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Therapists and Depressed Men

by John Folk-Williams 12 Comments

Therapists and Depressed Men

Except for my first experience in therapy, I spent years working with psychiatrists (back in the days when they did more than write prescriptions), depressed the whole time, perhaps getting a temporary lift, but quickly losing whatever short-term benefit the sessions may have provided. According to many therapists, as I explain below, this is a […]

Filed Under: Men and Depression, Psychotherapy, Self-Esteem Tagged With: fear, feelings, men, shame, stigma, women

Finding Safe Haven from Childhood Fear

by John Folk-Williams 29 Comments

Finding safe haven from childhood fear

A psychiatrist friend once summarized a basic tendency he saw in children from their earliest years. He said that a child could grow up either trusting the people and world he lived in or feeling insecure and uncertain about them. A child would either feel safe or unsafe, and a lot depended on this basic […]

Filed Under: Children and Depression Tagged With: childhood, family, fear, safety, trust

When Holding Hands Is Hard to Do

by John Folk-Williams 6 Comments

Holding hands in negative image

The first time our two oldest sons, at ages 3 and 4.5, went for a walk without their parents, I learned something about love and trust. My wife and I had decided to let them walk a short distance up the hill from our house to a play area. They had insisted this was no […]

Filed Under: Relationship Tagged With: emotion, fear, neuroscience, partners, trust

Overcoming Resistance

by John Folk-Williams 14 Comments

Overcoming resistance

Writing is a way of reclaiming my mind from depression, but there is a darker side to it called resistance. I won’t call it writer’s block because the same thing stands in the way of any purposeful activity or major life commitment, including the process of recovering from depression. It usually begins only after I […]

Filed Under: Purpose, Self-Help Tagged With: fear, resistance, soul, success, writing

A Never-Ending Family Story Has to End

by John Folk-Williams 15 Comments

open horizon at sea

My never-ending family story has always been a hard scene in which I am very young and small and terrified. I’m staring at my parents and brother locked in combat. There may be no action, it usually flashes at me in tableau form, but there is plenty of rage, fear and hurt. There is a […]

Filed Under: Healing, Reslience Tagged With: Anger, awareness, change, family, fear, pattern

How Setting Boundaries Helped Me Heal

by John Folk-Williams 17 Comments

snow shadows

My getting depressed after a cancer operation almost ended our marriage. It was the blow that forced my wife to remind me of the boundaries I couldn’t afford to ignore. I had been in high spirits for the operation and right through the recovery period. My wife and I had been especially close during that […]

Filed Under: Depression Symptoms, Relationship Tagged With: boundaries, connection, fear, self, shame

Fear of Change in Acceptance and Commitment Therapy

by John Folk-Williams 12 Comments

Dazed and Awake

One of the interesting things about Acceptance and Commitment Therapy is that you can’t think about it too much. You have to do it. Hence the acronym ACT, to be spoken as the word. If you try to understand it with your mind alone, you’ll get stuck because the mind has too many blinders. I […]

Filed Under: Psychotherapy, Self-Help Tagged With: Acceptance and Commitment Therapy, change, fear, mind, resistance

Revisiting: Acting the Roles of Depression

by John Folk-Williams 10 Comments

Manet Barmaid at the Folies Bergeres

This revised post from the early days of Storied Mind seems especially relevant to the work I’m doing with Acceptance and Commitment Therapy. Sometimes I’ve interpreted certain life and career choices of the past as avoiding depression. At other times, I’ve seen them as accepting the need to deal with it rather than play a […]

Filed Under: Healing Tagged With: acting, belief, fear, self, shame

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Living Depressed

Depression affects emotions, mental abilities, self-concept, behavior, relationships and the entire body. These core posts describe the full range of symptoms affecting daily life. Read More.

Choices in Healing

Hoping for recovery gives you a motive but not a method for getting there. This section has posts about therapies and healing methods you can work with either on your own or with professional guidance. Read more.

Living Well

If you've learned how to manage your depression, you'll want a fulfilling life rather than one dominated by fear that the illness might return. In this section, you'll find posts about how to work toward that goal. Read More

Relationships in Crisis

One of the hardest challenges of living with depression is holding onto your closest relationships. This section features posts on how to help a relationship survive. Read More.

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