The Upward Spiral: Using Neuroscience to Reverse the Course of Depression, One Small Change at a Time

by Alex Korb

There’s nothing wrong with your brain, just like there’s nothing wrong with the air in Oklahoma—despite the devastating tornados.

To combat pessimism, you can strengthen the brain circuits responsible for optimism. The first step is to simply imagine the possibility of positive future events. You don’t have to believe they will happen, just that they could happen. It’s possible you could find true love tomorrow. It’s possible that you could find a better job. It’s possible that things won’t turn out in the worst conceivable way.

We are often under the impression that we are happy when good things happen to us. But in actuality, we are happiest when we decide to pursue a particular goal and then achieve it. One big problem with depression is that in the short term, nothing feels pleasurable. Because of frontal-limbic miscommunications, you can’t connect future happiness to today’s actions. Thus any action that isn’t immediately pleasurable becomes difficult.