[qwertykeyboard]

Sometimes I tell my T that I am feeling really, really low, and she always asks, "Think back, and what do you think triggered it?"

Honestly this questions really pisses me the **** off because most of the time nothing ****ing triggered it. That to me feels like what depression is - being pissed and sad and angry and depressed for no reason and the wrong times. Why can't she understand that.

[eeyorestail]

I hear you. I have found that many people (my husband for one and sometimes my therapist as well) just don't understand that sometimes it comes out of nowhere. I have tried to explain it sooooo many times.

I know with me sometimes something does trigger it. And because I have told my husband and therapist in the past, "x happened and then I felt really depressed," they think that means there is ALWAYS a cause-effect thing going on and the times I say "I don't know" I just must not be thinking hard enough about what it might be. (Or that I might be in denial of what it was.)

Honestly this is something I still struggle with as well, so other than suggesting to be like a broken record when you tell them that nothing triggered it and that sometimes it comes out of nowhere, I'm not sure what the answer is.

[vital]

Originally Posted by qwertykeyboard

Sometimes I tell my T that I am feeling really, really low, and she always asks, "Think back, and what do you think triggered it?"

Honestly this questions really pisses me the **** off because most of the time nothing ****ing triggered it. That to me feels like what depression is - being pissed and sad and angry and depressed for no reason and the wrong times. Why can't she understand that.

Hi qwerty, Your T is probably CBT oriented and wants to identify the thoughts that trigger your depressed feelings and reason about them and talk you out of them. In my experience, there IS almost always something that triggers bad feelings, although the something can be very subtle. In my case, for instance it could have been hearing someone who merely spoke with a similar accent to someone who upset me in the past or a fleeting thought about something that reminded me of being upset in the past about something.

I think that it's hard for the original CBT kind of approach to work, just because that little transition from the subtle trigger into the depressed mode is unconscious and really hard to control. Because of that, it's hard to talk or reason your way out of it. That's why I think that *training* your way out of it is likely to work much better. That's the domain of that "SNAP CLUB" explained in these notes:

http://egg.bu.edu/~youssef/SNAP_CLUB...0164151576.pdf

It's generally in the domain of "Behavioral Activation" therapy.

- vital

My pdoc and T said there is always a trigger and those who don't believe it lack insight.

By avoiding and not identifying triggers by insisting there is none (when there is for everything) you are limiting and stunting your progress.

Sometimes I cant identify a trigger and that mskes it way worse

[Buzzstil]

me what triggers is when I think I hurt someone

[Tauren]

I think even if you're depressed all the time, when you have a sudden bout of even worse depression something may have triggered it. It could be something as simple as the weather, though. It's worth exploring.

[Fuzzybear]