This document reviews self-care approaches for depression.  Part 1 introduced a patient, Frank.  Part 3 covers professional care options, including complementary and integrative health (CIH) approaches.  To see all of this applied to a patient, you review a Personal Health Inventory and the Personal Health Plan in Part III.

Mindful Awareness

Mindful Awareness has been described as a practice of learning to focus attention on moment-by-moment experience with an attitude of curiosity, openness, and acceptance.  Mindful awareness is a general approach to living, but it can be used to work with many specific issues or concerns, and depression is no exception.  A particularly helpful resources is the book The Mindful Way Through Depression, by Mark Williams and colleagues.¹  Specific techniques that invoke mindful awareness are featured in the Power of the Mind section, below.