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Comment by danschumann | Hacker News Reader

One thing that helped me was seeing depressed thoughts as transient entities, not belonging to me, but just passing through my mind once and a while.

It's like a weird dream. If you have a weird dream, you don't think, "oh I'm weird", you think, "that was a weird dream". It's the same with depressed thoughts: if you see them as "oh that's a depressing thought", rather than, "I'm depressing", then it's easier for those thoughts to go away. (usually when your blood sugar goes up or something like that)

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FWIW, this is a common paradigm taught by instructors of meditation. That is, thoughts in general are transient and not something to necessarily identify as "me" nor to assign undue importance. Notice thoughts come and go and return to the breath.

I am not qualified to suggest that meditation is beneficial specifically for depression, but I think there is sufficient evidence to advise the practice in general.

This is a great tactic for ridding yourself of any unwanted thoughts. Learn to see them as "other" or a "mindvirus", not part of you. Learning to identify myself with the aspects of myself that I like has helped me in nearly every facet of my life.

This is very important. One of the first steps of recovery is refusing to identify with depressive thoughts.

also the first steps to enlightenment. Applies to all thoughts and emotions.

I found meditation practice immensely helpful in my struggle with depression. I learned that the present moment is the only moment, and I can let the thoughts pass through me and come out the other side.

I thought it was pretty hippie-dippy stuff when I started, but I was desperate enough to give it a good honest try, and damned if it didn't help more than talk therapy and everything else.

I look at it like my brain is lying to me. "Hey, you want to die" ... "No I don't brain, you're full of shit."

Somehow related, when you have a problem or a decision to make, thinking about you in the third person apparently helps.

Whenever I have anxious thoughts or worries, I imagine my friend having them instead, and me giving them advice. That advice tends to be a lot less self-critical and more helpful.

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