How I understood and then escaped

I'm not really sure if I personally resonate with your underlying reasoning, but the SNAP game may play other roles in re-structuring neurological pathways in the brain. I'm going to give it a try. Thank you for sharing.

Hi everyone,

The following is what I personally think is the best plan is for dealing with
depression. I'm putting it here so I don't lose it in the forum.

1. Deal with any physical/nutritional issues

There are a surprisingly large number of common medical or nutritional
issues that can cause depression including Vitamin B12 or D deficiency,
hypothyroidism, heavy metal toxicity, pre-diabetes, infection, gluten
allergy and omega 3 fat deficiency. If you have any issues like this,
antidepressants aren't really going to help and you need to get to the root
of the problem with a Medical Doctor. For references see this talk



and the book "The Ultramind Solution" both by Mark Hyman. For inspiration
about what this step can do for you, see the following post from the
"depression success stories section"

http://forums.psychcentral.com/depre...r-give-up.html

2. Try all of the safe healthy ways to overcome depression first.

Often the first thing that happens to a person if they complain that they
are depressed is that they are given a prescription for antidepressant
medication. However, antidepressant drugs are toxic substances, have
potentially serious short and long term side effects, lead to dependence
and can be very difficult to withdraw from. Also, antidepressants usually
don't work:

Why Antidepressants Don?t Work for Treating Depression - Dr. Mark Hyman

Because of that, it seems much better to first try all of the safe, easy and/or healthy
ways to overcome depression. This would include exercise (always great for you), SNAP CLUB
as described here (easy and fun to try), improving your diet (always great for you),
meditation (always great for you), talk therapy including CBT, light therapy, mind training,
being more social and others. I particularly think that SNAP CLUB is good to try
because it is, I believe, really directly getting to the psychological root
cause of depression.

3. If ALL of the above fails and you are desperate, go to the next steps with
a Medical Doctor. I suspect that in almost all cases of depression, some
combination of 1 and 2 above will work. However, this is only a guess on
my part. There are cases that I believe (on this forum and elsewhere)
where antidepressant drugs work dramatically well and cases where they
work dramatically well, but only after years of trying to find the right
drug or drug combination. If nothing really works in steps 1 and 2, you may have to try this.
I have heard similar testimonials from people for who ONLY Electroconvulsive
Therapy worked. The TED talk by Solomon describes a case where nothing worked
except for a cyngulotomy (a brain operation).

- vital

15 minutes has elapsed since I read your article. In those 15 minutes, I feel more motivation than I have in 15 days (possibly 15 weeks!). Making decisions is typically a big, stressful ordeal for me in my depressed state. Yet this reminded me we make decisions constantly. Our days are chock full of them! The snapping provides a real sense of accomplishment - its almost like checking off a box on my to-do list! We need to celebrate all of our achievements, big and small, as the little ones can carry equal weight. Thank you very much for sharing!

It is not possible to cure depression with this after being miserable for 2 years and hating yourself very deeply.

Perhaps not but it may help and doesn't have side effects... What have you got to lose?

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It's a very sound concept and technique. Being aware you have choices in the first place is very important. Being aware of how you make choices and which choices you make is very powerful. Becoming aware of things you are not normally aware of gives you power. Why not try it.

I think there are other methods of achieving the same thing.

I may not agree in the underlying theory as being a core cause. Maybe it is for some people. It is a good treatment approach I think though. Maybe if you have sub conscience negative beliefs about yourself due to childhood issues that effect decision making than you want to be aware of and challenge those beliefs.

I gave you some props vital after our butting heads for awhile now. The above is how i really feel.

I must say, I read through this thread and this strategy to defeat depression seems very promising. I started last night, when Vital shared with me this method, and it seems to be working thus far. I hope it'll beat back the oppressive negativity and finally free me from the shackles of depression once and for all.

This program reminds me when I decided to write my notes with left left hand. Then I would start to brush my teeth with my left hand. then I started to do other things consciously. I began to notice little conscious choices and I had the power to will.

Something that helps me:
Imagine if you had to live this day over an innumerable amount of times, over and over. Now. How would you live it?

We are like pieces of art and each new day is another brush stroke. Is your painting going to be uplifting and elevating when it comes to it's finality? Be gallant. Paint your work of art consciously. You can't do it all in one day, so do it little by little, a day at a time.

To be Beautiful is to be True, and to be those are to be Good.

Hello,
I wanted to let you know that I am using your SNAP technique for a week or so. It seems I am more motivated thanks to it but, motivation was never really my biggest problem.
I'm not even sure what my problem is. I sometimes feel normal then I suddenly get depressed and plan to end my life. Now I'm feeling bad again.
I have a problem with my life that I think snapping is not going to solve. I mean, sure, it helps to feel better but it is only getting my mind of the problem that I need to solve. I can snap and tell myself to focus on a particular thing, sometimes it works, I think with more practice it will mork much more often, but it isn't going to fix my life at all.

Still thank you for sharing the technique and your story. I'll continue doing it as it does help with some things.