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June 29th, 2006

Steve Pavlina: Overcoming Depression and the Law of Attraction

In his latest article called Overcoming Depression, Steve talks about his understanding of depression, as well as proposing a solution and own real-life example. According to Steve, the real cause of depression is not the situation causing the depression itself, but the attention we give to that situation.

From this perspective, the solution seems to be easy - withdraw your attention from what depresses you and place it to something what makes you feell good, maybe with the help of imagination. In other words, use the Law of Attraction.

I am writing this post mainly because I am curious what you, dear readers, think about this approach? Have you tried it yourself? Your comments are most welcomed. :-)

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This entry was posted on Thursday, June 29th, 2006 at 6:30 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the comments RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.

7 Responses to “Steve Pavlina: Overcoming Depression and the Law of Attraction”

  1. Lee says:

    I agree with Steve - if you’re focusing your attention on the negative, it’s only natural to “bring you down” emotionally and make it seem like there’s no solution. But I don’t agree that the word for what he’s describing is “depression.” At least, I don’t think all depression can be solved by cheery thinking.

    There’s a difference between situational depression and chemical imbalance, and I’m not sure that Steve recognizes both. Situational depression is what he’s talking about, but his solution is entirely ineffective for chemically depressed people. Whatever the solution is - medicine, physical exercise, meditation - something physiological must change before the depression abates, not just the desire to focus on happy thoughts.

    If he would have addressed that issue, I feel it would have been a much better article, but as it is I have to disagree - he has a solution for “feeling bummed” but not for depression.

    June 29th, 2006 at 9:11 pm
  2. Hui Zhou says:

    Even for situational depression, I think steering your thoughts away is like curing the cancer with a bandaid, because the situation causing depression is there and normally will not disappear like magic, the depression will come back when our cheery thoughts get dim. Also, under the overwhelming depressing situation, holding a cheery thought is not as easy as to be said.

    Rather, we need cure the root of depression, which is the way we view certain situations. We get depressed because we stuck in our narrow view that the situation is very bad. Rather, there are many aspects of the same situation, and we need find the positive parts of that situation, which will in turn lift ourselves to positive.

    Even if you are in the worst situation that nobody, even Jesus will see all bad, think this way — now there is only one way for the situations to develop, getting better.

    – Facing Depression

    June 29th, 2006 at 11:54 pm
  3. noid says:

    I’m a big fan of Steve, but I agree with Lee. I scanned the article, and he doesn’t seem to say anything about depression caused by chemical imbalance for example. I think it’s called clinical depression. I know people who are leading relatively better lives because they are taking meds for their condition. I suggest Steve write another article discussing clinical depression — or at least revise his article — to provide us with a more complete picture.

    June 30th, 2006 at 12:05 am
  4. Minnie says:

    I personally think there is no real such thing as “clinical depression” - every depression has some root, whether it be in your childhood or later in life, in some event, or series of events, or a situation, and this situation or series of events changes is reflected in your body’s chemical imbalance.

    So I think that Steve’s approach can work for someone with clinical depression as well.

    I think that by focusing your thoughts on something positive IS curing the way you see things, because you are changing the way that you are approaching things - focusing on positive thoughts not only changes what you focus on, but how you approach what you don’t want to focus on.

    It takes time, but I can say one thing - it works.

    June 30th, 2006 at 6:34 am
  5. Lee says:

    I personally think there is no real such thing as “clinical depression”

    Which is why I don’t believe Steve will put it in his blog post. I don’t think he “believes” in clinical depression either. I really don’t want to pass judgment, but it seems that the work his wife is in, and the way he has explained the turnaround in his life and his manifestation experiments seem to suggest he believes in a mind-over-matter way of life.

    Still seems a shame for anyone with chemical depression to read that and feel like it’s their fault because they can’t wish it away…

    June 30th, 2006 at 7:38 pm
  6. Jenn says:

    Rather, we need cure the root of depression, which is the way we view certain situations. We get depressed because we stuck in our narrow view that the situation is very bad. Rather, there are many aspects of the same situation, and we need find the positive parts of that situation, which will in turn lift ourselves to positive.

    I don’t think you disagree with Steve at all. Finding something to be happy about, a way to look on the bright side or put a positive spin on any situation, is basic to LOA practice. Sometimes distracting oneself with “cheery thoughts” about another topic is helpful in order to bring one’s mood up enough that finding an aspect of the “negative” situation that we can appreciate and see in a positive light is possible- but finding that positive aspect (rather than ignoring the whole sitiation forever, which is usually not practical) is essential.

    I swear, that makes sense in my head. Sorry if I didn’t say it very clearly…

    July 2nd, 2006 at 7:00 pm
  7. MGJ says:

    What we focus on expands. Take away the focus on what depresses us and shift the focus on what excites us.. makes you feel better. It really is that simple, but exceedingly difficult for some.

    July 3rd, 2006 at 7:37 pm