Can Mindfulness help with Depression?

Mindfulness is considered a very useful technique that can be used to help individuals who suffer from symptoms of depression. With proper determination and practice, mindfulness can be a very effective technique that can aid individuals in having a pause button that allows the individual to become present at the moment when an individual becomes present in the moment, that can focus on the “here and now,” which enables the individual to the opportunity to process what is actually happening to them at the moment. Focusing on being present and in the moment can, in turn, allow the client to describe how they feel in the moment and especially provide the professional counselor and or professional therapist with specific information regarding what their symptoms of depression look like in the present moment.

Mindfulness can help with depression because, at times, we do not understand what is happening when we are depressed. Depression can be described and or manifested in various ways. Depression can include but is not limited to the following symptoms: sadness, crying spells, isolation, loneliness, withdrawal, low self-worth, numbness, overeating, and or oversleeping. These symptoms can cause an individual to focus on what is going on with them, causing them emotional stress. It is hard for individuals to stay in the mindset of actually understanding what is going on with them. Therefore, most individuals find ineffective and or maladaptive coping skills to do whatever they can to get rid of that uncomfortable feeling of experiencing symptoms of depression. These ineffective and or maladaptive coping skills can include but are not limited to the following: running away, yelling, hiding, not answering calls, refusing to go to work and or school, etc. 

The two questions that can be used to probe clients for their symptoms of depression are:

What is happening right now inside of me?

Can I stick with my experience right now?

An individual dealing with symptoms of depression can use these two Mindfulness questions as a guide to effectively probe what is going on with their symptoms of depression in the present moment.