Running and nonpharmaceutical forms of treatment for depression and anxiety

As promised, today we will look at chapters 6-10 in the Scott Douglas book 'Running Is My Therapy.' He writes about five nonpharmaceutical forms of treatment for depression and anxiety and the link to running:

1. Running and Talk Therapy

Talk therapy is the most common type of psychotherapy. When someone says they're seeing a therapist, they usually mean they're having talk therapy sessions. Basically you are talking to someone about whatever issue you are dealing with. 

This is sort of a natural for most runners because we're already so good at it. If you've ever gone for a jog with someone or in a group, you know that instinctively people seem to share whatever is on their mind. It's also possible that conversations may go a bit deeper while running because of the logistics of being side-by-side or single file, rather than feeling the pressure of having to look someone in the eye. 

The book even highlights a therapist who actually does her sessions either walking or jogging with her patients. Brilliant!

2. Running and Cognitive Behavioral Therapy

Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) was created in the 1960s and "bridges traditional psychotherapy, focused on feelings a person has, and behavioral therapy, focused on a person's actions. The bridge is CBT's emphasis on how thoughts lead to feelings, which lead to behaviors." The goal is to produce behaviors that reduce rather than add to your problems.

One way to do this is to try to replace, say, negative self-talk with either more positive self-talk, or at least realistic self-talk. Say you're feeling like a total loser for some reason. While out on a run it can be much easier to check yourself and change that around to something like, "but at least I'm still out here able to run." Maybe even recognize that, no, I'm not a loser; I just made a mistake (or whatever). That's a super simplification.

3. Running and Mindfulness

Jon Kabat-Zinn defines mindfulness as "the awareness that emerges through paying attention on purpose, in the present moment, and non-judgmentally to the unfolding of experience moment by moment."

So, thinking back to CBT, which has a goal of challenging the validity of thoughts that can lead to undesirable behavior, mindfulness encourages you to observe a thought without judgment; "you accept it rather than challenge it." 

Douglas notes that, as with other forms of treatment, it's probable that adding regular exercise to mindfulness can make the practice that much more effective.

Of course it's also true that running in and of itself can be an exercise in mindfulness. If you've ever gone for a long run and found yourself in a trance-like state it can be what many refer to as a form of "auto-hypnosis." This is one of my favorite things about running. It's back to that "meditation on the move" from Allison Mariella Desir's introduction in the book.

4. Running and Strong Social Connections

One cause of depression and anxiety is a lack of strong social connections in a persons life. You may wonder how someone who goes out and runs mile after mile alone could jibe running with making strong social connections. Feeling connected to others is often more a matter of quality over quantity.

Many runners enjoy being a part of running clubs, or finding a running partner. Personally, that's not really my thing. However I do enjoy a good conversation when I discover someone is also a runner. There's a certain comradery. This is also part of the appeal for races and running events. That time spent with other people whose life at least partially resembles yours.

Douglas also cites the now-famous study which found that, "...over two weeks, the more people used Facebook, the worse they subsequently felt, and the more their satisfaction with their lives declined over time." Humans are social beings, and running is a great way to connect with others in a variety of ways.

5. Running and Meaningful Pursuits

Douglas quotes from ultramarathoner Bernd Heinrich's book 'Why We Run': "We are psychologically evolved to pursue long-range goals, because through millions of years that is what we on average had to do in order to eat."

Also, as the author notes, "running is one of the few things in life that can regularly give you something to work toward and look forward to in a personally meaningful way where the outcome is almost entirely based on you."

Most runners have goals, whether it is winning a race, running a certain distance or time, or simply being a healthier person. Those are all meaningful pursuits, and they can help in the struggle with depression and anxiety.

I lumped all these together partly because there really isn't enough for me to summarize about them individually (though they are given separate chapters in the book), but also to show that running does somewhat naturally lend itself to other forms of treatment for depression and anxiety. It's all connected.

There are two chapters left in the book, and I may lump them together in one post as well. 

Until next time...