Does social media trigger your depression?

While social media can indeed have a positive impact on people’s lives, unfortunately, it’s also a double-edged sword, because for a lot of people, it has the capacity to trigger their depression. According to members of The Depression Project’s community, this is commonly because:

• It can lead you to negatively compare yourself to others – which can fuel negative thoughts like “I’m a failure” and “I’m not enough”, and result in you feeling jealous, worthless and lacking in self-esteem.
• An overabundance of “bad news” can fuel negative thoughts like “the world is such a terrible place”, and cause you to feel overwhelmed and hopeless as a result.
• Nasty, judgmental comments and hateful rhetoric can fuel negative thoughts like “people are such mean, ignorant, abusive jerks”, and leave you feeling angry, frustrated, dejected and/or disillusioned with humanity.
• When other people post about their social outings or the fun activities they’re doing, it may cause you to feel bad that you’re not a part of it – a feeling that is sometimes referred to as “FOMO” or the Fear Of Missing Out.
• Social media can result in you struggling to enjoy the present moment – which can happen when you’re getting distracted constantly checking social media; and/or when all of your focus is on trying to capture the perfect photo of an experience in order to share it on social media to impress your friends.
• You may find yourself easily distracted by social media and unconsciously wasting time on it – which can result in you neglecting some of the most important aspects of your life such as your job or your relationships.
• Constantly checking social media before bed can also make it much more difficult to wind down and fall asleep, which can result in you feeling tired and run down the following day.

If you can relate, then it’s important that you take steps to stop social media from triggering your depression. And so, we’ve created this cognitive behavioural therapy-based journal, in order to:

• Help you cope with and overcome the negative thoughts that are triggered by social media;
• Help you cope with and overcome the painful emotions that are triggered by social media;
• Help you change the way you use social media – so that instead of triggering your depression by exposing you to an overabundance of bad news, by distracting you, by disrupting your sleep, and/or through all the other ways that we have mentioned, it can instead enhance your life in a positive way.

Here’s A Breakdown Of Exactly What This Journal Will Cover

PART 1: How To Cope With And Overcome The Negative Thoughts That Are Triggered By Social Media

In the first part of this journal, we’ll share with you a variety of tried, tested, cognitive behavioural therapy-based strategies to help you cope with and overcome any negative thoughts you have that are currently being triggered by social media.

Additionally, to accompany this section of the journal, we’ll also share with you a handful of guided journal prompts for you to think about and write out your response to - in order to help you implement each of the strategies that we’ll share with you as effectively as possible.

PART 2: How To Cope With And Overcome The Painful Emotions That Are Triggered By Social Media

In the second part of this journal, we’ll focus on helping you to cope with and overcome the painful emotions that are triggered by social media. In particular:

• Firstly, we’ll share with you a variety of ways in which you can cultivate gratitude - which as we’ll show you, can help you cope with and overcome feelings of misery, jealousy and worthlessness that can stem from negatively comparing yourself to other people on social media; as well as feelings of dejection, overwhelm and hopelessness that can stem from being inundated with social media posts about all of the problems in the world and the bad things that are happening.
• Secondly, we’ll show you how you can evaluate how “well” you are doing in life and whether your life is “on the right track” based on the extent to which you’re living in alignment with your values - which as we’ll explain in detail, can help you break the habit of negatively comparing yourself to other people on social media, and overcome the feelings of misery, jealousy and worthlessness that can stem from doing so.

Additionally, we’ll also share with you a variety of journal prompts for you to think about and write out your response to that will guide you through putting everything we talk about into practice.

PART 3: How To Use Social Media In A Healthier Way

Once you know how to challenge the negative thoughts and overcome the painful emotions that are fuelled by social media, you’ll find that it will have much, much less power to trigger your depression. However, it’s still critically important that you take one last step to prevent social media from triggering your depression, and that’s to “remove the trigger”, so to speak – so that the negative thoughts and the painful emotions we’ve talked about don’t get kickstarted in the first place.

To that end, in Part 3 of this journal:

• We’ll share a wide variety of suggestions about how you can use social media in a healthier way – so that rather than triggering your depression, social media can have a positive, healthy impact on your life instead!
• Additionally, these suggestions will be accompanied by guided journal prompts to help you think about how you could implement them in ways that will best work for you.

FAQ #1: Why should I be confident this journal will help me?

This journal is grounded in cognitive behavioural therapy - which in case you don't know, is a leading form of treatment for depression, anxiety, panic attacks, phobias, personality disorders, and a wide range of other mental health issues.

Additionally, this journal is also written with the warmth, care, encouragement and insight that, with 3,000,000+ followers on social media, The Depression Project has become renowned for :)

FAQ #2: What format does this journal come in?

This journal is available in two different formats for you to choose from:

1. PDF - which you will be able to download instantly after purchase, and then print out at your home, office or local printer.
2. Paperback (if you live in the US or Canada) - which will be delivered to you within 4-8 business days. Shipping costs are US$7.95 within the US and CAD$14 within Canada. This shipping cost is a flat rate, so whether you order one journal, or multiple journals, the shipping cost will be the same (if you would like to, you'll find the option to add one or more other journals to your cart below so that you can save on shipping). Once your order has been shipped, you will be emailed a number so that you can track it. 
   

FAQ #3: What if I give this journal a try but I don't like it?

We're extremely, extremely confident that you're going to find this journal immensely helpful. But, just in case you don't, the PDF version of this journal comes with a 60 Day, No-Questions-Asked, 100% Moneyback Guarantee!

If you have any questions about this journal, then please feel free to click here and contact us so that someone from our friendly team can answer them for you :)

Otherwise, we hope you choose to get this journal, because we know that you're going to find it really, really helpful!

All our love,

The Depression Project Team.