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hello my name is douglas splock i'm an
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author and mental health educator
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welcome to your depression recovery
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channel where each week we talk about
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practical tools and coping strategies
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for healing from depression anxiety
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in this video we're going to explore 10
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strategies that actually work to heal
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from depression before we do that we
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want to tell our regular joke and
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which knight invented the round table
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why circumference of course
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that's my days of math teacher
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well recently i came across a very
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inspiring book called back from the
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brink matter of fact i've named some of
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my videos where i interview people from
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uh who've recovered from depression and
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that's what this book does
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graham cowan the author is a depression
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survivor like me
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and after he got through his ordeal he
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said well i want to see what worked for
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other people so he and interviewed a
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number of people some of which were
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celebrities and asked them the simple
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question what actually worked for you
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and then he wrote down the answers
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in his interviews
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he discovered or observed that there
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were certain strategies that were
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mentioned again and again and again
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and not surprisingly these are the very
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same strategies that i've been talking
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about for quarter century on my books
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websites
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podcasts youtube channel etc
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so
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what i like to do now and i'm really
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really i really like this list i've come
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up with is to
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share with you what i consider the 10
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most effective strategies tools for
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healing from depression anxiety
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improving your mood and these things
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actually work
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they work because i've experienced them
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my
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clients have or formed clients graham
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has you know they're all over the place
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but i wanted to condense them into 10
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really straightforward simple strategies
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that you can use
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to improve your mood and help yourself
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feel better
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well here's number one on my list the
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most important one because it's the
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starting point of all recovery
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and that is what i call setting the
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intention to heal
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and that is really simple
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it simply means making the decision that
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you want to get well even if you don't
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know how it's going to happen even if
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you don't think it's going to happen you
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still say to the universe i want to get
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well and the vehicle for doing this is
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to create what i call a vision statement
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of wellness
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and in this vision statement you asked a
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simple question what would my life look
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and feel like if i were
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free from the symptoms of anxiety and
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depression like what thoughts would i be
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having what whatever you're feeling what
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would my relationships be like what
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would i be doing for work etc and when
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you've asked these questions you take
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the answers and write them down maybe in
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a paragraph or two
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and this creates what i call a mental
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blueprint for recovery and if you look
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at that and put energy on a regular
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basis you will attract the recovery
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you're seeking
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now this is so important i did a whole
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video on it called setting the intention
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to heal and it's the first week of my
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12-week recovery program in my book
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healing from depression
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number two on my list of
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10 strategies that actually work the
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heal from depression should come as no
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surprise exercise something i've been
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preaching forever
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it's nature's antidepressant and
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everybody from psychiatrists to
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alternative healers agree this is the
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case so turns out if you do moderately
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strenuous exercise when you break a
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sweat for at least 16 minutes this has a
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tremendous effect against depression and
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promoting a good mood so you can run you
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can swim you can walk
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garden pump iron whatever it does to get
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your heart rate up is something you
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enjoy and
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now in the
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21st century there are these wonderful
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technologies these trackers like what
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fitbit garmin activity track or apple
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watch that will track your activity
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tell you what's going on and give you
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the rewards that you're seeking from
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doing all that wonderful hard work
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my third effective strategy that works
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for sure in healing from depression
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is uh social support
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as i said in my video on happiness we
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human beings are social animals
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and therefore we feel better when we're
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connected to other folks and by the way
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this includes pets
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oh yes uh i have a whole video on that
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and it's amazing how many people are so
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bonded with their pets even more than
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people that the pets will even keep them
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here when they're thinking of harming
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themselves so
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pets are really important ascension
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beings
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for social support and the other benefit
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is that of social support is if you have
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somebody around you who believes in your
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recovery it's so easy to give up feel
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hopeless one of the cardinal symptoms of
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depression and to feel like you'll never
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get better but another person or group
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of people can do what i call hold the
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hope
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and see a vision of recovery and belief
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for it when you can't believe it for
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yourself so
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if you don't have family and friends who
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can do that you can find a therapist
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join a support group
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what else
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you might have social connections in
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your spiritual community or even do
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volunteer work so
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it is important to have other people
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around you to help you heal
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the fourth effective strategy
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for healing from depression uh that i've
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used other people have especially our
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friends in recovery is to live one day
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at a time
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now this is especially helpful when
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you're looking to the future and feel
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overwhelmed by you know how am i going
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to get better it feels hopeless
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no you just focus on today and
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you ask yourself when you get up okay
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what can i do just today just for today
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step by step to get through the next 24
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hours
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and then do what needs to be done you
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don't need a grand scheme of recovery
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you don't need to know the details
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of how things will work out
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you just need to figure out how to get
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through the day and you know what if you
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can get through one day you can make it
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through your entire ordeal
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if you can survive for one day you can
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survive the entire process and one day
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you'll wake up and as um
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this very famous uh seaman named google
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robertson said in his book on surviving
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a shipwreck he said
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uh rescue will come
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as a welcome
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interruption of the survival journey a
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welcome interruption
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i had a time when i was absolutely in
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despair i went to a support meeting and
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72 hours later i felt better you never
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know what tomorrow may bring
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my next strategy number five on the hit
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parade
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is creating structure and routine in
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your life remember i just mentioned live
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one day at a time well
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in order to do that you have to have
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something to focus on during the day
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otherwise you'll just sit and be you
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know overwhelmed by your own rumination
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and worries so this means setting up a
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series of do-able strategies or doable
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activities that you can focus on hour by
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hour
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this can include you know working at a
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job if you're fortunate enough to have
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one or doing volunteer work
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uh having a meal with a friend spending
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time in nature
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uh going to the gym you know taking a
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classes something interesting there's
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about 30 or 40
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and i have them listed on my website
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overcoming suicidal pain because it has
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been proven
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again and again and from my life
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particularly
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that having structure and routine
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relieves depression and relieves anxiety
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it gives you something to focus on the
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outside world and it actually has a
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calming effect on the nervous system so
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remember
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strategy number five create structure
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and routine in your life
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number six and my effective strategies
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for treating depression or healing from
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depression
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is finding the right
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therapist or a prescriber
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now
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even though
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friends and family can help you out
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anything from depression sometimes more
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is needed
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just as someone with a serious infection
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needs to be seen by a doctor if you have
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a severe case of
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depression you also need professional
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support
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and
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depression is a treatable condition just
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like an infection is and when approached
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through finding a good therapist
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psychotherapist and sometimes medication
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now when that doesn't work there are
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other therapies you know kind of like
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bringing the troops right that you can
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try when you have a treatment resistant
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depression such as
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transcranial magnesium magnetic
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stimulation that's a mouthful tms or
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ect electro convulsive therapy ketamine
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and now in oregon at least they are
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experimenting with using psilocybin
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therapy for treating depression it's now
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being evaluated by the fda so there are
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all sorts of things you can use
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and as i jokingly tell my friends
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there's never been a better time to be
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mentally ill than today
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number seven of effective strategies to
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treat depression heal from depression is
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changing your negative thinking
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people who
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have a depression
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have a negative filter through which
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they experience the world they have a
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negative view of themselves and they get
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a view
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of
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their circumstances and negative view of
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the future as comedian lily tomlin once
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said things will get worse before they
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get worse
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fortunately there's a therapy that's
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been around for a while called cognitive
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behavioral therapy cbt many of you have
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heard of it
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and it's pretty simple they say if you
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can change the way you think you'll
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change the way you feel so they identify
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ten thinking errors or cognitive
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distortions
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and the whole point of cbt is to
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identify your thinking errors like i'll
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always be this way i'll never get better
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what a shmo am i right and replace them
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with more rational realistic beliefs and
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as you replace the negative beliefs
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slowly you start to feel better
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lots of books on cbt i talk about in my
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book healing from depression and i've
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done a couple videos very powerful
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therapy simple but powerful
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to change your negative thinking
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number eight on my list of effective
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strategies for healing from depression
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is getting a good night's sleep
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easier said than done right
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according to sleep researcher matthew
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walker who wrote a really cool book
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called sleep is your superpower and did
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a ted talk by the same name
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the reason we sleep is because this is
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when the brain
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clears out the toxins
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and renews and regenerates itself it's
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so essential to feeling good
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especially for people with depression
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because sleep disruptions are a major
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symptom this means
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failure to get to sleep
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but more importantly waking up in the
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middle of the night and not getting back
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to sleep that is
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can become really hell i did a whole
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video on that called what happens if
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it's 4 a.m and you can't get back to
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sleep so how do you deal with this well
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first you practice something called good
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sleep hygiene which are good habits
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around sleep like going to bed and
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getting up at the same time not drinking
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coffee
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after 3 p.m you know cutting down on
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screen time before bed keeping your room
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dark and cool
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and also there are some medications that
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are uh can be effective healing from
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depression i mean and what i mean is
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getting a good night's sleep and they
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are uh not some of them are non-habit
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forming so i did a whole video on
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medications to heal insomnia but again
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we need to do everything we can to make
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sure we get good rest because that is
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essential for physical health and mental
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health number nine on my list of ten
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strategies to heal from depression that
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actually work is what i call spiritual
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connection
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uh i have used many times when i've been
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desperate and despairing tapping into my
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spirituality and by that i mean feeling
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a part of an intelligence that's greater
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than yourself
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and i believe that this intelligence is
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benevolent you can call upon it in your
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time of need
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and in some sense it's always looking
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out for you so
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you can tap into your spirituality
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through prayer meditation finding
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purpose and meaning in your life
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spending time in nature
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becoming involved in spiritual community
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and it was this involvement
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almost 25 years ago on july 14 1997 that
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a spiritual community came together when
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i was at my west end held a vision of
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love and healing for me
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and that actually helped me get better
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so i know from personal experience how
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spirituality can be healing and i hope
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you'll find your own ways to connect
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with it the tenth and perhaps most
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important uh
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strategy that works for healing from
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depression is what i call perseverance
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and persistence
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overcoming depression
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is the hardest thing i've ever had to do
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this is partially because uh we're in a
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stage in psychiatry that's still pretty
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primitive we don't know
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what treatments will work uh
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how long they take to work so there's a
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lot of trauma and a lot of just it takes
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a long time
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but i found a quotation by matt higg
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from his wonderful book reasons to stay
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alive that have been very helpful to me
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he says
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minds have their own weather systems
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you're in a hurricane
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hurricanes run out of energy eventually
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hold on
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what matt is saying is if we can just
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hold on and keep persevering and
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persisting and moving forward in spite
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of the difficulties we face
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then one day
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our ordeal will end as my friend julie
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said about her suicidal depression i
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just had to wait it out
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this has been douglas bloch thank you so
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much for watching this video i hope uh
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you have learned something from it i
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hope some of these 10 strategies that
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you haven't tried you'll try them
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they really are quite wonderfully
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effective if you did learn something
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please give this
00:12:58
video a like draws viewers to the
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channel if you have a comment please
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leave your comment in the comment
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section or you can email me douglasblock
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gmail.com speaking of comments i really
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appreciate the comments
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uh that you do send it here's one i
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recently got
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on from a video called reasons to stay
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alive and
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one named laura says
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life has tested me severely many times
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i searched for help on youtube and you
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were there profound thanks god bless so
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comments like these that let me know i'm
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really making a difference and kind of
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give me the inspiration to keep doing
00:13:32
this
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if you want to subscribe to my channel
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subscribe page and if you click on
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and
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i guess that's it
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and thank you for watching and until we
00:14:02
meet again i wish you the best for your
00:14:04
mental health recovery again thanks so
00:14:06
much for watching see you next time
