You Have More Control Over Your Life Than You Think

[MainerMikeBrown]

Many people with clinical depression don't think they have as much control over their lives as they actually do.

That's one reason why seeing a competent psychotherapist can be helpful to you if you feel depressed. They can teach you that you have more control of your life than you think you do. They can show you that you can make more decisions in your life on your own.

Of course, nobody has complete and total control of their lives. Some things happen that are out of your control.

But if you believe that you don't have much control over your life and what happens in your life, seeing a counselor is likely a good option.

 

[Beautiful Disaster]

I completely agree with this. 100%. I think the challenge is getting the person with clinical depression to actually find and reach out to a competent psychotherapist. That’s the biggest hurdle, and they may really need someone to help them in taking those first few steps in getting the motivation to make that contact. But yes, once contact is made and they start seeing the psychotherapist regularly, it can be life changing and healing.

 

[He Man]

Mike, one of the most succinct ways I've heard it described: you can't help having a mental affliction, but you can control how you respond to it.
To the best of our abilities, we all just have to play the hand we're dealt.

 

[smilingsoul]

When I was younger, I had a magical belief in total control, total freedom of will. As my mental struggles developed in my early twenties, this was a source of great confusion for me. If I had total free will, then why was this happening? I should just be able to will it away. My inability to do so made me feel weak, and in a thought pattern typical of people with depression and anxiety, I then had the pendulum swing all the way to the other side. Black/white. Fortunately, I had therapists who helped me to see many of the thought patterns that keep people with mood disorders from recovery. No, we don't have perfect free will; we are creatures of our world, built of imperfect clay. And yet neither are we automatons, acting out a preprogrammed fate. We are living in a middle place; our options are dependent on our circumstances, and yet we can plan a future and take advantage of the opportunities that arise to move us towards the goals in our plan. We all have our strengths and weaknesses, and can ally with others who need our strengths and can compensate for our weaknesses. This is one of the things that make us human, and its why we need each other.