How can I clear my head and focus on what I am doing?
May 12, 2015 10:09 PM Subscribe
Advice on how to concentrate when depression and anxiety are a mental distraction.
I am clinically depressed. I experience really guilty thoughts and anxiety about the future constantly.
It's become such a nuisance, that if I attempt to read a book it's a struggle. I cannot concentrate and it's difficult to get through a paragraph.
I don't want advice so much about the depression, just how to prevent it from disturbing my thoughts when I want to do something.
I am clinically depressed. I experience really guilty thoughts and anxiety about the future constantly.
It's become such a nuisance, that if I attempt to read a book it's a struggle. I cannot concentrate and it's difficult to get through a paragraph.
I don't want advice so much about the depression, just how to prevent it from disturbing my thoughts when I want to do something.
I have found the audio at mynoise.net to be helpful when I am anxious/distracted/need to concentrate. If nothing else, it helps quiet my mind when I need it.
posted by That's Numberwang! at 11:48 PM on May 12, 2015 [4 favorites]
posted by That's Numberwang! at 11:48 PM on May 12, 2015 [4 favorites]
I have found frequent exercise quiets my mind and helps me to concentrate. If I can start the day with a run, it acts a bit like a concentration vaccine.
posted by frumiousb at 12:45 AM on May 13, 2015 [1 favorite]
posted by frumiousb at 12:45 AM on May 13, 2015 [1 favorite]
Relaxation yoga every day has helped me increase my ability to focus on things throughout the day.
Are you on medication? It can help immensely to have the right dose evening you out.
posted by mibo at 3:52 AM on May 13, 2015
Are you on medication? It can help immensely to have the right dose evening you out.
posted by mibo at 3:52 AM on May 13, 2015
Acupuncture has really helped me focus. It clears out all that noise in my head that distracts me from life and gives me the quiet space that I need to think.
posted by myselfasme at 6:10 AM on May 13, 2015
posted by myselfasme at 6:10 AM on May 13, 2015
Mindfulness meditation has been most effective for me. I approach attention as a learned skill, and sitting meditation has best allowed me to understand and develop that skill.
I used to think concentration was like a muscle and I had to work it to make it stronger, so that when I needed it, its strength would shield me and hold me on course, despite distractions. In meditating, I learned that the default state of my consciousness is fleeting attention and rapid, ever-branching, freely-associating thoughts, and that rather than "working out" my concentration to make it "stronger," I needed to learn the skill of only selectively attaching my attention. That way, I'm not fighting the kinetic insides of my head, I'm channeling that energy productively and not following it down the many side paths it always wants to take. Distractions now are like a momentary thing that I notice and allow to float on past, and as a result I can just stay focused on what I choose much more easily.
(Also, as a musician, I have to say that listening skills are profoundly helpful with this, too. Learning to sit and attentively listen to long-form musical works is a fantastic way to cultivate concentration more generally.)
(I should add, I've struggled with anxiety in the past, and this was all very helpful in ameliorating that, too. The worst part of anxiety for me is always how that emotion hijacks my thoughts and forces me to keep looping on the things that the anxiety is trying to convince me are making me anxious. Better discipline with my attention attachment really helped me start to get the better of the anxiety, because I've gotten much better at not allowing it to gain any internal purchase or anchor, as it were. So while I still occasionally experience very heightened anxiety, it's much easier to just let it blow over.)
posted by LooseFilter at 2:29 PM on May 13, 2015 [1 favorite]
I used to think concentration was like a muscle and I had to work it to make it stronger, so that when I needed it, its strength would shield me and hold me on course, despite distractions. In meditating, I learned that the default state of my consciousness is fleeting attention and rapid, ever-branching, freely-associating thoughts, and that rather than "working out" my concentration to make it "stronger," I needed to learn the skill of only selectively attaching my attention. That way, I'm not fighting the kinetic insides of my head, I'm channeling that energy productively and not following it down the many side paths it always wants to take. Distractions now are like a momentary thing that I notice and allow to float on past, and as a result I can just stay focused on what I choose much more easily.
(Also, as a musician, I have to say that listening skills are profoundly helpful with this, too. Learning to sit and attentively listen to long-form musical works is a fantastic way to cultivate concentration more generally.)
(I should add, I've struggled with anxiety in the past, and this was all very helpful in ameliorating that, too. The worst part of anxiety for me is always how that emotion hijacks my thoughts and forces me to keep looping on the things that the anxiety is trying to convince me are making me anxious. Better discipline with my attention attachment really helped me start to get the better of the anxiety, because I've gotten much better at not allowing it to gain any internal purchase or anchor, as it were. So while I still occasionally experience very heightened anxiety, it's much easier to just let it blow over.)
posted by LooseFilter at 2:29 PM on May 13, 2015 [1 favorite]
This thread is closed to new comments.
So as those intrusive depression thoughts pop up, when you notice, just gently acknowledge them - "that's a depression thought or that's an anxious thought and right now I'm reading. I'll think about that later." And focus on the book again. You may find it helpful, particularly with anxiety, to set aside "worry time". So "From 7.30 - 8.15pm I will have my worry time, I'm going to worry about this thing then, right now I'm reading." Of course if you forget to have your worry time it's no big deal.
Part of this is also emphasising where you are right now. Obviously you can't go through life oblivious to both past and future, but if those thoughts are problematic, you need to spend more time emphasising what's actually happening now. Other things that might help are focusing on more concrete things: how does the book feel in your hands? What other sensations are going on at the moment? Sometimes I even just put my hand flat on the wall, feeling its firmness and stolidity. It can somehow help to quiet the turmoil. My psychologist the other day taught me a new one: put the palm of your hand flat on your breastbone, other palm on top. Close your eyes if that helps. Breathe. Just breathe.
I find some of these things help sometimes, but there's no magic answer or thing that always works all the time. And of course sometimes none of them helps. That's when I break out the big guns: stopping whatever I'm trying to do, finding the kitty, stroking the kitty. This helps if you have a cat, but you may be able to substitute another pet, stuffed animal or similar.
posted by Athanassiel at 11:41 PM on May 12, 2015 [4 favorites]