Hi Rachel,

Depression, and anxiety are just words to describe moods or body states. These moods/body states can color our thoughts, and beliefs. If the words “depression” and “anxiety” don’t feel true to you, then you don’t have to use them. You can just work with your actual feelings and the subsequent thoughts.  The feeling of hopelessness and the feeling of not being understood are feelings that can cause thoughts like “there is something worse that is wrong with me that others don’t quite get” , the feeling of exhaustion can contribute to wanting to disappear, to lack of motivation (for me that is, it may be different feelings for you).

My suggestion would be to try and stick to feelings rather than thoughts. If a thought comes to you that “there is something wrong with me” try and see if how your body feels at that moment..what is the feeling in your chest, in your stomach, in your shoulders? Could it be that the feeling in your body is contributing to the thought? If you feel like your thinking a thought again and again, gently bring yourself back to how your body feels. This is a difficult thing to do when thoughts are clamoring for attention, so even baby steps are good.

Is this something you feel you could try?

M