For a long time it has been known that during depression memory deteriorates. Rather, with the memory, in itself, nothing happens. Its decline is apparent. Those. when a person is put in charge of memory tests, he performs them very well. Slightly worse than healthy, but still in the normal range. But in everyday life … a person forgets everything, loses, does not remember what the recent conversation was about, etc.
For a long time, this phenomenon was explained by the fact that during depression, the pace of thinking slows down, and a person, however, does not have time to remember. However, now found out what was wrong.
It turned out that depressive thoughts were to blame. They are persistent, intrusive, always running around in a circle and emotionally saturated. Well, if you think about the bad, so that it was absolutely bad. There is shame, and wine, and the ideas of its worthlessness and insignificance. There are so many of them that all the powers of the brain are occupied with them. Literally in my head there is not enough space.
They, like a traffic jam on the road, interfere not only with memorization, but also with the process of remembering events.
As a result:
1)A person loses control (cognitive) over the connection of the internal and external environment. Those. he is always in himself and the external conditions are little delayed and fixed in the memory. He can put the keys somewhere, but this moment flies by. And when the keys are already needed, their location is completely unknown.
2)A person can hardly distinguish similar experiences. Those. something has already happened recently, somewhere it has already happened. For example, a person parked the car, and then can not find it in the parking lot. No “identification marks” such as pillars, buildings in front of or approximate distance from the entrance to the parking do not say anything to him.
3)The person does not recognize the details that he has already seen. If a student yesterday was preparing for the exam, then the next day for him all the material that he read on the eve of how completely new. As if he had never seen him.
These features are intertwined and give the very same memory loss. The phenomenon with well-performed tests is related to the fact that a person thinks about the task and the head is temporarily cleared of depressive experiences.
Based on these facts, it was found that “stupid advice from psychologists” to “think about good” not only makes sense, but can really help. Of course, they do not replace treatments, but as a supplement they are quite useful for themselves.
The meaning is to occupy the brain with something else. To enable other zones to be activated, which will take away the “power” of the depressive machine. So “think about the good” and remember the good and happy moments, one of the options for such treatment. And, nevertheless, comedies, walks in the fresh air, chatting with friends and “starting a cat or dog” are also effective. And, of course, another annoying customer advice: “get yourself a hobby.” The case in the hands – a great distraction, which still gives a positive result.
And this is not only for memory. Repeated obsessive negative thoughts are currently considered one of the main damaging factors in depression and contribute to its deepening.