Quick question: What’s the best or most effective treatment for depression and anxiety? I’m gonna guess that the words “medication” and therapy popped up for most of you. And then if you’re mind wandered just a bit further, you may have added a few descriptives like “heavy duty medication” or “years and years of therapy.”
Most of us consider talk therapy as a standard treatment for alleviating symptoms of depression and anxiety.
And yes, these ole stand-by treatments for depression and anxiety really work for some people. But for others, not so much. That’s why more “alternative” therapies are gaining some momentum as recognized and effective treatments for depression and anxiety.
Antidepressant and antianxiety meds are a common go-to for treating symptoms of depression and anxiety.
One of those less conventional treatments is the practice of mindfulness.
It’s true. More and more research demonstrates that practicing mindfulness really can alleviate symptoms of depression and anxiety. That’s because the practice of mindfulness helps you regulate emotions. Many now see it as a science-backed intervention for treating depression and anxiety. It’s even morphing from an alternative into a standard treatment for depression and anxiety.
There’s proof! Scientific research shows that mindfulness can help alleviate symptoms of depression and anxiety.
And best of all, it doesn’t involve taking medications with undesirable side effects or spending hours upon hours on the therapy couch.
But what the heck is mindfulness anyway?
This is an obvious one, but I’m going to throw it out there anyway: You need to understand what mindfulness is before you can comprehend how it alleviates symptoms of depression and anxiety.
Basically, when you practice mindfulness, you simply live in the present moment. You may think you’re already doing this, but there’s a good chance that you’re not. Because honestly, most of us spend oodles of time either mulling over the past or contemplating the future. And both fretting over the past and worrying about the future can cause or aggravate symptoms of depression and anxiety.
Mindfulness-based interventions (MBIs) help guide your thoughts back to the here and now. When practicing mindfulness, you ground yourself in the present moment. You recognize your thoughts, feelings, and sensations. And you do this without judgement. You acknowledge them without labeling them as good or bad.
You ground yourself in the present moment when you practice mindfulness, recognizing thoughts, feelings, and sensations.
Simply put, you’re an objective observer. You finally get to know yourself, and you accept yourself for who you are in this moment. You’re not fighting tooth and nail to control your thoughts and emotions. And so, guess what, your thoughts and emotions then have less control over you. You’re less reactive. A sense of calm settles in, and you embrace your inner zen. Then you wave goodbye to your symptoms of depression and anxiety.
How exactly does mindfulness treat symptoms of depression and anxiety?
Food for thought here… a good deal of the time that you spend thinking about the past is often sullied with regret. Phrases like “why, oh why” and “if only” keep popping into your head.
You may even start to ruminate, which involves dwelling on negative feelings and distress. In other words, you keep remembering how the world did you wrong! Or something like that. And this kind of dwelling triggers a downward spiral and can either cause or magnify symptoms of depression and anxiety.
Rumination involves dwelling on negative events from the past and can trigger symptoms of depression and anxiety.
Then there’s the time you spend mulling over the future. These thoughts may center around your hopes and dreams. But they also may be riddled with worry, doubt, and fear. It can even lead to catastrophizing – a cognitive distortion that involves jumping to the worst possible conclusion without an objective reason to despair.
And need I say it.. that kind of thinking can induce anxiety.
Excessive worry can lead to catastrophizing or imaging the worse possible outcome in any situation. These negative thought patterns can trigger symptoms of depression and anxiety.
But a mindfulness practice keeps you grounded in the present. You simply live in the here and now – free of the regret, rumination, worry, doubt, and fear that accompany your thoughts of the past and the future.
Let me be a little more thorough and specific…
Mindfulness can reduce your symptoms of depression and anxiety by:
Drawing your attention to the present, where all that matters is the here and now. Thoughts of the past can lead to ruminating. And thoughts of the future can lead to catastrophizing. And both ruminating and catastrophizing can exacerbate symptoms of depression and anxiety. But a mind locked on the present moment just doesn’t allow those kind of thought patterns to snake their way in. And that’s one way mindfulness protects you from worsening symptoms of depression and anxiety.
Helping you recognize negative thought patternsthat wreak havoc on your mental health. Because a failure to recognize negative thought patterns adds fuel to their fire and exacerbates symptoms of depression and anxiety. Once acknowledged, these thought patterns lose some of their power over your actions, reactions, and general mindset.
Mindfulness helps you recognize negative thought patterns, which can exacerbate symptoms of depression and anxiety.
Allowing you to accept things as they are. It’s important to understand that acceptance isn’t surrender. It just allows you to get comfortable with the things you can’t change and then move on. No dwelling. Acceptance is freedom. And guess what.. research has linked acceptance to a higher quality of life and diminished symptoms of depression and anxiety.
Giving you the ability to detach from your thoughts. With mindfulness, you begin to see that your thoughts are temporary and always changing. This allows you to create some space between you and your thoughts. Then your thoughts lose their stronghold over you. You no longer believe everything you think, including all the pervasive negative self-talk that plagues those struggling with symptoms of depression and anxiety. You realize that thoughts like “I’m a loser,” “nothing ever works out,” and “I’ll never succeed” are just thoughts. That’s it. They’re not your reality. They are not facts. Through mindfulness, you also develop the ability to respond differently to negative thoughts because you’ve gained more control over your emotions.
You can practice this detachment from your thoughts by imagining them as passing clouds. You’re less likely to react to thoughts when you realize they’re just passing through. “Nothing ever goes well for me,” transforms into “I am having a thought that nothing ever goes well for me.” Beautiful, eh?
Through mindfulness, you can practice detachment from your thoughts, imagining them as clouds that are simply passing by. You’re less likely to react to thoughts when you realize they’re just passing through.
Teaching you to practice self-compassion. Once you’ve mastered all the skills listed above, you’ll be better equipped to practice self-compassion. Because all that negative self-talk no longer weighs you down. You have a handle on your inner critic. And you’ve built your capacity for self-kindness. Self-compassion helps alleviate your symptoms of depression and anxiety.
Mindfulness helps you put an end to negative self-talk and practice self-compassion, which then helps alleviate symptoms of depression and anxiety.
Other Ways Mindfulness Can Help Alleviate Symptoms of Depression and Anxiety
Physical health also benefits from a mindfulness practice. And good physical health helps fend off symptoms of depression and anxiety. This makes good sense since physical health and mental health are forever entwined.
So, what are the benefits of mindfulness for physical health?
Well, research suggests that mindfulness can improve sleep. And good quality sleep is essential for both staving off and healing from symptoms of depression and anxiety.
Mindfulness helps improve sleep, and good quality sleep is essential for fighting off symptoms of depression and anxiety.
Mindfulness may also empower you to make healthier choices when it comes to dietary and lifestyle habits. One study found that people with high blood pressure made healthier dietary choices after completing an eight-week-long mindfulness program. A mindfulness practice may have boosted awareness of their choices, or of the way they felt after making not-so-healthy ones.
So, how often do you need to practice mindfulness to alleviate symptoms of depression and anxiety?
To answer that question.. I’m just gonna emphasize that it doesn’t take a gargantuan effort to reap the rewards of practicing mindfulness to alleviate symptoms of depression and anxiety. Just 10 minutes of mindfulness a day can help you deal with strong emotions and get a handle on negative thought patterns.
That’s because a 10-minute daily mindfulness practice changes your brain’s structure. You build up gray matter, which is essential tissue that impacts mental function, emotion, memory, and movement. With more grey matter, you’re more likely to get a handle on those negative thought patterns associated with symptoms of depression and anxiety.
But how long does it take to see these changes after you adopt this 10-minute-a-day habit?
Like everything in life, it varies from person to person. But one recent study found that 40 days of mindfulness meditation practice for beginners led to significant changes in their brain structures. And these changes were associated with lower levels of depression.
Just 10 minutes of mindfulness each day helps to build up your brain’s gray matter, which is essential tissue that helps you get control over the negative thought patterns associated with symptoms of depression and anxiety.
Better Together? Adding Mindfulness into the Mix of More Traditional Treatments for Depression and Anxiety
So yes, a mindfulness practice in and of itself can reduce symptoms of depression and anxiety.
And a collection of research also reveals how mindfulness enhances the benefits of antidepressant medication and talk therapy. Stuart Eisendrath has even written a book on this subject: When Antidepressants Aren’t Enough: Harnessing the Power of Mindfulness to Alleviate Depression. Eisendrath describes mindfulness as a tool that gives people more control over their symptoms of depression.
And renowned researchers and professors of psychology and Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) developed Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT). This treatment combines elements of Jon Kabat-Zinn’s Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) program with CBT to help break negative thought patterns that fuel symptoms of depression and anxiety.
So, in a word, “yes.” A mindfulness practice really can treat symptoms of depression and anxiety. And mindfulness is more likely to reduce symptoms of depression and anxiety than medication and/or therapy used on its own.
A mindfulness practice is more likely to reduce symptoms of depression and anxiety than medication or therapy used on its own.
Mindfulness is especially effective for preventing relapse of depression and anxiety
A little bad news here.. If you’ve struggled through an episode of depression, you have a 40 percent chance of recurrence after the first episode, a 60 percent chance after the second episode, and a 90% chance after the third.
So, what the heck can you do if you’ve already struggled through at least one episode of depression and fear a relapse?
Well, there are many different approaches to preventing and healing symptoms of depression. But The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) recommends Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT) to avoid relapse. In fact, researchers originally developed MBCT to help prevent depression relapse.
Again, the goal of MBCT is to help disrupt negative thought patterns that spark or aggravate symptoms of depression and anxiety. And to drive this point home, I’d like to point out once again that research demonstrates how MBCT works just as well as medication for minimizing symptoms of depression in those currently struggling with the mental health disorder and for preventing relapse in those in remission. There’s a growing belief that mindfulness-based treatments are even more effective in preventing relapse than other forms of traditional care.
Types of mindfulness exercises
So, are you ready to reap the many benefits of mindfulness and heal your symptoms of depression and anxiety? Well then, let’s get to it!
Again, mindfulness involves focusing on the present moment. And you can practice mindfulness in many ways.
Admittedly, some practices require a little more effort than others. For instance, you can engage in mindfulness mediation, which typically involves sitting or lying still in one place for a designated amount of time with a goal of remaining anchored in the present moment. That takes some effort.
Mindfulness meditation involves sitting or lying still for a designated amount of time. It takes some effort but can help alleviate symptoms of depression and anxiety.
Or you can practice mindfulness as you’re working through everyday tasks. You simply pay attention to all the sensations you’re experiencing during those tasks. What kind of tasks work for practicing mindfulness? Well, you name it, really. But specific examples include walking, washing dishes, showering, brushing your teeth, gardening, or chopping vegetables for a salad. You get the idea.
You can alleviate symptoms of depression and anxiety by practicing mindfulness as you do everyday tasks like washing dishes.
Regardless of the technique you choose, rest assured that every single effort you make may help prevent or alleviate symptoms of depression and anxiety.
And before you get started, remember that change takes time and effort. Don’t sprint right out of the gate. Just take it nice and slow. Begin with the intention of practicing mindfulness for just a few moments each day. Otherwise, you could become frustrated because you’re not reaching your mindfulness goals. And this frustration may quickly spark the urge to call it quits.
That said, here are simple ways you can practice mindfulness on the daily to help prevent or alleviate symptoms of depression and anxiety:
Pay attention to your breath. Try mindful breathing. All you do is think about the sensations you feel as you breath in and out. How does it feel when cold air enters your nose? Can you feel your belly expand? Does your chest rise and fall? Count to five as you breathe in and on down to ten as you breathe out. Mindful breathing can activate your parasympathetic nervous system. And this helps alleviate symptoms of depression and anxiety.
Take a walk outside. And as you do, pay attention to everything you see, hear, feel, and smell. Listen to the sound of your feet hitting the pavement. Can you feel the wind skimming your cheeks? Does the air smell damp? Can you hear birds singing or traffic humming by?
You can practice mindfulness when walking your dog, and practice can help alleviate symptoms of depression and anxiety.
Practice mindful eating. Smell your food before placing it into your mouth. What does the fork feel like as it grazes your lips. Is the food hot or cold? Let it rest on your tongue for a moment. How does that feel? One great example of mindful eating is called the raisin exercise.
You can even practice mindfulness while eating in an effort to help alleviate symptoms of depression and anxiety.
Do a body scan. You can go full speed ahead and try a body scan mediation. Or you can do a shortened version when you’re sipping your coffee in the morning or sitting at your desk a little later in the day. You can start at the top or the bottom. If you try the latter, think about how your toes feel… then your feet, angles, calves, knees, thighs.. you get the idea.
Engage in mindful movement. More structured examples of mindful movement include exercise routines or yoga. But you can also take a moment to wave your hand through the air or move your leg up and down. Just take note of how your body feels as you’re moving.
You can practice mindful movement by doing yoga to help alleviate symptoms of depression and anxiety.
Practice mindfulness meditation. There are several traditional forms of mindfulness meditation. One is the body scan meditation mentioned above.
A few things to remember about practicing mindfulness to alleviate symptoms of depression and anxiety
Before you get started on your mindfulness journey, you should know this:
Your mind will wander when you practice any type of mindfulness. This is especially true when you’re just getting started. But even the most advanced mindfulness practitioners can lose focus. This is not a sign of failure! Mindfulness is a skill. You hone it over time, and at your own pace.
The goal of mindfulness meditation isn’t to clear your thoughts or have no thoughts at all. You simply pay attention to the thoughts that pass through your mind without getting too caught up in them. Think of your thoughts as cars. Mindfulness involves watching them drive by without climbing into one.
When practicing mindfulness, you simply pay attention to the thoughts that pass through your mind without getting too caught up in them.
Mindfulness may not eradicate your depression and anxiety, but it can help you get your symptoms under control. Mindfulness allows you accept and then practice detachment from these mental health issues. Then ultimately, it can help you live a happier and healthier life.
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