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Managing Symptoms of Depression

Feelings of Hopelessness, Helplessness

Feelings of hopelessness and/or helplessness can be some of the most frustrating feelings you experience when you are depressed. A sense of hopelessness reflects a negative view of the future, that nothing will get better. Feelings of helplessness reflect a negative view of yourself. Self-esteem suffers, self-confidence is affected, and you may not believe you have any control towards helping yourself feel better. You may give up and think, “What’s the use?”

What does NOT help feelings of hopelessness/helplessness:

  • Continuing to ruminate on negative thoughts about yourself or the future.
  • Looking for evidence that such negative thoughts are true.

What can improve feelings of hopelessness/helplessness:

  • Recognizing that depression causes you to have negative thoughts and feelings about yourself. It is not some character flaw or “failure” on your part. When you are not depressed, you may not have as many strong, negative thoughts that affect your mood adversely.
  • Using strategies such as those found in cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) to help you identify negative thinking and modify such thoughts towards improving your mood. There is a strong connection between our thoughts and our feelings, and CBT has been shown numerous times in research to help improve depressed mood.
  • By identifying our negative “thinking styles” through the use of CBT, we can learn to recognize when our thinking is negatively affecting our mood.
  • Taking a look at the CBT Workshop on this website that walks you through simple strategies you can learn and use to help modify negative thinking.

Depressed Mood
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Loss of Interest or Pleasure



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This page was last updated on May 23, 2010

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