Doctor, Doctor, I Feel Like a Pair of Curtains!

I’ve dabbled somewhat with depression during the past few years. Well, I think what I’ve done is realise/accept/learn/whatever that I’ve had a tendency towards depression for most of my life. It’s just had a chance to take hold a little more during the past few years.

So I was reading this piece in the Guardian, about Adaptation Practice, and I was nodding sagely to myself — it’s a very positive, encouraging portrayal. It was only afterwards that I realised this ‘radical self-help approach’ has a more traditional name. It’s usually called ‘pulling oneself together’.

Which is not to say that it’s bunk. Quite the opposite. There’s a great deal to be said for the simplicity, regularity and focus that’s at the heart of the technique. But it’s hardly a new idea, and I’m not sure it needs a new name, except to sell it to those for whom ‘pulling oneself together’ doesn’t seem viable, or something that would count as therapy, or something that they’d be willing to pay for.