Depression Archives - Michael D. Williams

11 May You might be depressed about being depressed

Posted at 13:43h in Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, Counseling, Depression, Emotions, Mindfulness, Uncategorized

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Oxford professor Mark Williams notes that many adults suffering from serious depression are essentially discouraged and hopeless about feeling discouraged and hopeless. In other words, they are depressed about being depressed. All, or nearly all, or us experiences low moods. These can be associated with experiencing...

25 Nov Life is Precious

Posted at 20:37h in Children/Kids, Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, Courage, Depression, Emotions, Mindfulness

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I have to say that I was very surprised to see the strong response to my last column. Clearly I offended Steve Oakey with some of my statements on the topic of suicide. I like Steve, and agree that there is great value in public...

19 Nov To Be, or Not to Be? Here Is the Answer.

Posted at 03:15h in Anxiety, Courage, Depression, Emotions, Family

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As I drove home from the office Saturday I picked up the Standard Journal (Nov 5) and was saddened to see the cover story about the young boy who took his own life, and his mother’s efforts to find some meaning in the loss and...

28 Oct The Paradox of Protection

Posted at 03:23h in Anger, Children/Kids, Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, Counseling, Courage, Crime, Depression, Emotions, Gangs, Parenting, Revenge

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Working closely with young gang members in Southern California helped me to better understand the drive many feel to “get even”. Revenge seems to offer protection from being hurt, something we all desire. A young lady recently told me, “Nice people get walked on. If I...

09 Sep The Cure for Adult-Onset Discouragement

Posted at 08:00h in Children/Kids, Courage, Depression, Emotions, Parenting, Uncategorized

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Several weeks ago I wrote about discouragement—the condition in which one finds it difficult to move toward a worthy goal for fear it may not be accomplished as hoped. In that column I discussed ways of helping our children to overcome discouragement. But as a...

02 Sep Responding to Your Responses

Posted at 17:41h in Anger, Anxiety, Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, Depression, Emotions, Family, Mindfulness, Panic, School

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Last week the Standard-Journal published thoughtful and respectful responses to my last two columns. At first I was a bit self-conscious of the critiques. But since I am a licensed therapist I scheduled some time to talk to myself, and I’m okay now. (Too bad...

21 Aug What Happened to Robin Williams?

Posted at 20:12h in Anger, Anxiety, Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, Counseling, Depression, Emotions, Mindfulness, Panic

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Many of us woke last Tuesday morning to the disturbing news that comedian Robin Williams had taken his life in the throes of depression. Before the day was over members of the media and of this community were trying to make sense out of what...

21 Mar When Panic Attacks Someone You Love

Posted at 01:05h in Anxiety, Counseling, Depression, Emotions, Family, Panic, Uncategorized

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Last week we discussed the nature of panic attacks—sudden episodes in which one feels intense emotional and physical sensations associated with a sense of doom or dread. These “attacks” don’t directly result from anything dangerous; the sense of panic is spurred by perceptions that something...

14 Mar When Panic Attacks

Posted at 01:07h in Anxiety, Counseling, Depression, Emotions, Panic

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A sudden sense of impending doom; something awful must be happening! Your body doesn’t feel right—heart pumping, breathing fast and difficult, your insides feel like Jell-O. There is no real danger, at least not anything obvious. There must be something wrong with you… Panic attack—a sudden...

07 Mar Here Comes the Judge!

Posted at 01:08h in Anxiety, Children/Kids, Depression, Emotions, Family, Marriage, Mindfulness

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In the 1970’s comedian Flip Wilson created a ridiculous character whose signature line was, “Here comes the judge! Here comes the judge!” That phrase has often passed through my mind as I work to help people recognize the problems with judgment—even those small, seemingly-harmless thoughts that...