You Need To Break The Cycle Of Depression

Summary

Dans cette vidéo, un expert explore la nature complexe de la dépression, la comparant à une maladie qui affaiblit notre capacité à lutter. Il explique comment un événement déclencheur peut créer des biais cognitifs négatifs, aggravant la perception du monde. Il partage des techniques basées sur la méditation et le yoga pour améliorer la perception et briser le cycle de la dépression. Des exercices pratiques et des approches de la thérapie cognitive sont également présentés pour aider les individus à voir les choses de manière plus équilibrée et à cultiver une attitude mentale plus saine.

Takeaways

• 😊 La dépression est un cycle vicieux où un problème mène à un autre, compliquant la capacité de la personne à se motiver et à s'améliorer.
• 🧠 La dépression crée des biais cognitifs spécifiques qui aggravent la situation de la personne.
• 🧘 Le point central pour désarmer ce cycle est notre capacité de perception.
• 👨‍⚕️ L'auteur a étudié pour devenir moine avant de devenir psychiatre, et propose des ressources et des guides pour aider à combattre la dépression.
• 🔄 Le cycle de la dépression commence souvent par un événement incitant négatif, suivi de biais cognitifs négatifs.
• 👁️‍🗨️ Un exemple de biais cognitif est l'interprétation négative d'événements ambigus, comme penser qu'un collègue vous ignore délibérément.
• 📉 Les personnes déprimées ont tendance à se concentrer uniquement sur les retours négatifs, ignorant les aspects positifs.
• 💭 Un autre biais est la généralisation excessive des souvenirs négatifs, rendant les situations actuelles encore plus désespérantes.
• 🧘‍♂️ Les pratiques de méditation et de yoga, telles que l'exercice de la mentalité matérialité, peuvent aider à améliorer la perception et à réduire ces biais cognitifs.
• 🔬 La recherche montre que les personnes déprimées peuvent juger le monde avec plus de précision, bien que cela puisse ne pas favoriser une bonne santé mentale.

Q & A

Qu'est-ce que la dépression et comment affecte-t-elle la perception?

La dépression est une maladie mentale qui affecte la capacité d'une personne à se motiver et à faire face aux défis quotidiens. Elle crée des biais cognitifs qui déforment la perception de la réalité, rendant les événements neutres ou positifs négatifs.

Quels sont les trois biais cognitifs principaux liés à la dépression mentionnés dans la vidéo?

Les trois biais cognitifs principaux sont : l'interprétation négative des événements ambigus, le biais de sélection vers le négatif, et la sur-généralisation des souvenirs négatifs.

Comment l'exercice de la mentalité matérialité peut-il aider à changer la perception?

L'exercice de la mentalité matérialité aide à distinguer ce qui est réellement présent dans un objet ou une situation des significations et des émotions que notre esprit y ajoute. Cela permet de voir les choses plus objectivement et de réduire les perceptions négatives déformées.

Qu'est-ce que l'expérience du point aveugle montre sur notre perception?

L'expérience du point aveugle montre que notre cerveau comble les lacunes dans notre vision avec des informations qu'il invente, illustrant comment notre perception n'est pas toujours basée sur la réalité objective.

Quelle est l'importance de la perception dans le cycle de la dépression?

La perception est cruciale car elle peut perpétuer le cycle de la dépression. Une perception négative déformée rend les événements et les situations de la vie plus difficiles à gérer, conduisant à un renforcement de la dépression.

Comment la méditation et les pratiques de yoga peuvent-elles aider à traiter la dépression?

La méditation et les pratiques de yoga, telles que celles du système de pratyahara, sont efficaces pour entraîner la perception. Elles aident à voir les choses plus clairement et à réduire les biais cognitifs négatifs.

Qu'est-ce que la dépression réaliste et comment cela complique-t-il le traitement de la dépression?

La dépression réaliste est le concept selon lequel les personnes déprimées jugent le monde plus précisément, sans le biais positif que les personnes non déprimées ont. Cela signifie qu'elles voient souvent la réalité de manière plus négative, ce qui peut rendre le traitement plus difficile car il est basé sur des perceptions exactes mais négatives.

Pourquoi les psychiatres ont-ils du mal à changer la perception des patients déprimés?

Les psychiatres peuvent aider avec les émotions et les pensées cognitives, mais changer la perception est difficile car elle est profondément enracinée et se produit à un niveau subconscient que les interventions verbales ou comportementales ne peuvent pas facilement atteindre.

Comment la dissociation induite par la kétamine aide-t-elle à traiter la dépression?

La kétamine provoque une dissociation qui réduit l'activité du réseau en mode par défaut du cerveau, une zone hyperactive chez les personnes déprimées. Cette dissociation aide à briser le cycle de la dépression en modifiant la perception de soi et du monde.

Quel rôle joue la sur-généralisation dans la perception négative de soi?

La sur-généralisation conduit les personnes déprimées à interpréter des événements spécifiques négatifs comme des indicateurs globaux de leur valeur personnelle, renforçant ainsi une attitude de soi négative et perpétuant la dépression.

Outlines

00:00

😀 Briser le cycle de la dépression

Cette section introduit le thème principal de la vidéo : comment briser le cycle de la dépression. Elle explique que la dépression peut être comparée au VIH/sida des maladies mentales, car elle attaque notre capacité à lutter. L'orateur se présente brièvement comme un ancien moine devenu psychiatre et mentionne ses ressources sur la dépression disponibles sur YouTube et d'autres plateformes.

05:01

🤔 L'événement déclencheur et le biais cognitif

L'orateur explique que la dépression commence souvent par un événement déclencheur négatif, comme une rupture ou un échec. La dépression entraîne des biais cognitifs qui nous font percevoir le monde de manière plus négative. Il donne un exemple pratique pour démontrer comment notre esprit peut inventer des informations manquantes, illustré par une expérience sur les points aveugles de notre vision.

10:03

🔍 Interprétation négative des événements ambigus

L'orateur décrit le premier biais cognitif : l'interprétation négative des événements ambigus. Par exemple, un collègue qui ne dit pas bonjour peut être perçu comme désintéressé ou hostile, même si ce n'est pas le cas. Il explique comment ce biais peut fausser notre perception et propose un exercice de perception appelé 'exercice de la matérialité de la mentalité' pour mieux comprendre comment notre esprit ajoute des significations aux objets et aux événements.

15:04

🧠 Surmonter les biais cognitifs

Cette section aborde trois sources de biais cognitifs et propose des exercices pour les surmonter. L'exercice de la matérialité de la mentalité aide à voir les choses telles qu'elles sont, plutôt que selon nos interprétations biaisées. Pour contrer la généralisation excessive, il suggère de retirer l'élément 'je' de nos pensées, en considérant d'autres perspectives et en utilisant une technique de re-cadrage cognitif pour explorer des interprétations positives des situations.

20:07

👁️ Le test de perception thématique

L'orateur introduit le test de perception thématique, qui utilise des images ambiguës pour examiner comment les gens interprètent des situations. Il explique que nos interprétations sont souvent influencées par notre état mental. En s'entraînant à questionner nos perceptions, nous pouvons briser le cycle de la dépression en changeant la façon dont nous voyons le monde.

25:07

🌍 Réalisme dépressif et perception

La dernière section traite du réalisme dépressif, l'idée que les personnes déprimées voient le monde plus précisément que les autres, mais de manière moins saine. Bien que cela puisse sembler exact, l'orateur insiste sur l'importance de changer notre perception pour maintenir un esprit sain. Il conclut en affirmant que des pratiques comme le yoga peuvent aider à voir le monde tel qu'il est, ni bon ni mauvais.

Keywords

💡Dépression

La dépression est un trouble mental caractérisé par une tristesse persistante, une perte d'intérêt pour les activités et une diminution de la capacité à fonctionner au quotidien. Dans la vidéo, la dépression est comparée au VIH/sida des maladies mentales car elle sape la capacité de la personne à lutter, créant ainsi un cycle vicieux où la démotivation et les difficultés à accomplir des tâches quotidiennes aggravent la situation.

💡Biais cognitif

Un biais cognitif est une distorsion systématique dans la manière dont les personnes perçoivent et interprètent les informations. Dans la vidéo, il est expliqué que la dépression crée des biais cognitifs spécifiques qui conduisent à une perception négative du monde, exacerbant ainsi la dépression. Par exemple, une personne déprimée peut interpréter des événements ambigus de manière négative.

💡Perception

La perception est la manière dont nous interprétons et comprenons les informations sensorielles provenant de notre environnement. La vidéo souligne l'importance de la perception dans le cycle de la dépression, expliquant que la modification de la perception peut aider à briser ce cycle. Un exercice mentionné pour entraîner la perception est la 'mentality materiality exercise'.

💡Événement déclencheur

Un événement déclencheur est un incident qui initie le cycle de la dépression. La vidéo mentionne que la dépression commence souvent par un événement négatif comme une rupture, la perte d'un être cher ou un échec scolaire. Cet événement initial conduit à des biais cognitifs qui aggravent la dépression.

💡Attitude négative envers soi

L'attitude négative envers soi est un sentiment de dévalorisation et de manque de confiance en soi. Dans la vidéo, il est expliqué que cette attitude est un élément clé de la dépression, résultant de biais cognitifs et de perceptions négatives généralisées. Une attitude négative envers soi-même peut entraîner une perte de motivation et des problèmes de santé mentale supplémentaires.

💡Réalité dépressive

La réalité dépressive est un concept selon lequel les personnes déprimées peuvent avoir une vision plus précise de certains aspects du monde, bien que cette précision puisse être délétère pour leur bien-être mental. La vidéo mentionne que les personnes déprimées peuvent évaluer certains événements de manière plus réaliste, mais que cette précision exacerbe leur dépression en l'absence du biais positif nécessaire à une mentalité saine.

💡Exercice de 'mentality materiality'

Cet exercice est une technique de méditation visant à distinguer les attributs objectifs des objets de l'interprétation subjective que notre esprit y ajoute. La vidéo explique que pratiquer cet exercice aide à purifier la perception et à reconnaître que la plupart des émotions et des significations que nous attribuons aux objets proviennent de nous-mêmes et non de l'objet en soi.

💡Interprétation négative des stimuli ambigus

Ce biais cognitif se produit lorsque des personnes interprètent des situations ambiguës de manière négative. Par exemple, si un collègue ne dit pas bonjour dans la salle de pause, une personne déprimée peut interpréter cela comme un signe qu'elle est détestée. La vidéo propose d'examiner objectivement les preuves pour contrer ce biais.

💡Sur-généralisation

La sur-généralisation est un biais cognitif où une personne tire des conclusions générales basées sur des événements spécifiques, souvent négatifs. Dans la vidéo, il est expliqué que les personnes déprimées ont tendance à sur-généraliser leurs souvenirs, ce qui amplifie leur perception négative de leur vie entière. Par exemple, une critique au travail peut être interprétée comme un échec global.

💡Thérapie cognitive comportementale (TCC)

La TCC est une forme de psychothérapie qui vise à modifier les pensées et les comportements négatifs. La vidéo mentionne l'utilisation de la TCC pour aider les patients à identifier et à changer leurs schémas de pensée négatifs. Des exercices comme la liste des pour et des contre peuvent aider à rééquilibrer les perceptions biaisées.

Highlights

Depression creates a cycle where one problem leads to another, making it difficult to break free from the condition.

Depression is compared to HIV/AIDS of mental illness because it attacks the ability to fight back.

The central point to disarm the cycle of depression is our ability of perception, which is influenced by cognitive biases.

Depression often starts with an inciting event, such as a breakup, loss of a loved one, or failure, and then fails to recover, leading to a negative cycle.

Cognitive bias shapes the way we see the world, causing us to perceive situations more negatively than they actually are.

A blind spot experiment illustrates how the mind constructs what it cannot see, similar to how it fills in gaps during depression.

Negative interpretation of ambiguous events is a cognitive bias where depressed individuals perceive neutral events negatively.

Selection bias towards the negative is another cognitive bias, where depressed individuals focus on negative feedback and ignore positive feedback.

Overgeneralization of memories leads depressed individuals to remember negative events more vividly and generally than positive ones.

The mentality-materiality exercise helps individuals separate their perceptions from the actual material attributes of objects and situations.

Addressing cognitive biases can change the way depressed individuals perceive the world, potentially reducing the severity of their depression.

Cognitive reframing, such as making a pros and cons list, can help counter negative interpretations and selection biases.

Depressive realism suggests that depressed individuals may have a more accurate perception of reality, but this accuracy doesn't contribute to mental health.

Thematic Apperception Test demonstrates how ambiguous images can reveal individual perception biases, emphasizing the role of perception in mental health.

Yoga and meditation practices, particularly those focused on training perception, can be effective in managing depression.

Transcripts

hey y'all today we're going to talk

about breaking the cycle of

depression now the trickiest thing about

depression as a clinician dealing with

it is that one problem leads to another

problem depression is almost like the

HIV aids of mental illness because it

attacks your variability to fight back

so once you feel depressed it's hard to

get out of bed it's hard to get

motivated and then once it's hard to get

motivated other parts of your life start

to fall apart and so this creates a

vicious cycle and it turns out that

there's one Central Point which can

actually disarm the cycle which is our

ability of perception or more

specifically how depression creates

particular cognitive biases that then

make our life worse before we dive into

the details I just wanted to tell you

all a little bit about myself so I'm

someone who studied for S years to

become a monk and then ended up becoming

a psychiatrist if youall are interested

in more resources on depression check

out the various videos on our YouTube

channel our resource packs or even check

out Dr K's guide which is sort of my

take on depression how do I approach

patients when they walk into my office

how do I sort of figure out what's

clinical and what's non-clinical and

today we're going to be sharing with you

a non-clinical perspective on depression

which is the kind of stuff that's

included in the guide so let's go back

to this idea of perception so before we

kind of get into why perception is so

important let's take a quick look at the

cycle of depression so what do we know

scientifically about what happens to

someone when they become depressed so it

starts with an inciting event okay so

what we know scientifically is that most

people who get depressed usually start

with something bad so there's some kind

of normal bad thing that happens in life

there's a breakup we lose a loved one we

sort of get an F on a test something

happens and then the first thing is that

many people recover from it but if you

end up with depression something happens

and you don't recover from it and let's

understand a little bit about what that

cycle is so when there's an inciting

event the first thing that happens is

that there's a cognitive bias that

occurs and so the problem with the

cognitive bias is it shapes the way that

we see the world we start to see it in a

negative Manner and so even though

things are objectively better than we

think they are our mind doesn't see it

that way now before we kind of get

further into it we're going to show

youall a cool experiment that shows you

how your mind when it doesn't know

something will just make things up so

it's a really great experiment which is

that most people don't realize that you

actually have blind spots in both of

your eyes I know right now you're

looking at the world and you think that

you can see everything in front of you

but you literally cannot there is

actually a part of your vision that is a

blind spot where you can't see anything

and it turns out that your mind

constructs almost like an AI what should

be there so we're going to start by

showing you this principle so what I

want yall to do is sit up straight close

your left eye and then hold your left

finger out in front of you kind of like

this okay so we want to hold our left

finger and then we're going to be

looking at our left finger with our

right eye and then I want you to put

your two fingers together so focus on

the left finger the opposite finger from

the eye and then what I want youall to

do is move the right finger slowly away

so as you focus on this finger what

you'll notice is there's a period right

about here where you actually can not

see this finger you can even wiggle it

around a little bit and you'll notice

that it's completely gone and if you

move to the left you can see it if you

move to the right you can see it but

there's actually a blind spot right here

and this is absolutely insane because it

teaches us one very simple principle

which is that when the mind doesn't

actually have information it makes

up and this is a huge problem in

depression so let's go back to this idea

of an inciting event so once we have an

inciting event there's a set of

cognitive biases that start to come into

play so let's talk about what these are

the first is negative interpretation of

ambiguous events okay so what this means

is that let's say you're in the

breakroom and a colleague of yours is in

the breakroom and they don't say hi to

you while they're grabbing their coffee

and you're grabbing your coffee so if

your mind is depressed it's going to

take this ambiguous information and

interpret it in the most negative way

possible but it's not that the person

dislikes you it's that your mind is

doing this business again where it

doesn't actually see what's going on but

it fills it in with whatever the

depressive character of your mind is so

this is bias number one and we'll talk a

little bit about how to deal with these

so bias number two is a selection bias

towards the negative now what does this

mean so I'm sure that y'all have been in

this kind of situation where someone is

giving you feedback and they give you

positive feedback and they give you

negative feedback but sometimes our mind

is kind of tricky and it actually

ignores all of the positive feedback and

then it sort of Narrows down or focuses

entirely on the negative feedback the

third bias that we create this one is so

tricky it's so subtle and so devastating

is an

overgeneralization of memories okay now

this is really important to understand

it's subtle but it's important to

understand so when your mind is healthy

it remembers specifics so if my mind is

healthy and let's say I get a perform

perance review where I get good feedback

and negative feedback what the mind will

naturally do if I'm healthy is I'll say

okay I'm doing these things good and I'm

doing these things poorly but if I am

depressed what starts to happen is I

generalize I

overgeneralize especially my memories so

what ends up happening is the next day

all I will remember is that performance

review went terribly even though my boss

said hey you're doing a a fantastic job

but I tend to ignore that so I tend to

overgeneralize and if you talk to people

who are depressed or maybe been this way

maybe you're depressed you'll sort of

notice that they speak in very general

terms my life sucks the world is going

to hell everything sucks everything

sucks everything sucks and if you ask

them for specifics they can give you

specifics and we'll get to that in a

second but there is still this function

at play in the brain where their brain

is sort of overgeneralizing things and

removing a lot of positivity so let's

take a quick look at how this manifests

very practically so if I am going

through a day let's say I get one

positive event one negative event and

one neutral event so let's say I go to

work and I actually had a good

performance review my boss said you did

a fantastic job here are a couple of

things you need to work on this is a

good thing my boss said I did a

fantastic job then there's the neutral

event there's the person who is grabbing

coffee in the morning who doesn't say Hi

and then I get a text from someone that

I've been on three dates with saying I

don't think this is going to work if I'm

a non-depressed person if my mind isn't

depressed on this day I had had one

piece of bad news one piece of good news

and then all kinds of stuff happened in

my day not just this all kinds of stuff

happened in my day that's relatively

neutral right some people said hi some

people didn't say hi but if I am

depressed what ends up happening first

of all this gets removed from my memory

I literally do not think about it the

neutral thing gets converted to a

negative thing and then then I have a

negative thing so whereas on balance I

actually had a plus one a zero and a

minus one in the mind of a depressed

person I have a a zero a negative 1 and

a negative 1 so in my life instead of

even breaking even I convert breaking

even into a Nega -2 so what tends to

happen next so now as I start to see the

world like this the world becomes

objectively worse right because like my

mind cannot see the positive information

and let's take a look at what this looks

like so now I decide that I'm bad at at

my job or my job sucks people don't like

me I'll be alone forever so if we sort

of look at this for a second we begin to

realize that in people who are depressed

lives Everything feels like it's going

wrong right this thing is going wrong

and this thing is going wrong and this

thing is going wrong everything's going

wrong at the same time and so if you

have problems at your job if you have

problems with your friendships and if

you have problems with your romantic

relationships what does the Mind end up

concluding if every dimension of your

life is going wrong is it really every

dimension of life that's the problem no

then our mind puts all these three

things together and concludes I am

bad and this by the way is the Crux of

something called negative self attitude

so the key Hallmark of depression is a

negative self- attitude the way that you

see yourself is incredibly negative and

how do we get to see ourselves as

incredibly negative it's because of this

right I suck at this I suck at this I

suck at this but this in turn is based

on a perception problem so then what

happens is once I have negative self-

attitude then we enter all the good

science about depression right then what

I start to do is I start to have

problems with motivation I start to have

problems with inflammation now as I have

negative self- attitude my serotonin

level maybe decreases and so then we

enter into treatment now here's the

problem with treatment is that when

we're treating someone with depression

there's a lot of things we can do as

psychiatrists or therapists we can help

people cognitively reframe we can help

we can help validate their emotions we

can work on the emotional part of the

brain we can work on the cognitive part

of the brain but this is why this is

what's the big thing that's missing what

perpetuates the cycle is actually the

perception problem right because it's

not that actually three things in your

life went wrong it's only that one thing

in your life went wrong but you're

unable to see it that way and the reason

that I I don't know if this kind of

makes sense but the reason that psychiat

suck at altering your perception is

because that is literally the one thing

that we cannot do right so as a

psychiatrist I can talk to you about

your emotions I can validate your

emotions I can decompress your emotions

I can give you a hug I can tell you I

think you're a wonderful human being I

can do all this kind of stuff we can

also do things like cognitive behavioral

therapy we're going to we're going to

make charts what are your cognitions

what are your behaviors what are your

emotions we can do all this stuff

because it involves words right it

involves actions but the one thing that

we can't change is the way that you see

the world and so the problem with this

now is that since we aren't good at it

as psychiatrists we actually don't have

interventions for it because it's

something that happens within you and

since we don't have sort of

interventions for it what this means is

that this one part of the cycle of

depression has been horribly neglected

by the field of Psychiatry and the real

problem here is that this one part of

your brain that's been horribly

neglected is actually the most important

part for propagating the cycle of

depression it's the thing that actually

happens the earliest and even if you

look at people who are resilient so if

you do studies on people if you look at

studies of people who are resilient what

you discover is that the way that they

perceive setbacks is different from

people who are not resilient it all

comes down to a perception difference so

people who resilient will say okay this

thing you know I didn't do great today

but I learned something right so at

least I'll be better tomorrow so the way

that they interpret their events is very

different hey all if you're interested

in applying some of the principles that

we share to actually create change in

your life check out Dr K's guide to

mental health it combines over two

decades of my experience of both being a

monk and a psychiatrist and distills all

of the most important things I've

learned into a Choose Your Own Adventure

format so check out the link in the bio

and start your journey today so what do

we do about this there are a couple of

things that we're going to use from the

system Sy of yoga and the reason that I

love the system of yoga is because it is

strong at everything that Psychotherapy

is weak at because Psychotherapy is

about I'm going to do something to you

right you're going to come into my

office I'm going to sit here and I'm

going to therapize you but in yoga it's

all about a single person right so

there's no one there to help you you're

sitting there you're meditating and so

the other cool thing about yoga is it's

very good at training perception they

have a whole system of meditation called

bre Yara which is all about training

your perception there are dozens of

practices this is also in the guide by

the way so here's what we're going to

teach you we're going to teach you one

very simple thing which is called the

mentality materiality exercise this

exercise comes from this awesome

Buddhist text called the vudi Maga and

the vishi Maga literally means the path

of purification so this is the way that

you purify different parts of yourself

and they have a beautiful part in there

they have a beautiful chapter in there

about purifying your perception and what

they share with us is something called

the mentality materiality exercise it's

very verbose that's just how they talk

so this exercise is actually quite

simple it is to acknowledge that

anything that you see in the world has a

materiality to it so here I've got a

vial of I think a sample perfume okay so

if I look at this there are some

attributes of this that come from the

vial right so this is this vial is it's

clear it's white it's kind of like a

little bit cold it's not very heavy it's

light all of these things are actually

in the object the question is that when

I see this object I do not see it that

way right what I see is oh I like this

perfume I don't like this perfume it's

too small man I should have bought a a

bigger bottle because I really liked it

and now I can't find it online and now

this is a problem that's all True by the

way this is something that I was going

to get from my wife that I didn't order

in time because I procrastinated and now

I still have this thing it's been

sitting on my desk for a year so the key

thing here is that if you look at the

world let's say you see your dog your

dog has certain physical material

attributes it's hairy it's smelly it has

a cute face but even cuteness right so

what is cuteness cuteness is something

that our mind attaches to the dog and

this is the point of the mentality

materiality exercise is to notice what

are all of the things that are actually

a part of the object and what are all of

the things that my mind adds to it and

what you will discover is mindblowing

because 99% of your perception doesn't

actually come from the outside world it

actually comes from you so when you look

at your dog and and your dog makes you

feel good the making you feel good is

not in the fur of the dog it's not in

the eyes of the dog it's not in the

wagging tail of the dog this is just a

dog sitting there wagging its tail what

makes you feel good comes from within

you and this is also where if we sort of

stop and think about it a lot of we what

we get upset about this person did not

say hi to me in the break bre room this

morning hold on a second what does your

mind attach what is the mentality that

you attach to that materiality the

materiality is I walked into the

breakroom I got my coffee they got their

coffee they walked out and I walked out

that is all that happened that's it and

yet our mind attaches all kinds of

meaning to this and then you may say but

my mind attaches meaning because it's

logical right because it knows that I am

unliked and now we get to the second

thing that we're going to talk about so

just practice the mentality materiality

thing where I want you all to just

notice your internal reactions and what

you attach to objects outside of you and

this is where in the vishu Maga they

talk about 40 attributes of materiality

so they say that an object can be hard

it can be soft it can be heavy it can be

light it can be warm it can be cold it

can have temperature you know it can

have smoothness it can have whatever so

they attach all these different

attributes and none of them are going to

be the stuff that your mind attaches to

like something something or dislike

something something's good or something

is bad these are all attached by your

mind so do that practice there are a

couple of other things that we can

manage to shape our perception and

that's going to be these three sources

of cognitive bias so the next exercise

that you can do if you feel like the

world is going to hell is you can take

let's start with the interpretation of

ambiguous stimuli so there are studies

that basically show like conclusively

that people who are depressed will see

ambiguous things and interpret them in

the worst ways possible so for example

there's one study that showed that if

you have a neutral facing facial

expression right you're just

like depressed people will see that as

negative and normal people will see that

as neutral this person is just like

walking they must be thinking about

whatever right that it has nothing to do

with me we'll get to that one in a

second so what you want to do is take

anything that you sort of view as

negative and take a sheet of paper and

say what is the real evidence that you

have that this this is a negative thing

and what is the evidence that you have

to the contrary this technique is also

used in cognitive behavioral therapy so

you take one thing that is negative and

you try to see what could be positive

there and the goal isn't that you have

to believe that the goal is literally to

practice having your mind look at things

in a more nuanced way we want to be able

to weigh pros and cons but in depression

all we see is the the cons so as we do

this practice this will actually work

for number one and number two with the

selection bias that's very very very

hard to shakee but this the mentality

materiality exercise will help with and

let's talk about how for a second so why

does the mentality materiality exercise

help with selection bias so as we begin

to see things as they are instead of our

way of interpreting them this will

change the way that we see the world so

then we won't select just the negative

because nothing in our life is going to

be negative everything is actually going

to be neutral and this is the goal that

even the Dalai Lama speaks of so he says

the hardest thing to do in the world is

to see things as they are so mentality

materiality is going to help with our

selection bias we talked about altering

our interpretations with a procons list

and now we get to the good one

overgeneralization so there's one thing

you can do to break the cycle of

overgeneralization which is to remove I

from the equation so if you look at

someone who's depressed one of the key

things is that they always think that

they're at fault right so and this is

going to sound really weird because if

you pay attention to your thoughts and

you're depressed or you're feeling bad

we're not talking about clinical

depression we're just talking about

you're kind of in a bad head space well

you'll find is everything has to do with

you these people would be better off

without me they'd have more fun if they

if I didn't even go the work everyone

would be happier at work everything is

about me me me me me so what we know

about depression is it's actually quite

narcissistic in some ways we even know

that the part of your brain that thinks

about you is hyperactive in depression

this is the part of the brain called the

default mode Network and this is also

why ketamine is one of the fastest or is

the fastest treatment for depression

that we know of and what ketamine

actually does you can inject K Infuse

ketamine or give it to people

intranasally and what ketamine does is

causes a dissociative uh reaction in

your brain so ketamine causes

dissociation that's why we in initially

we used it for anesthesia and surgery so

we give people ketamine and then they

like lose sight of themselves

and once they lose sight of themselves

like nothing hurts so like we literally

induce dissociation and it breaks the

cycle of depression so we're going to do

that without ketamine because ketamine

has all kinds of problems and so this is

what we're going to practice is removing

the eye from your thinking right so what

you'll notice is that overgeneralized

thinking has to do with eye thinking I

know this is getting kind of like

nuanced but I really want y'all to hear

what I'm saying so anytime you

overgeneralize it's going to involve I

you'll see that these two thoughts are

linked I suck right that is the mother

of all

overgeneralizations and so what we want

to start doing is literally thinking

about particular scenarios like I went

into the break room and I got my coffee

and this person got their coffee and

what we end up doing is we think that

the reason they didn't talk to us is

because I they don't like me we never

stop to think okay maybe this person is

going through a divorce maybe this

person is preoccupied maybe this person

has a really stressful day maybe this

person is really excited about something

maybe this person just got a really

worrying text we do not think about the

other person at all it always has to do

with me me me me me so pay attention to

any thoughts that you have in your mind

that are overgeneralized and have to do

with you and just take a moment to

consider what about the rest of the

world what could be going on in this

person's life to create this behavior

and sometimes people can get so

depressed that they literally cannot

think of anything and that's why I

encourage you all to practice as best as

you can and this is the kind of thing by

the way this cognitive reframe Fring is

something that a therapist can really

help you with the last thing that I'm

going to share with yall is something

called the Thematic app perception test

so what we do with the Thematic app

perception test is we look at images

that are intentionally ambiguous and

then we ask people for their

interpretation of them so as we look at

this like you may say like oh it's very

clear what's going on this person is

really sad but the question is why is

why are they sad did someone just die

here that's my interpretation of this

one what about this right like this is

kind of creepy the other reason I like

the Thematic Apperception Test is all

the images are like super creepy so this

is like a good example of like what's

going on here like how are you

interpreting this is this person trying

to smother this person or is this a

blessing that they're giving or like

what are they doing here are they about

to wake them up like who knows what

about this one so the key thing here is

that some of these images can be

interpreted very very differently

because the image is purposefully

ambiguous and the whole point of the

Thematic Apperception Test is that we

don't realize how much our perception

shapes literally the way that we see the

world we think of our perception is

objective and the problem is until we

start questioning our perception then

the cycle of depression will continue

because the inputs we're getting that

are making us depressed are not actually

accurate they are distorted in some way

and since they're distorted we see the

world in a negative light then we draw

conclusions about the world our mind

loves to overgeneral

then we draw conclusions by our about

ourselves and then once we believe that

we are not good then all kinds of

problems will arise so the question is

how do you short circuit this the way

you shortcircuit it is by actually

training your perception right so if we

can look out for these cognitive biases

the selection bias the interpretation of

ambiguity as negative and the

overgeneralization it will change

literally the way that you see the world

and once the world World becomes a

different place it is way easier to be

less depressed now there's one last

thing that in all fairness I have to

include I didn't want to include it but

I kind of got to so the last thing we

got to talk talk about is actually kind

of derails what I just told youall so

there's this great concept called

depressive realism and what basically

researchers were trying to figure out is

that if I am depressed or does a

depressed person actually see the word a

world in a distorted way or do they see

it in a real istic way so is the glass

literally half empty and what we've

discovered is kind of scary is that

depressed people are better at actually

judging the accuracy of the world so I

know this sounds kind of weird but hear

me out so all human beings have an

inherent bias towards the positive so

this is why the lottery is a thing right

this is why people buy loot boxes

because every human being thinks that

they are better than average this is

factually incorrect so factually like

you know that you're not going to win

the lottery there's no point in buying

loot boxes but we each have this

intrinsic bias that thinks even though

it doesn't work for other people I'm a

winner everybody else who buys lottery

tickets is a loser but I'm a winner and

the problem is that this level of

narcissistic idiocy is required for

healthy human functioning this cognitive

distortion that the world is a better

place than it actually is is required

for the maintenance of a healthy mind

and so the problem with depressive

realism is once we remove that bias and

we actually see the world more

accurately which it's studies will show

that they actually are accurate with the

way they judge things but this even

though it's more accurate it is not in a

it doesn't view the world in a way that

makes us healthy so I know it sounds

kind of weird but technically depressed

people if you're depressed you're like

actually right about the way that you

see things in a lot of ways these

cognitive biases are still at play so

you actually are a better judge of the

world not actually about yourself

because all these cognitive biases will

lead to an amplification of the negative

but technically and we're trying to be

precise here technically depressed

people are more accurate judges that

doesn't mean that there aren't

distortions as well and this is just one

thing that I had to include for the sake

of completeness from a very practical

sense though we know that if you want a

healthy mind you should change your

perception and this is where my

experiences with yoga and stuff are that

as I see the world more clearly as I

strengthen my perception everything does

get better but I don't think that I'm

cognitively distorted because even once

you do prahara a lot like you're just

going to see the world as it is is

neither good nor bad it is just what it

is anyway I know it's kind of an aside I

know it's kind of like after the fact

but for all the depressed people out

there who really believe that the glass

is half empty y'all are actually not

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wrong

on