[Onward2wards]

In the movie Firefox, Clint Eastwood's character is tasked with stealing a prototype Soviet jet fighter which uses highly advanced technology.

One of the features of the Firefox plane is a helmet which relays the pilot's thoughts to the flight computer to increase reaction time beyond what is normally possible. The American agent's advisor tells him "you must think in Russian.", because the computer does not understand English commands.

It occurred to me that when we are depressed, we are thinking (and behaving) using a specific kind of "language". It is the language of pessimism, low self worth, worry, passivity and resignation. To overcome it, we have to learn (or relearn) to "think in Nondepressed"! We have to master the inner language of optimism, confidence, higher self esteem, activity, problem solving, assertiveness and expressiveness. We have to think it, and act it.

Thinking about it as logically as I can manage, it just makes sense that doing this ought to have positive results that will bring me more of the experiences that make me happy, therefore not depressed. Doing this is easier said than done, of course. Learning a new language is not a trivial thing.

I hope the metaphor works for you. I'm finding it useful.

Another metaphor I find helpful from movies and other media - deprogramming. I believe that negative events in our past may well cause us to learn assumptions and patterns of thinking that promote things like anxiety, self-doubt, and depressed moods in the future. In a sense it is like brainwashing (which appears to be somehow induced by repeated failures or unpleasant interactions with others and the world at some formative age). It can be a deliberate process in the case of people willfully treating you abusively, or it can be an accidental process based on how you interpreted some unpleasant chain of events at the time.

How do people overcome being brainwashed? A system of deprogramming. Maybe that is what talk therapy and self-help techniques which question negative thoughts and self-defeating behaviors really are?

[PsychNitrous]

This is a great concept, it's basically reframing your experience. I've been working on the same thing with my t lately. My homework right now is to journal about a time in my life that I really hated, but I have to write using positive language. It's a fairly common technique used in counseling, and as far as I've heard it seems to work pretty well.

Thanks for posting this using that metaphor, though. Even though I've heard it countless times from t's, and learned how to facilitate the process as a t, using that reference just makes it sound easier, in a way. Reading your post makes me feel more capable of changing my thinking.

[dexter]

I agree. Everyone has to find a way to do that that works for them, but in my case, the current DBT program I am in (Dialectic Behavioral Therapy) feels like a way to do exactly that that works for me. CBT may work in the same way for others, as might other forms of therapy.

And I remember that movie. The part you quoted stuck with me because he was instructed that it would not work for him to think the command in English then translate it in his mind to Russian... He had to actually THINK it in Russian. A lot of DBT requires practice and to me it feels like, initially applying techniques to change my thinking, but by practicing them I'm actually training my brain to think in that more positive way. It's difficult and it takes time, energy, and commitment, but for me it seems to be paying off with positive results.

Good thread!

[elevatedsoul]

it is a good thing

for me it increases dissociative experience...

i feel very optimistic, but i am equally pessimistic...

but i will argue with myself to the grave...
the good should always over come the evil...
i dont care what my mind says...

edit:
maybe it more confusing having learned other language..?
but forgetting so much not even being able to speak it..?

btw, i love clint eastwood
he's too cool

[ScientiaOmnisEst]

How can we be sure that "thinking in Nondepressed" isn't just deluding ourselves? Telling ourselves shiny, pretty lies to get through the day and blend in with other deluded people?

[12AM]

English is not my mother tongue and I found that thinking in another language helps me to find a better solution for my problems. I feel more calm and I am able to think clearer. Maybe because it forces me to use my logic more than my instinct. This is a helpful thread O2, thanks for sharing

[Onward2wards]

Originally Posted by ScientiaOmnisEst

How can we be sure that "thinking in Nondepressed" isn't just deluding ourselves? Telling ourselves shiny, pretty lies to get through the day and blend in with other deluded people?

Shiny, pretty lies that other people also use is denial - socially accepted denial, but denial nonetheless. "Thinking in Nondepressed" to me means ditching both excessively negative assumptions as well as defenses aimed at making those assumptions more bearable.

I will try to think in Russian from now on.

[dexter]

Originally Posted by Onward2wards

Shiny, pretty lies that other people also use is denial - socially accepted denial, but denial nonetheless. "Thinking in Nondepressed" to me means ditching both excessively negative assumptions as well as defenses aimed at making those assumptions more bearable.

If I understand your comment I agree.

For example, positive affirmations have been working well for me.

I don't consider them that I creating a positive false reality for myself to replace the negative false reality of depression.

However I do recognize that depression creates a false reality by imposing a negative filter over every one of my daily experiences.

The purpose and focus of my affirmations (and of practicing my DBT skills) is to counteract and hopefully defeat that negative filter.

At first they are a form of creating a mask but the goal and hopefully longterm effect is to help destroy that negative filter and let something closer to reality through.

[dexter]

Originally Posted by Onward2wards

Shiny, pretty lies that other people also use is denial - socially accepted denial, but denial nonetheless. "Thinking in Nondepressed" to me means ditching both excessively negative assumptions as well as defenses aimed at making those assumptions more bearable.

And actually I have a preferred way to look at it:

I have ALWAYS believed that "the world is what we make of it" through our actions but also by what we choose to believe and to feel. Although we think we are always behaving based on facts I believe in truth we are behaving based on assumptions and interpretation of events. We can choose to be happy, sad, ANGRY, fearful, based on our beliefs surrounding an event or assumptions of other's motives.

When depression hits it affects us by making ALL of those interpretations and assumptions NEGATIVE. This, to me, is what characterizes depression as opposed to sadness. We lose the power to assign beliefs or emotions to things and people and events and instead everything immediately goes to the worst possible interpretation. Our resulting behavior often triggers more events that are even easier to assign negative thoughts too.

It is a downward spiral that our malfunctioning brains initiate and maintain.

"Thinking Non Depressed" isn't a way to take things from artificially negative to artificially positive. "Artificially positive" may be an intermediate step in the process, but the goal is to break the malfunctioning negative cycle and give us back our power of choice as to how to view the world.

[dexter]

Thank you for a thought provoking thread On2