Coping with Depression:

Last Tuesday, Mt. Hood counselor Malcolm McCord spoke about ways in which depressed students can handle their issues in a talk called “Coping with Depression.”

McCord began with a fact that is not commonly known: “Twenty to thirty percent of the U.S. population’s diagnosed with depression,” he said. He then delved into how important it is for individuals to have a support group. McCord suggests that everybody should have a close-knit circle of friends, or at the very least, join a support group.

“Having a caring group of people who can be there to listen to you and support you is perhaps the most important thing you can do outside of medical treatment to help you with your depression,” he said.

McCord then moved on to the topic of stress, which he called a huge deal when it comes to depression. When the body is under stress, the adrenal gland increases the amount of cortisol it secretes. Clinical studies suggest that chronically elevated cortisol levels may induce clinical depression by affecting the neurotransmitter serotonin.

McCord highlighted ways that people can reduce stress, noting, “meditation could be helpful.”

Students can fight off depression by improving their “sleep hygiene,” McCord said, which is a fancy way to say: Make sure you are getting the correct amount of hours of sleep. One of the students present said it is hard to be a student, with a job and responsibilities, and still find time for sleep. McCord replied, “Students tend to not put out much consideration for their sleep schedule, but it affects a lot of (their) day-to-day lives.” According to studies, insomnia may be a cause of depression, rather than just a symptom, he said. “Not sleeping well enough will make things worse, regardless of the situation.”

Dieting and fitness tips came next. McCord started by asking, “How often do you guys eat out?” The students at the event squirmed slightly. In today’s fast-paced society, not a lot of people find the time to make and eat homemade meals throughout the day, he said.

Then he added, “the greatest thing you can do for yourself is exercise 10-20 minutes a day.” For this, people will get more “bang for their buck,” he said.

McCord also shed a light on how thought processes can lead to depression a lot faster than most students believe. He said students need to learn to stop negative thoughts. He said habitually thinking negative thoughts can lead to depression. There is a method to counteract negative thoughts called Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT). CBT works to change common patterns of negative thinking, called cognitive distortions, in order to eliminate depression.

“It’s hard to change emotions. Each thought has a negative effect on our body,” he said. This leads to a feeling of “awfulness” and, in turn, to what McCord called a “negative self-talk” – meaning that people degrade themselves, making themselves feel worse, instead of focusing on the positives of life. “Life happens, but our interpretation of that is what causes depression,” he said.

The topic was so content-heavy that McCord couldn’t get through his entire talk as planned, but gave attendees a sheet of what would have been covered to take with them. He did not have the time to talk about beating procrastination, which is mostly how to deal with the fatigue and laziness that comes along with depression. He said it is easy to fall into a cycle of putting things off until we feel better, but with deadlines, that creates even more stress and guilt for students.

Another topic skipped was a clean living environment. McCord said, “a dirty living environment only serves to make us feel more worthless and discouraged.

McCord planned on ending the discussion talking about how important it is for people to embrace forgiveness

“Forgiving these wrongs can help you heal and move forward with your life,” he said.