[SPA - ENG] Cuando vemos el futuro sin esperanza - When we see the future without hope | En Modo AntiDepresión

"The superior man is he who is always faithful to hope; not to persevere is for cowards."

Euripides - Greek poet.

This is the fourth and final installment in the series on the Cognitive Triad." negative view about self, about the world and about the future. Today we will talk about the view of the future in a person with depression.

The world is not fair, do we agree? The world and life are full of suffering, pain and difficult moments.

When we look at the past we may be surprised by the number of unfavorable events we have experienced. When we meditate on our present, we recognize that we have adversities, worries and stressful situations that weigh us down. And by taking into account our past and present, we can sense that our future will be no different. This is normal. It's part of life and we understand that. Even so, something in us is confident that we can get through whatever may happen to us in the next few years of life. But that's how we see it because our minds are in order. We are not worried about the future, because our thoughts are right. Our emotions are not affected by our neurons.

A PERSON WITH DEPRESSION SEES THE FUTURE AS DARK.

All of the above, a person with depression sees it completely different from how I described it. They see the world as dark, they see it as extremely difficult, extremely painful. What about the future? That is another thing. A depressed person perceives the future with all the discouragement that can come from his heart and, above all, from his mind, because it is precisely his thoughts that play against him.

Since I was a child, my emotions dominated me. When faced with any unfavorable event, my mind, heart and body would synchronize in a feeling of catastrophe. My emotional intelligence was not the best. That pessimistic tendency, the older I got, the more it was reinforced. When depression and all that it implies appeared, my mind activated the disaster mode and bleak future: I began to believe that I would not get out of this situation, that this disease would accompany me forever, or that it was going to lead me to death.

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In concrete and specific cases, such as situations or events that happened to me, my head reasoned that there would be no solution and that the consequences would be dire. Every activity or event I maximized it and I was worried about everything that would come out of it. I was the typical pessimist, that person who sees everything as bad, difficult and hopeless. Problems at home with a damaged pipe? It was very complicated to solve it, I knew nothing about plumbing and besides, I had no money to pay someone to repair it. Conclusion? That pipe would keep getting more and more damaged every day and everything was going to be chaos in the house. Tragedy was inevitable. That's how my mind worked, that's how I reasoned about life, about my present and my future.

It is said that depression is the disease of hopelessness. And what is hope? It is that confidence that everything will turn out well, that everything will go smoothly. It is faith, illusion, certainty, longing for all the best you can wish for. But in a person with depression there is everything but hope. You don't trust anything, or anyone, not even yourself! Certainties? Yes there is... the certainty that everything will go wrong and get worse and worse. The certainty that your plans will fall apart and your dreams will collapse. That's how sad and hopeless depression is. That is the effect of the last member of this cognitive triad. Your thoughts, and therefore your interpretation of reality, are misleading, distorted. When you compare it to a more positive or realistic view of the situation, you realize how dark and negative it is.

HOW TO SEE THE FUTURE IN A POSITIVE WAY?

I mentioned this in past posts. When I managed to understand the power my thoughts had on my state of mind, everything started to change.Was it hard? Yes, very difficult! I was used to translate what was happening to me with pessimism, changing my way of thinking to a more practical, positive and optimistic way cost me a lot. You get used to thinking darkly, to catastrophe being the filter through which you look at the world and the future. You are a person without hope, without confidence in what is to come.

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But the good news is that we can change the way we interpret what happens to us. I want to share these links (in spanish) for you to consult so you can find ways to improve the way you interpret reality and consequently, the future.

I want to share these links for you to consult so you can find ways to improve the way you interpret reality and consequently, the future.

🔵 Beck's Cognitive Triad

🔵 Beck's Cognitive Triad: the most famous theoretical model of depression

🔵 The Cognitive Triad: I'm broken, people don't treat me well, and this won't change

🔵 Cognitive-behavioral techniques for easy application in primary care (part 2)

🔵 Cognitive psychotherapy manual

You may think that a sentence cannot change the way we think. But it is precisely the reading of phrases, books or listening to audios and videos with words of motivation to achieve, of confidence in ourselves that day by day will help us to change our thought pattern. It is not a panacea, but it will help a lot, it will be an important impulse.

I want to say goodbye with this phrase of Henry Ford that invites us to understand that everything is in our mind and that if we believe in ourselves and in what we can achieve in the future, we can make it possible.

"Whether you think you can achieve your dreams or you think you can't, you are right. Success or failure is born in your mind, from your beliefs [...] Finally, don't forget that mental obstacles, are those frightening things you see when you turn your mind away from your goals."

Henry Ford - American businessman.

Thanks for your visit and attentive reading. I hope this post has been useful for you. If you have any opinion, question or valuable contribution to this post, you will be welcome in the comments section.

_{Translated with www.DeepL.com/Translator (free version)}

@garybilbao

_{Las recomendaciones expresadas en este post están basadas en mi experiencia y en las brindadas por expertos en el tema.}

_{The recommendations expressed in this post are based on my experience and those provided by experts in the field.}

_{IMPORTANTE: Este artículo es meramente informativo. No pretende suprimir las recomendaciones de su terapeuta. Antes de tomar en cuenta o practicar alguna de las ideas aquí expresadas, consulte con su médico o llévelas a la práctica bajo su propia responsabilidad.}

_{IMPORTANT: This article is merely informative. It is not intended to suppress the recommendations of your therapist. Before considering or practicing any of the ideas expressed here, consult your doctor or put them into practice at your own risk.}

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