Welcome to Week 4

Hello and welcome to Week 4. This week we’re going to focus on an aspect of depression that we cannot see – thinking. Our thoughts are invisible but very powerful. Depression is linked to negative thoughts about who we are, ‘the self’, what will happen, ‘the future’, and everything else ‘the world’.

‘Thinking’ includes planning, wondering, hoping, imagining, and remembering. We’re almost always thinking but often we’re not aware of our thoughts, and our thoughts are invisible to other people. In this Week, we’re going to examine how thoughts affect our moods and behaviours, how thoughts contribute to depression and low mood, and how negative thoughts can make it very difficult to break away from depression. We’ll also look at some techniques that can help identify negative thoughts, and then check and challenge them.

This Week builds on the topics we explored in Week 3, which focused on how moods and behaviours impact on each other. Last Week, we asked you to keep a thought diary to catch your thoughts as they happened. If you haven’t filled in your diary yet, why not complete one now for the next two days or so?

You can find a blank diary at the bottom of the Step which you can download and print. We’ll be looking at this later in the Week so please keep it to hand.

Course tip

Don’t forget that between 16 November and 18 December, Dr Michelle Lee and your course mentors, Laura and Will, will be supporting the course discussions. Click on the link in their profile to follow them.