days leave me feeling emotionally and physically drained. I know I am not alone.

The other day, I showed up at the workplace with plans to be super productive in helping my clients, by using mindfulness and other ACT psychological flexibility skills, to better handle their thoughts and feelings, and live their lives more fully. I had a manageable number of appointments and a few letters and administrative tasks that needed finishing. However, I spent much of the day struggling with what seemed at the time, unexpected detours and distractions. My mind kept saying that it shouldn’t be like this and there must be something wrong with me if I can’t get organised. Instead of productively focusing on the next most important thing, I found my mind wandering off topic, ruminating and worrying that I couldn’t get everything done.

When things don’t happen in the workplace how I expected, I can find myself investing lots of energy into playing the same events over and over in my mind, but not really making any progress. Worrying about the future or ruminating about the past, can rob me of being really present and tuned into the people around me. It’s all too easy to take my work issues home in my head, and so miss out on precious moments with my family and friends. Unchecked, this pattern of struggling with my thoughts and feelings about work, can leave me feeling physically and emotionally exhausted, detached and questioning my career, and less effective in my professional and personal life. What was work-life balance can turn into the feeling of pressure and being overwhelmed. Being human, the path of burnout can easily take a heavy toll on my physical and mental health.

Fortunately, ACT skills can help. When I notice myself struggling at work, I can use mindfulness to take time to take a step back to cultivate a sense of kind, compassionate curiosity, simply observing my thoughts and feelings. In doing so, I find that I am a little less consumed with my thoughts, and have more energy to focus on what is actually going on around me and focus more effectively on what needs doing next. Increased work productivity leads to less workplace pressure, enabling me to spend more time at home and reclaim a sense of work-life balance. By gently making space for stress, frustrations and irritations, I find I might even get a buzz about getting things done. By being more present in each moment, I can become more connected with those around me. And by connecting with my values and purpose in each moment – in this context “why I became a psychologist” – I am more willing to do what’s needed even in the presence of difficult emotions.

Many of us spend a third or more of our waking hours at the workplace for much of our lives. ACT gives us effective psychological tools and the ability to flexibly shift perspective, enabling us to feel engaged while at work and connected with friends and family when the work day is over. ACT can help you live a more vital working life. You are welcome to make an appointment with me today (Book an Appointment with Peter Gillogley) or one of my fellow ACT therapists at the Brisbane ACT Centre.