Depression is a terrible illness. It affects most of us at one point or another in life. But not many people know that several “thinking exercises” may be just as powerful as Prozac and other antidepressants.
CBT stands for Cognitive Behavioral Therapy. It’s a therapeutic method for coping with and correcting maladaptive thinking patterns and behaviors. It has similarities with Buddhist Vipassana, since both techniques deal with increasing inner attention and with remodeling our semi-automatic responses.
Brainswitching is a specific CBT technique in which a person experiencing emotional distress divert his attention away from the emotional turmoil by concentrating on solving a rationale puzzle. In other words, instead of wallowing in thoughts such as “I’m so miserable” or “It’s never gonna change”, make yourself busy with some trivial logical exercises or games such as Chess or Sodoku, or simply sing aloud a happy song — anything to take your mind off the destructive thoughts that nourish the emotional turmoil.
In time, your brain will undergo desensitization of the depressive thinking-loop as it sees that you (intentionally) fail to respond to it.
Good luck!