In unhelpful thinking last week I touched on Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) and the link between our thinking, self esteem and depression.  In a comment a few weeks ago Sherri had asked me if there is a link between self esteem and depression, and i think its a good time to try and answer that.

What is depression?

In everyday language its not uncommon for someone to say they’re feeling depressed, as in “bit out of sorts”, “fed up”. Unfortunately it does lead to the view that anyone with depression should just “snap out of it”. Sadly, they can’t.  What distinguishes depression from having an off day is the fact that it is a prolonged lowering of mood. The other main component is that it interferes, to varying degrees, with a persons ability to function – you cannot do your normal day to day activities. [Read more…]