How to Relate to People When You Have no Interests?

[shadetree]

Thats a thought you have, its a symptom of depression, theyre automatic negative thoughts that come with depression. Another symptom of depression is loss of interest in things because it feels like its meaningless to try something beacuse the depression is constantly whispering negative thoughts like that in your head. The key is to fight those thoughts by replacing them with something more positive. What im talking about is CBT its cognitive behavioral therapy and its very effective in treating depression and anxiety.

From what i can tell from what you posted youre definitely depressed which feeds into the loss of interest which in turn feeds the depression. Thats how it all works, its a circle sort of and we get trapped in it. I would suggest before you focus on trying to find hobbies and things, go see a doctor or a counselor and figure out about treating your depression. Then you might be able to find and keep interest in things. I have this sometimes the loss of interest in things and its really really horrible and im sorry you go through that.

I get this way all the time. I think I've been this way my entire life. I'm bombarded with negative thoughts almost constantly, always doubting myself, always saying I can't do it, this and that is impossible, that it's meaningless, and so on. I have generally low energy levels and I too have felt the loss of interest in things, because my mind is always telling me I don't have enough natural talent to ever get good at any given thing, so there's no point in trying. Then I lose interest in whatever it was that I wanted to do, and then I feel bored and frustrated with myself because I don't do anything, and then I'll wish I could do something, but my mind tells me there's no point, and around and around we go. I definitely have felt the circle of these thoughts.

I guess my question is, how would you go about dealing with this? For one, I don't have money for a therapist and even if I did, I don't want to take meds. How does a person use Cognitive Behavioral Therapy to counter the depressive thoughts?

Sorry this is a super slow reply, i hope you see this. I havent been on the site in a while because i had a few people just up and quit talking to me and was dealing with some depression myself but im feeling a lot better now.

The way CBT works since im not a shrink myself ill just refer you to this website.

http://www.rcpsych.ac.uk/mentalhealthinformation/therapies/cognitivebehaviouraltherapy.aspx

Basically though the meat and potatoes of it is you have neural pathways or bundles of nerves dedicated to negative thinking, its like a bad habit kind of your brain is like a computer and thats a program running in there constantly spouting out bad stuff at you like you mentioned.

CBT helps you build anothr neural pathway dedicated to positive thinking. Another program for your mind if you will. Then over time that old program dies out from being unused. Hopefully that makes sense.

You do need a therapist though or an audio course for it to work. Try looking around on the web and find CBT audio courses its somethign you might can do on your own, i was doing one for social anxiety and it was helping me a good bit. I mean do a search it cant hurt to look for it right? Good luck with it and sorry again about the slow reply.

 

[Unbinilium]

A similar issue many people face is how to relate to others when very, very few people share your interests outside the Internet.

 

[cumulus.james]

This is true, as an anarchist humanist into physics and cosmology, but without being in academia, I have no one who shares my interests. I would find it hard to get along with, and clash with anyone who is not aware of Chomsky, Klien, Monbiot etc.

 

[TheSkaFish]

Sorry this is a super slow reply, i hope you see this. I havent been on the site in a while because i had a few people just up and quit talking to me and was dealing with some depression myself but im feeling a lot better now.

The way CBT works since im not a shrink myself ill just refer you to this website.

http://www.rcpsych.ac.uk/mentalhealthinformation/therapies/cognitivebehaviouraltherapy.aspx

Basically though the meat and potatoes of it is you have neural pathways or bundles of nerves dedicated to negative thinking, its like a bad habit kind of your brain is like a computer and thats a program running in there constantly spouting out bad stuff at you like you mentioned.

CBT helps you build anothr neural pathway dedicated to positive thinking. Another program for your mind if you will. Then over time that old program dies out from being unused. Hopefully that makes sense.

You do need a therapist though or an audio course for it to work. Try looking around on the web and find CBT audio courses its somethign you might can do on your own, i was doing one for social anxiety and it was helping me a good bit. I mean do a search it cant hurt to look for it right? Good luck with it and sorry again about the slow reply.

I wonder if I could apply it to other areas of my life as well that I want to undo. I have a lot of pessimistic thought cycles I'd like to unlearn, and also a lot of anxious/morbid thought cycles I'd like to get rid of as well.

I think audio courses online would be my best bet, since money for a therapist is not in the cards right now. Either way, thank you, ShadeTree. I'll have to look into this further sometime.