The Roles of Mind, Self, and Brain in Healing Depression: Learning to Stay Out of the River of Our Negative Cognitions

Depression occurs when stressful life events influence the brain. These events create more negative thoughts and feelings and more distortion in the way the brain processes information. To understand this process is it is important to realize that the human brain consists of three distinct components which have a role in the management of depression.

Three Components of Depression Management

The first component, which we will identify, is the mind, located in the anterior cingulate gyrus. The mind is the stream or river of consciousness through which flow thoughts, images, feelings, and sensations. It is not the source of the content of the river; it is a conduit for processing the content.

The second component is the Self, located in the prefrontal cortex, on the bank of the mind or river of consciousness. This component is our sense of “I”, the internal executor of the brain, and in a real sense, this is where our soul resides, called our “heart” in the Scriptures.

The Self could observe the thoughts, images, feelings, and sensations which flow through the mind and process them. The Self observes the contents of the river, but they are not the same as the mind.

Just because a thought enters the river, it doesn’t mean you have to believe it – the Self determines the validity of the contents of the river. The limbic system of the brain is the source of the contents of the river – thoughts, images, feelings, and sensations. Remember, the brain is not the same component as the mind.

How the Brain Processes Information

The brain produces the stream of thoughts, feelings, images, and sensations by processing information from:

• The real world
• Your body and senses, including your gut
• By recalling past packages of thoughts, feelings, beliefs, and motor/action plans or schemas that make sense of our experiences

For example, you see a plant while on a hike, and you’ve never seen one like it before. It might be a green leafy plant, but you’ve never seen this kind before. What is it? The automatic systems in your brain take over and process this real-world information with the anxiety you are feeling in your body and gut, as you are concerned this might actually be poison ivy, because you have heard there might be some around.

The brain then starts recalling things from your past. This plant has three leaves like the one you touched when you were a kid, so it sends anxiety and danger signals down the river. But these automatic functions only control 80% of your brain. The other 5-20 % come from the Self. So, you have some executor options. You can become overwhelmed by what the brain is sending, believe it, and jump in the river, or you can analyze and appraise.

You can say things like, yes, there might be poison ivy plants around, but they do not have leaves like the one I saw as a kid. Yes, poison ivy can cause problems, but didn’t that plant hurt me when I was a kid because I plucked it up? Have any of my friends had a problem with poison ivy on this trail?

The Brain and the Self

The brain is an organ, just like the gut or the heart. Sometimes it cooperates fully with the rest of the body, and sometimes it doesn’t. If you allow negative things into your brain, i.e., pornography, violent video games or movies, abuse, it will react negatively. You are not your brain, but you can change your brain.

Negative thoughts, feelings, images, and sensations sent into the river by the brain are observed by the Self, which is safely located on the bank in the real world, where it can reappraise after stepping back and seeing the situation clearly.

The problem develops when the Self becomes entangled in the river by ruminating on the thoughts and feelings it encounters there. You (Self) become the negative thoughts, feelings, images, and sensations. This rumination results in a new reality. The Self, who is stuck in the river, creates a new thought: “My brain is telling me this, so it must be true!”

The result of this new reality is an overwhelming sense of sadness, lack of motivation, and loss of interest in things we formerly enjoyed. The Self is stuck in negative thoughts. One of the consequences of the Self being stuck in the river is that the prefrontal cortex is turned off and is not working as designed. The solution to the problem lies in learning to redirect attention to the real world through mindfulness techniques and cognitive restructuring.

Mindfulness

Mindfulness is keeping our thoughts in the present, where it is safe, and not in the past, which is dominated by “If onlys”, or the future, which is dominated by “What ifs.” Cognitive restructuring is challenging the validity and logic of the negative thoughts, feelings, images, and sensations, using the logical prefrontal cortex where the Self resides.

The safest place to direct attention is to the real world, not the river. If we fall into the river, we drown in depression. So, the question you need to ask yourself is, “Is there anything happening right here, right now in this room with which you cannot deal or handle?”

Healing depression focuses on climbing out of the river by remembering the scriptural admonition to claim the promise of Philippians 4:7, and receive the peace of God, which the Apostle Paul states, “…Surpasses all understanding, and will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.” (Phil. 4:7 ESV).

If we can learn not to live in the past or worry about the future, but instead to learn from the past and apply the lessons learned, we can face the future assured of the strength of the Lord to guide us. And in the process, we allow the Self to resume the executor role of the brain as God designed it, and we stay grounded in the present in the real world.

Research has shown that the Brain has the capacity to stay in the present for 4-7 seconds before it starts to wander to the past or future. Consequently, we need to empower the Self, steal that attention away from the brain, and mindfully bring it back to the present.

We accomplish this with in-the-moment coping skills, such as diaphragmatic breathing, mindfulness techniques that activate prefrontal cortex activity, and challenging the validity and logic of negative thoughts, feelings, images, and sensations.

Challenging Negative Thoughts

We can systematically challenge each negative thought, each negative feeling, each troubling image, and each sensation by identifying what percentage they are true. At first, we might think they are 90-100% true, and that’s what keeps us in the river. But the Self, which is watching from the riverbank, can see that the reality is that the percentage is much, much lower. A common example is “I can never do anything right!” and it is believed 100%.

But hearing the Self challenge the statement with the logic that no one is always wrong, and everyone does some things right, lowers the percentage substantially and starts on the path to healing. Allowing the Self to put the negatives on trial, and asking, “What is the evidence that I should believe this?”, is another effective way to climb out of the river.

In conclusion, don’t forget that living in the “If onlys” of the past and the “What ifs” of the future will cause the brain to convince us that there is no hope. When we get the Self and the prefrontal cortex involved in the challenging process, we can claim the promise that healing and peace are only a prayer away!

So, if you feel you are drowning in the river of your negative thoughts, feelings, images, and sensations, please know there is hope through a therapist who understands the healing process. Please check our website and make an appointment today. Peace awaits.