7 Resources to Help Understand and Work Through Depression
7 Resources to Help You Understand and Work Through Depression.
1. “Stanford’s Sapolsky on Depression in the U.S. (Full Lecture)”
This lecture is a good and thorough primer on depression. Sapolsky describes the various biochemical dynamics involved with depression, as well as genetic factors that may play a part in one’s susceptibility to fall into a depression. However, he makes it a point to emphasize that depression is not JUST “chemicals in your brain”. There are both biological aspects AND psychological aspects involved with depression. As Sapolsky says, “if you live inside only one of these topics, you are not going to understand this disease at all”.
2. “Ask Mark 6.6 – Link between depression and anxiety”
This video is a short clip from a video series the neuroscientist and psychoanalyst Mark Solms did called “What is Mind”. Solms is responding to a question he has been asked about why anxiety and depression so commonly co-occur. Solms describes how “despair” and “panic-anxiety” have roots in the same emotional system. They are both different phases of the “separation-distress response”, which initiates when there is a separation from a loved one. This is not to say that if you are depressed or anxious then you must have had a loss of a relationship or a loved one. In fact, a person experiencing anxiety and/or depression often doesn’t know why they are feeling the way they are. As Solms explains, current experiences can trigger ideas that may relate to a separation in the past, even if the current experiences contain no obvious loss. His further explanation in the video prompts curiosity into the meanings a depressed person might be experiencing. Has there been a perceived loss that isn’t immediately obvious? Do current experiences trigger past experiences of loss in some way?
3. John Vervaeke- Awakening from the Meaning Crisis
I can’t say enough about this video lecture series by the cognitive scientist/psychologist John Vervaeke. It is 50 episodes long, but you won’t need to watch them all to get a lot out of it. I’d recommend watching the first lecture to see if it piques your interest enough to continue. Vervaeke first highlights the current mental health crisis and how there are many in the modern world feeling “disconnected from themselves, from each other, from the world, from a viable and foreseeable future… these problems are deeper than just social media problems, political problems, even economic problems. They’re deeply historical, cultural, cognitive problems”. He labels this “deeper, cultural, historical crisis”… “The Meaning Crisis”. Vervaeke then takes a deep dive into the history of philosophy and religion describing how our “cultural grammar” and the way we experience the world was formed, and how it has slowly broken apart. He leads the viewer down a path that touches on important philosophers and philosophies, shamanism, important psychologists, the “flow state” and its relationship with the feeling of “meaning”, cognitive understandings of “insight”, psychedelics, cognitive science, and much more.
4. Dan Coyle- The Talent Code
You may be wondering why a book about skill building is in a blog post about depression. When people are in a depressive state, they are experiencing low motivation, a general lack of confidence, and are finding themselves engaging in the world less and less. This book helps to counteract some of these tendencies. A common hurdle for someone who is feeling depressed is to muster up the interest and motivation to engage in the activities necessary for a fulfilling life. Think about any hobby or activity you’ve been attracted to in the past– sports, reading books, film, a musical instrument. Underneath these activities, there is usually some motivation to be better or grow in some way. This book is about how that process works. Also, it is not uncommon for a person who is experiencing depression to be constantly telling themselves negative things about themselves as a person, making comments about their identity, as if they as a person were a completely fixed and static entity. “I’m a person who _____”. “I will always be like this..” This book encourages a more developmental mindset, and helps to reframe failures as a necessary part of growing. Failure does not mean you are not “cut out” for something, or weren’t born with the necessary talent to be successful at a skill/task. This shift can mean the difference of the attitude of “I can’t seem to remember these piano scales correctly. I guess I’m just not a piano player” to “I’m having difficulty getting these piano scales correct, but I know this is just a part of the process. I may need to slow myself down and learn this in smaller chunks so I can build off of that.” Who’s more likely to engage with life and develop themselves in enriching and meaningful ways? Who’s more likely to see failure as a part of the process of growing rather than a reflection on them as a person?
5. “Flow”
Flow is a measurable state in your brain that is produced when you engage in an activity you value at the edge of your ability. It is a mental state of growth and is involved with the feeling of meaning. This is not just about “getting a hobby”. It is much deeper than that. To find an activity (or activities!) where you can consistently get into the state of flow, is to find a reservoir for the feeling of meaning and purpose. Learning about the “flow state” will help you appreciate the value of “the process” itself, rather than be overly concerned with the end result.
6. Victor Frankl- Man’s Search for Meaning
If you’ve been on other therapist’s websites, this is probably not the first time you’ve seen this title. Viktor Frankl was a psychiatrist and the creator of logotherapy (derived from “logos”, and so roughly meaning “meaning therapy”). In Man’s Search for Meaning, Frankl describes his experiences as a prisoner in a Nazi concentration camp during World War 2. He illustrates how although all prisoners were experiencing the same horrors, the camp was experienced in different ways based on how the prisoners took up these experiences. The book highlights that even in the most dire of circumstances, there is freedom. Meaning can still be found and lived.
Viktor Frankl- Man’s Search for Meaning 7. C.G. Jung- Modern Man in Search of a Soul
Feeling like life has no meaning can be a primary component of someone experiencing depression. Often, disenchantment with the religion someone was brought up in can be a large contributing factor. Religion structures your world in a meaningful way. When this world is no longer viable for you, it can lead to a nihilistic attitude, “there is no meaning in the world, nothing matters”. Jung can be a valuable entryway into finding meaning again and viewing religion in a light that is more digestible to a person like this. Jung has a way of evoking a sense of mystery and wonder, enchanting the world again. For those who continue to feel connection and meaning within their religion, Jung can add an enriching psychological perspective that can deepen this relationship.
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Texas Telehealth Therapist Answers Your Telehealth Questions
Is telehealth therapy covered by insurance in Texas?
Yes, telehealth therapy is covered by most insurance companies in Texas. Check with your insurance company about your specific co-pays or co-insurance. Most insurance companies cover telehealth to the same degree as in-person appointments.
Can a Texas therapist see a client via telehealth in another state?
The Texas Behavioral Health Council website states:
A Texas license only grants authority to practice in Texas. If you have a client in another state or country, you may have to meet the practice requirements of both Texas and the state or country where the client is located. You will need to contact the other state or country to determine whether you can deliver services in that jurisdiction with your Texas license.
As most, if not all, other states require the therapist to be licensed in their state to provide therapy, A Texas therapist can only see a client in another state via telehealth if the therapist is also licensed in that state.
Who can provide telehealth therapy in Texas?
Psychiatrists (MD), psychologists (PhD), licensed professional counselors (LPC), licensed professional counselor associates (LPC-A), licensed clinical social workers (LCSW), licensed masters social workers, and licensed marriage and family therapists (LMFT), and LMFT associates can all provide telehealth therapy in Texas. However, only psychiatrists, psychologists, LPC’s, LCSW’s, and LMFT’s will be able to take insurance. LPC-A’s, LCSW’s, and LMFT associates are still accruing their hours for full licensure and so are not covered by insurance.
Do I need special equipment to participate in telehealth therapy?
All you will need to utilize telehealth therapy is a decent internet connection and a smartphone, computer, or tablet that has a microphone and a camera. Most telehealth therapy is conducted via HIPPA compliant websites or apps such as doxy.me, SecureVideo, Vsee Messenger, TherapyNotes, or SimplePractice. Some therapists use more widely known platforms such as Zoom, or GoogleMeet. However, these require the therapist to purchase an enhanced version that is HIPPA compliant or require more legwork on the backend to make sure sessions are secure.
How does telehealth therapy work?
Before your first session, your telehealth therapist will send you a link for their HIPPA compliant telehealth platform. With some platforms (such as Doxy.me), this link will be the same every time. With other platforms, you will receive a new, unique link for each session. After clicking the link, you will type your name in and then be directed to some form of a “waiting room”. When your session is scheduled to begin, your therapist will let you into the session.
One of the main differences between telehealth therapy and in-person therapy is that you have a bit more responsibility in creating the right environment to make sure your sessions are effective. For example, you’ll need to make sure the space you choose to use is private, free of distractions, and allows you to feel comfortable speaking openly. For tips on how to get the most of your telehealth sessions, check out 4 Important Tips for Telehealth Therapy.
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What is EMDR Therapy?
What is EMDR Therapy and is it Effective?
Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) therapy is an integrative psychological treatment that has been extensively researched to be effective in addressing various mental health issues, including PTSD and trauma symptoms, anxiety, depression, OCD, chronic pain, phobias, grief, and addictions. Developed in the 1980s by psychologist Francine Shapiro, EMDR therapy proposes that much of psychological suffering can be attributed to impactful events that have not been adequately processed by the brain and body. These events have not been effectively digested, either due to the intensity of distress or lack of psychological/emotional resources at the time, resulting in a memory that is frozen and continues to trigger upsetting emotions and thoughts.
How does EMDR Therapy Work?
EMDR first involves collaborative efforts by the therapist and the patient to identify core beliefs the patient appears to have about themselves that are currently affecting their lives and connected to the symptoms they are feeling. The patient is encouraged to explore past memories in which the patient seems to have begun to develop these beliefs, and to assess which events seem to be most impactful in current life. A memory is then selected as the “target memory”, and the therapist guides the client to experientially revisit this memory while using bilateral stimulation.
Bilateral stimulation is the hallmark of EMDR therapy, traditionally administered through the therapist guiding the client’s eye movements (thus the name!), or by employing tactile or auditory stimuli. This is thought to activate both hemispheres of the brain, essentially mimicking the rapid eye movement (REM) stage of sleep, during which the brain processes and organizes memories and emotions.
Through this phase, the events and distressing emotion attached to it are said to be more completely processed, and allow for natural healing. The expectation is not that the patient will forget the memories, but that they will have a different relationship to them – more perspective, and more feelings of resolution.
An example of how EMDR might work in practice:
For example, imagine a man who comes to therapy because he is feeling depressed. He is experiencing doubts about himself and his ability to live life the way he wants to. Through exploration, the patient realizes some of his distress is due to an underlying vulnerability to feeling weak. He hasn’t always felt like this. In many periods of his life he has felt confident and sure about himself. However, recent events at work in which he notices himself avoiding speaking his mind has stirred up this vulnerability. Now he finds himself internally berating himself and others, and experiencing other depressive symptoms.
Through talking with his therapist, he is able to identify several memories in his childhood in which he was made to feel weak by a bully at school. These events were quite distressing at the time, but he doesn’t think about them often. However, he feels this was a time when he first began to have doubts about himself and his ability to assert himself confidently. The patient and therapist decide to use one of these memories as his first “target memory” and begin to use bilateral stimulation to process it. The hope is that through reprocessing this memory, it can be processed more completely in a way it wasn’t able to at the time the event occurred. If successful, he won’t forget the memory, but he will have a different relationship with it. The distressing emotion that had been stuck can now clear, and his vulnerability to feeling weak can heal. He may now find himself to be more comfortable in speaking his mind, without as much emotion attached to it. Soon, his depression can lift.
What are the 8 phases of EMDR Therapy?
EMDR therapy is structured around an eight-phase treatment protocol: client history, preparation, assessment, desensitization, installation, body scan, closure, and reevaluation. This ensures a comprehensive approach that takes into account the individual’s unique needs and experiences, and combines several effective interventions. Here is a brief description of each stage:
Client History: The patient describes his/her family history, the history of his symptoms, formative experiences, and the current difficulties he is wanting help with. Begin to identify potential target memories.
Preparation: The patient develops calming resources to help manage distressing emotion. This can include breathing exercises or imaginal exercises aimed at helping the patient grow the ability to calm him/herself when needed.
Assessment: The patient and therapist identify the target memory and the images, negative cognition, emotions, and body sensations that go along with the target memory. The patient identifies a positive cognition that the client would like to feel instead. Scales are used to measure the degree to which the patient feels the negative cognition and positive cognition.
Desensitization: The patient will be guided to experientially explore the target memory while bilateral stimulation is administered. This is the stage in which processing and desensitization occurs.
Installation: The validity of the patient’s positive cognition is assessed in this phase. It is possible the patient and therapist may need to go back to the desensitization phase if the positive cognition isn’t fully felt. If the patient is ready to move forward, the positive cognition will be more deeply integrated through bilateral stimulation.
Body Scan: Body sensations connected to the target memory are identified and neutralized through bilateral stimulation.
Closure: This phase happens at the end of every session. The patient and therapist will debrief, and the patient uses calming and grounding resources before going back out into the world.
Reevaluation: This phase involves the continual reassessment of where the patient is in reprocessing the target memory and associated feelings/memories. Does the target memory need to continue to be processed? Is it time for the next phase? Has progress remained stable?
Can you do EMDR therapy from home?
You can, in fact, do EMDR therapy from home if your therapist offers telehealth therapy and assesses it would be appropriate to your particular case. Some considerations would be your current ability to ground and regulate yourself, privacy, and tendencies towards disassociation. Bilateral stimulation can be achieved through online EMDR sites such as bilateralstimulation.io, or by using self administered techniques such as the EMDR butterfly hug.
Is EMDR therapy covered by insurance?
Yes, EMDR therapy is typically covered by insurance if individual therapy is covered. It has been recognized as a first-line treatment for PTSD by various organizations, including the World Health Organization (WHO), the American Psychiatric Association, and the Department of Veterans Affairs.
Related Content:
To see how EMDR therapy can help treat depression, see: Does EMDR Therapy Work for Depression?
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Does EMDR Work for Depression?
First of all, what is EMDR therapy?
EMDR, or Eye Movement Desensitization Reprocessing, is a therapeutic technique that aims to help clients reprocess events that have been particularly distressing and formative for them. Clients are led to re-experience these events while maintaining bilateral stimulation (stimulating both sides of the brain). Traditionally, this is done by directing the clients to move their eyes from one side to the other while bringing up and exploring the target memory. However, there are many ways that bilateral stimulation can be achieved, such as self-administering tapping back and forth in a “butterfly hug” on your shoulders, using “tappers” (electronic vibrating mechanisms held in both hands), or even tapping on on your knees. To learn more about EMDR therapy in general, check out What is EMDR Therapy?
Is EMDR effective in treating depression?
EMDR is generally known as a trauma therapy. However, research has shown EMDR to be effective for various mental conditions, including depression.
It makes sense. EMDR is used to target events in our lives that have been particularly distressing to us. Experiences shape our beliefs about ourselves, about the world, and our place in it. They shape the automatic emotional responses we have in the various situations we tend to struggle with. These experiences don’t need to be “capital T Traumas” in order for them to have an effect on us and shape how we experience the world.
How does EMDR work in treating depression?
During EMDR therapy sessions, clients address distressing memories by mentally revisiting the events while simultaneously adminstering bilateral stimulation. This enables the brain and body to reprocess these memories, reducing their emotional intensity. By facilitating the activation and resolution of maladaptive elements of a memory, EMDR therapy enhances neural integration and adaptive information processing, fostering a sense of psychological growth, resilience, and overall well-being. The memories do not necessarily go away, but a new, more adaptive relationship to them is naturally formed. Often, new insight into root causes is gained, allowing for meaningful self-reflection and new understandings.
In depression, self-esteem and self-worth are often quite low. Past psychological injuries tend to come to the surface with more intensity, and tend to be difficult to address with simple rationality. Through EMDR, old memories that had caused these psychological injuries can be reprocessed and can allow for deeper healing to occur. Through this, more positive understandings of the self can emerge and be more deeply, emotionally felt.
What are the benefits in using EMDR to treat depression?
One benefit of using EMDR to treat depression is that it is compatible with a number of theoretical orientations including psychodynamic, CBT, humanistic, and Internal Family Systems. This means if you’ve decided on a therapy that feels right to you, you don’t have to choose between EMDR and your chosen therapy.
A second benefit of EMDR for depression is its ability to target specific memories or events. Often, clients already have an idea of certain events that have been impactful for them. EMDR provides the space to directly identify these events and the meanings that were received through them. Through EMDR, these memories can be targeted more directly than might occur with traditional talk therapy.
A third benefit of using EMDR to treat depression is that its protocol introduces several tools to clients that are helpful in managing and overcoming depression. In the preparation and assessment phases, you are led to identify impactful memories and how these affected you, often leading to insight. Also in the preparation phase, you are armed with grounding and calming techniques to help you cope with distressing emotion if and when it becomes intense. In the desensitization phase, you are led to experientially explore the memories that have been impactful to you, rather than just talking about them. This helps get the whole body involved with your healing, and contributes to a mindful attitude. Lastly, in the installation phase, you are led to imagine and experience the way you want to be and how you want to feel moving forward. This allows you to develop a conception of a future-self and experience who you want to grow into.
Learn More About EMDR Therapy:
Related Posts:
To learn more about EMDR therapy, see What is EMDR Therapy?
External Information:
EMDRIA (EMDR International Association) is the go-to place for great information about EMDR therapy such as overview, history, and various research articles.
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Improve Your Motivation: Interventions of the Body
There are 2 levels of intervention you can use when trying to increase your motivation: Your body, and your mind. This article will focus on interventions aimed at the body to enhance your motivation. Many, but not all, of these strategies will have to do with ways to manage the dopamine flowing inside of your body – how much is in your body, when it is released, etc.
Dopamine is the gas in your engine of motivation.
You can think of dopamine as the gas in your engine of motivation. By increasing the baseline amount of dopamine flowing in your body, and managing how and when dopamine is released, you allow yourself to experience motivation for the activities you actually value. You also allow yourself to continue experiencing motivation for those activities in the future. If there’s no dopamine, there’s no gas, and the engine won’t run.
Dopamine Guzzlers
There are many things we do in the modern world that waste our gas. Dopamine-guzzlers. Spiking your dopamine in pursuit of the unimportant reduces the amount of dopamine available for the tasks that are actually important to you.
As mentioned in How Motivation Works, after dopamine spikes, it falls below baseline for a period of time after the spike. And since the amount of dopamine (motivation) you experience is dependent on your baseline level of dopamine when you approach the activity, there will be less dopamine available for activities that follow. So if you spend hours of your morning scrolling through Twitter, you’re going to have less dopamine available immediately afterwards for activities you actually value.
This is why removing distractions can be so important to deep work. It forces you to use your dopamine towards the activity you should be doing rather than wasting it on the distractions around you.
Common Dopamine-Guzzlers
Here are some common dopamine guzzlers to watch out for. This is not to say you shouldn’t be doing these activities at all. Just be mindful of their effect on motivation and strategize when to use them and when to avoid them. You may have your own particular dopamine guzzlers. Think about what tends to distract you when you know you need to be doing something productive.
- Social media
- Alcohol/Drugs
- Online shopping, Amazon
- Television
- (This is a sneaky one). Doing a task that is interesting to you and maybe even holds value to you, but that is not your most highly valued activity of the moment. For example, constantly finding new chores to do when you should be working on your most valued task instead. Or reading an interesting book instead of doing the work you need to be doing.
Putting gas in the tank: Interventions of the body to increase your motivation.
Now that we’ve gone through what NOT to do (or at least what to watch out for), let’s talk about what TO DO. Most of these strategies will involve ways of building up dopamine levels in your body, allowing you to put more gas in your tank. Given that in depression, baseline dopamine levels are reduced, this section is particularly important for those experiencing depression. You often know what you want or need to do, but you can’t muster up enough motivation to bring yourself to do it.
1. Start with smaller tasks.
If you’re having difficulty getting moving AT ALL, think of smaller tasks that feel doable to you, even if you can’t see how the smaller tasks might make a difference. So, if you would like to be able to go to the gym and workout for an hour but you can’t bring yourself to do it, make the goal walking to the end of the street and back instead. Or, if your house is a mess and you can’t bring yourself to clean it up, make the goal just to clean the kitchen. Or, if you need a new job but you can’t bring yourself to create a resume and start applying, make the goal to simply look through jobs on Indeed for 30 minutes. When you have a goal, and you complete it, you complete the dopaminergic circuit and a dopamine spike is experienced. You can think of a dopamine spike as encouragement to act. If you never close the circuit, you never experience the encouragement. This will have a compounding effect, and you can build into larger and larger tasks. This isn’t just “in your mind”. This is a physical effect, in your body.
2. Try Cold Showers.
Yes, I know they’re all the craze. But they appear to work. Cold showers have been shown to increase dopamine levels in your body for a prolonged period of time. For example, this study on cold water exposure showed that dopamine concentrations increased by 250% after 1 hour of a head-out ice bath at 57.2 degrees fahrenheit. And the increase was long-lasting.
How often, how long, and how cold?!
The Stanford neurobiologist Andrew Huberman recommends 11 minutes per week total to get the beneficial effects of deliberate cold exposure. This is not 11 minutes in 1 sitting, but “2-4 sessions lasting 1-5 minutes each distributed across the week”. As for the temperature, he recommends you should be thinking to yourself “this is really cold (!) and I want to get out, BUT I can safely stay in.”
3. Exercise.
Exercise increases dopamine levels. It increases it even more if you can learn to enjoy exercise. For those who feel depressed, I do understand this is common advice given, and it can be hard to follow. It can be hard to make yourself do it. But it does work. Maybe knowing why it works will help. Start as small as you need to, but start. It will help you build up and maintain your dopamine levels, increasing general feelings of motivation.
4. Practice Appreciation.
Make a conscious effort to notice what you appreciate throughout your day or during a specified time. It can be even better to make a practice of journaling what you appreciate. Studies have shown that appreciation increase dopamine levels.
5. Get more sunlight.
Manage your exposure to sunlight. Sunlight affects you at the biological level. Increase your exposure to sunlight in the morning and during the day (safely). At the very least, aim to get 10 minutes of direct sunlight in the morning when you wake up. And, AVOID exposure to UVB light, blue light, or other bright light between 10pm and 4am. If you are experiencing depression, maybe even try to avoid UVB light or other bright light as early as 8pm. Exposure to these spectrum of lights during those hours can DECREASE your dopamine and other feel-good neurotransmitter levels overall. Here’s a great interview with Dr. Sameer Hattar, Senior Investigator and Chief of the Section on Light and Circadian Rhythms with the NIH, on this topic.
6. Improve your general body state through eating right, getting enough sleep, and drinking plenty of water.
This last tip has less to do with dopamine, but is an important strategy of the body to improve your motivation. Your body state affects the way you experience the world. The better your body feels, the more energy you will have, and the more possibility you will see.
Don’t feel like you need to incorporate all of these suggestions right away, or at all. Choose the activity or activities that seem the most doable. Be sure to remain mindful about how you feel during and after these activities. When are you able to realize their affect on your motivation, you are more likely to continue to use them to fill up your tank when needed.
Time to talk about how to use your mind to improve your motivation.
Interventions aimed at the body are only one half of a full approach to increase your motivation. Stay tuned for Improve Your Motivation: Interventions of the Mind.
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Physiological Sigh PDF
Download below for your own physiological sigh pdf print-out.
Improve Your Motivation: How Motivation Works
Improve Your Motivation: How Motivation Works
When you’re experiencing depression, anxiety, or “meaning of life” issues, a lack of motivation can be a central frustration. This 3 part series on motivation will help you understand how motivation works, and will provide actionable steps for improving your motivation.
The central character: Dopamine
The central character in the story of motivation is Dopamine. Put simply, if you are experiencing low motivation, the rate of dopamine currently flowing in your body is low. If you are experiencing high motivation, the rate of dopamine currently flowing in your body is high. Knowing this, it is clear that learning how dopamine works is the first step to learning how to increase your motivation.
Dopamine is less about “liking” and more about “wanting”.
Most people have heard of dopamine, but are often confused about dopamine’s actual role in motivation. The average Joe tends to think of dopamine as the chemical that is involved with “liking” an object or activity.
Actually, dopamine is more connected to the “wanting” part of the equation. It is responsible for the craving, the anticipation, the yearning that motivates you to seek a satisfaction in the first place. Not the satisfaction itself.
To be clear, your dopamine does spike when a satisfaction is achieved. However, this serves more to tag the object or activity as something that is satisfying and worthy of pursuit in the future.
To get the things you need or are valuable to you, you need to be motivated to seek them out. And you need to be able to track the activities you are engaging in are worthwhile. This is what dopamine is for.
Imagine you are foraging for food in the forest. Dopamine is that feeling you have that keeps you interested in searching. It is less about the finding of the berry bush itself, and more about the feeling of pursuit that led you there.
Or, you’re scrolling your phone on instagram. Dopamine is what keeps you scrolling in anticipation of that hilarious meme that encapsulates exactly how you feel about cats, or relationships. It is less about that moment when you happen upon that perfect meme and your itch is satisfied, and more about the pursuit of a meme that will scratch that itch.
Or, imagine you’re playing Super Mario Bros. on the Super Nintendo you happened across in the closet of your old room at your parents’ house. Dopamine is what motivates you to play each level in anticipation of beating it. And it is what continues to motivate you to keep playing level after level in anticipation of the ultimate satisfaction: beating Bowser, beating the game, and saving Princess Peach.
The bare bones of the motivation process.
The bare bones of the process is this: A valued goal attracts your attention and is understood as a worthy goal to pursue. Dopamine is released as this is happening, and motivates you to take action towards that goal. You reach your goal, experience satisfaction, and there is a dopamine spike to tag the fact that this activity has been worthwhile. Easy enough, right? But there’s a twist. Immediately after your dopamine spikes, your dopamine drops below baseline. This will be important later. (To be continued!).
This process is happening to you right now.
Right now, you are reading this article about motivation. Maybe you’ve been having trouble with motivation yourself. Maybe you’ve read this article with someone else in mind. Or, maybe you just feel it would be valuable to be a person who knows more about motivation and how to increase it.
Whatever the case, you have understood this article as a source that might satisfy a valued goal of knowing more about motivation and how to increase it. Dopamine led you to click the link, and has propelled you to read to the end of this article. You have probably experienced at least one or two dopamine spikes as you’ve come across information you didn’t know, or else you probably wouldn’t have made it to this point.
Now, notice how you feel after you read the next couple of sentences in the below paragraph. Experience your dopamine. You have found a berry bush, but there will be promise of many more. You have beaten level 1, but what about 2, 3, 4 and BOWSER?!
You now know about dopamine’s role in motivation. But how do you use this information to increase your motivation? Learn how to use interventions of the body to manage your motivation.
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Texas Therapist: 4 Important Tips For Telehealth Therapy
Read for 4 tips to improve your telehealth therapy experience.
There are a lot of upsides to telehealth therapy. It’s convenient, it’s compatible with busy schedules and different lifestyles, and you might even find it easier to express yourself openly in the comfort of your own home. However, there are pitfalls to avoid and ways to enhance your experience. Continue reading for 4 important tips on how to make telehealth therapy more effective.
Tip # 1: Make sure your technology is working.
Try and spend 5-10 minutes before your first session making sure your technology is working. The most common problem you’ll run into is needing to turn on “permissions” to allow the telehealth program you’re using to have access to your microphone and camera. Most of the time, this is straightforward. But not always.
If you’re not technologically savvy, don’t worry. Your therapist likely expects that there may be some technical difficulties in the beginning, and you can spend the first 5-10 minutes sorting this out. However, if you can address these issues beforehand, you’ll have more time for the actual session.
Tip #2: Privacy
One of the most important aspects of effective therapy is that you are able to say anything and everything that comes up for you. This might mean things you are embarrassed to say out loud. Or things relating to someone living in your household. You want to make sure you create a space where you feel comfortable talking about sensitive topics. Here are some ideas:
-Make sure your door is closed.
-Consider using headphones
-Consider using white noise. You can play white noise via Youtube from your phone, an Ipad, or another computer.
-Be mindful of shared walls
-If needed, schedule your appointment time when no one else is in the house
Tip #3: Create a consistent space for your telehealth sessions.
Our minds are highly associative. Sights, sounds, smells, and even the physical posture of your body will bring up particular thoughts and feelings.
Imagine what it is like to go to a traditional in-person therapy session. Week after week you’re in the same office, in the same chair, with the same lighting, with the same smells, and the same noises. This is a space where you would have had insights, new understandings, release of distressing emotion, and a range of different emotional experiences. It becomes a familiar place of reflection and exploration.
You want to create a similar space for your telehealth sessions. Remove distractions. Sit in the same chair, at the same desk, in the same corner of the room. Even keep the lighting the same if you can. Light a candle if you want. Whatever feels right to you – just be thoughtful about the space you are creating. Here are some important tips to create your space:
-Close out all other tabs on your computer other than the telehealth program you are using.
-Turn off any TVs around you
-Remove anything within arm-reach that could be distracting.
-Sit upright and in a place where you are comfortable but alert. Do not lay or even sit in your bed. You will get tired! (It’s probably not good for the space of your therapy sessions to have associations to sleep!).
-Consider turning your phone off or putting it on silent.
-Avoid noisy places.
Of course, it is not always possible to be in the same consistent place for every session. Maybe you travel a lot. Or you’re not always in the same location at the time of your session. But try to keep what you can consistent. Even if it’s just a similar computer, chair, desk set-up. The exact physical location is just one aspect of your therapy “space”.
Tip #4: Reserve 5 minutes before the session and 5 minutes after the session for preparation and integration.
Preparation- Preparing the material for your session. Reflecting on what’s most present to you now, and what would be most helpful to talk about in session.
Integration- Reflecting on how you might bring the work done in the session into real life.
Preparation and integration often happens naturally with traditional in-person therapy (though not always). Imagine how it would typically work. You drive in your car to your therapist’s office. While driving, you know you are going to therapy. You begin to think about what’s going on for you right now and what you might want to talk about. This is a preparation process – you are preparing the material that will be worked through in the session.
Then, when you leave the therapist’s office, you hop back into your car and go on to your next destination. You’re left alone with your thoughts, remembering what was talked about in therapy and how you might bring these new understandings into real life. This is integration.
When you’re at home, it’s much easier to skip over preparation and integration because there are more distractions readily available immediately before and after your session. Be mindful of this, and set aside the 5 minutes before and after your session for preparation and integration.
If you follow these 4 tips, you will set yourself up for a fulfilling and enriching experience with telehealth therapy. See more about Texas telehealth therapy at Deep Growth Counseling.
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Breathing Technique for Anxiety: The Physiological Sigh
Like most breathing techniques used for anxiety, the physiological sigh is helpful in that it is easy to learn, it can be used quickly and in any setting, and it only requires the use of your body and attention to be effective.
How to do the physiological sigh:
- Take one deep in-breath through your nose
- Without exhaling, take in one more in-breath filling your lungs even more.
- Exhale in an extended fashion.
- Repeat as needed.
The Importance of Sighing
Dr. Jack Feldman developed the physiological sigh as a stress reducing technique after studying the process of sighing Listen to his guest appearance on the Huberman Lab podcast to hear him talk about this in depth. Sighing is crucial to the functioning of the lungs. If you didn’t sigh, your lungs would deteriorate. Believe it or not, we actually sigh every 5 minutes, and it is often with the same pattern of a double inhale and then one long exhale. Think about the last time you had a hard cry, or were really stressed. Your sigh likely followed this pattern.
Why the Physiological Sigh Works for Anxiety
As with most breathing techniques, the physiological sigh works by requiring you to redirect your attention, and by activating your parasympathetic nervous system through the lengthening of your out-breath. For more on this, see Why Breathing Techniques Work For Anxiety. However, the physiological sigh is unique in that contains the additional feature of allowing you to consciously utilize the normally non-conscious process of sighing to relieve stress. Here’s how it works:
You see, there are millions of air-filled sacs in your lungs called alveoli. Throughout your day, these sacs gradually collapse, filling your bloodstream with carbon dioxide. When you get stressed, these sacs collapse even quicker.
Now, a normal breath is not enough to refill these sacs. The deep in-breath contained in a sigh is necessary to do this, which is why you sigh every 5 minutes. As you sigh throughout the day, you are constantly refilling these sacs with new oxygen and releasing carbon dioxide from your bloodstream. Since a lot of what you’re feeling when you are stressed or anxious is a heightened level of carbon dioxide in your bloodstream, you can see how this process would affect your level of stress.
The physiological sigh allows you to consciously use this process to manage your anxiety and optimize its effects. By taking 2 in breaths during the physiological sigh, you are filling these sacs up with as much oxygen as you possibly can. Then, when you exhale in an extended fashion, you are able to more effectively cleanse your blood stream of carbon dioxide, reducing the anxiety or stress you are experiencing.
“The physiological sigh is the fastest hardwired way for us to eliminate the stressful response in our body quickly, in real time”.
Dr. Andrew HubermanTo summarize, the physiological sigh works by:
- Slowing the rate of your breath, activating your parasympathetic nervous system.
- Allowing you to consciously refill the air-sacs in your lungs and cleanse your bloodstream of anxiety-inducing carbon dioxide.
- Redirecting your attention towards your breath instead of the anxiety provoking thoughts you are having.
Remember – for breathing techniques to be effective, you have to actually use them. Try the physiological sigh a few times right now while you’re calm. Then, aim at working it into your routine whenever you start to feel stressed.
Be sure to download the physiological sigh pdf print-out for easier reference while you incorporate this exercise into your everyday life.
If you’re interested in reviewing research about breathing techniques and their use in reducing anxiety, check out research by Dr. Jack Feldman, Dr. Mark Krasnow, Dr. Andrew Huberman, and Dr. David Spiegel.
Related Content
For another great breathing technique for anxiety, check out: Breathing Technique: Box Breathing
To learn more about why breathing techniques work for anxiety, make sure to check out the post: Why Breathing Techniques Work for Anxiety
Schedule a free 30 minute consultation.
Breathing Technique for Anxiety: Box Breathing
Learn box breathing to manage your anxiety.
Also called “square breathing”, box breathing is a helpful breathing technique to have in your belt to manage anxiety. It’s easy to learn, it’s easy to remember, and it can be used anywhere without anyone else knowing what you’re doing. Whether you’re experiencing social anxiety, public speaking anxiety, panic, or any other kind of anxiety, box breathing can help you get back into balance and face the challenges of life more effectively.
How to do Box Breathing (5 steps)
- Inhale for 5 seconds as you imagine making a vertical line upwards.
- Pause and hold your breath for 5 seconds as you imagine making a horizontal line to the right.
- Exhale, extending your breath out for 5 seconds as you imagine making a vertical line downwards.
- Pause and hold your breath for 5 seconds as you imagine making a horizontal line to the left and completing the square.
- Repeat.
Why Box Breathing Works for Anxiety
Box breathing works on 2 levels – your body and your attention.
When you are anxious, your sympathetic nervous system is highly active. As you extend and slow your breath during box breathing, you are activating your parasympathetic nervous system. Your parasympathetic nervous system calms your body, and your mind with it. This is the great thing about breathing techniques- if you do them correctly, there is no choice in the matter. Your body will calm down and your mind will calm down.
Box breathing also works at the level of your attention. As you focus on the box you are drawing in your imagination, your attention is on the box and not on all of your anxious thoughts. If an anxious thought does come up for you, simply notice it, accept it, and turn your attention back to drawing the box.
Don’t forget to download the box breathing pdf below for easier reference while you incorporate this exercise into your daily life.
Related Content
For another great breathing technique for anxiety, check out the post: Breathing Technique: Physiological Sigh
To learn why breathing techniques work for anxiety, make sure to check out the post: Why Breathing Techniques Work
Schedule a free 30 minute consultation.
Why Breathing Techniques Work for Anxiety
You’re feeling anxious and it’s beginning to feel overwhelming. Maybe you’re about to take an important phone call, or going into a social gathering, or entering some other situation that tends to cause you anxiety — even a panic attack. What do you do?
A good breathing technique or 2 is a necessary tool to have in your belt.
Why Breathing Techniques Work For Anxiety
Put simply, breathing techniques allow you to address your anxiety at the level of your body. When you calm your body down, you calm your mind down. Mental chatter or trying to “will” yourself to calm down can often make anxiety worse. (“Just calm down!”, “Oh no, I’m feeling anxious again!”). Using breathing techniques allows you to bypass this chatter by calming your body and redirecting your attention.
Physically, when you are anxious, your sympathetic nervous system is highly activated. This is the system that controls the “fight-or-flight” response, and causes your body to be on high alert. When your sympathetic nervous system is more active, your heart rate is higher and your in-breath is more exaggerated.
Breathing techniques (at least the ones used to manage anxiety) are designed to lengthen your out-breath, activating your parasympathetic nervous system.
The parasympathetic nervous system is the yin to the sympathetic nervous system’s yang, and is responsible for relaxation and recovery. When your parasympathetic nervous system is more active, your heart rate slows and your body calms down.
It doesn’t matter what’s going on in your head, your body will slow down and you will be calmer.
Breathing Techniques and Attention
Breathing techniques not only work by using your body, but your attention as well. By focusing on your breath and keeping to the technique, your attention is not on the past or on all of the things that could possibly go wrong. It is in the present moment, on your body and breath. If a worry does come up, your attention is automatically redirected to your breath rather than spiraling into worry after worry. You are able to create an internal space where all that matters is your breath.
Don’t Forget: You Have to Actually Use Them!
For breathing techniques to be useful, you have to actually use them. Choose one to learn, and practice it a few times while you’re calm. Imprint it into your memory. Then, aim at working it into your routine whenever you start to feel anxious. You will get to a point where doing a breathing technique when experiencing increasing anxiety is automatic for you. You will begin to replace your current pattern of dealing with anxiety (which might be making it worse!), with this new, more effective pattern.
A Caveat
I do want to mention that there are many aspects to anxiety and breathing techniques are not the be-all-end-all. They will have an effect in the moment, and be useful long term once you make it a habit to use them. This will go a long way for most people, and for some, this is enough. However, deeper work can be done in therapy. If your anxiety is affecting your every-day functioning or creating a barrier to living the life you want to live, exploring therapy options is highly recommended.
Good Breathing Techniques for Anxiety
Now that you know why breathing techniques work, it’s time to learn how to do them. See the below posts for good breathing techniques for anxiety.
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