Mindful Mental Healthcare Management with Dr. Stuart Eisendrath MD & Dr. Ron Frey Ph.D.

Original Air Date Wednesday, July 6, 2022 

Human beings require interpersonal relationships to be fulfilled in life. But many who suffer from bouts of depression find it difficult to take the necessary steps to get motivated or to communicate their needs with others. Researchers are studying how to create mindfulness techniques that can break cycles of depression for willing participants.

To find out more about the mindfulness-healthy mind connection, Positive Psychology Podcast Host Lisa Cypers Kamen speaks with two authors who promote being in the present moment and who practice mindful mental healthcare management. Dr. Stuart Eisendrath describes his alternative method to mindfully manage depression. And, Dr. Ronald Frey, whose book, Feeling Better: Beat Depression and Improve Your Relationships with Interpersonal Psychotherapy, shares his externally referenced relationship-based approach to overcoming depression.

• Meditation mixed with cognitive therapy is Dr. Eisendrath’s alternative method for healing depression. [2:16]
• How mindfulness breaks up the depressive spiral. [5:54]
• In his book, When Antidepressants Aren’t Enough, Dr. Eisendrath writes that depression can be cured. [9:53]
• How depression generates a list of thoughts, and how those thoughts generate more depression. [13:07]
• An MRI can measure brain function and offer a technique to change a depressed person’s focus. [16:23]
• The technique of asking questions about our depressed condition diverts focus away from depression. [18:21]
• In one study, exercise was found to be one of the greatest antidepressants. [22:21]

Dr. Stuart Eisendrath is a psychiatrist who cares for patients with depressive disorders. He leads groups in mindfulness-based cognitive therapy to treat depression and anxiety. He was the UCSF Depression Center’s founding director and is  Professor Emeritus of Psychiatry at UCSF Weill Institute for Neurosciences.

Book: When Antidepressants Aren’t Enough: Harnessing the Power of Mindfulness to Alleviate Depression

Stuart Eisendrath Website
Stuart Eisendrath MD on Facebook

Dr. Ron Frey Ph.D. — Feeling Better:

• Dr. Frey explains the basics of Interpersonal Psychotherapy (IPT) and how it approaches depression. [27:29]
• How can clinicians motivate patients to take action and try IPT to combat depression from the book Feeling Better: Beat Depression and Improve Your Relationships with Interpersonal Psychotherapy. [28:57]
• Even though intimate conversations require some type of risk it is those conversations that are essential to healing. [35:53]
• How an externally referenced therapy model differs from an internally referenced therapy model. [45:19]
• Dr. Frey describes the process and duration of Interpersonal Psychotherapy. [48:11]

Ronald J. Frey, Ph.D. is a former acting chief psychologist for the Royal Canadian Mounted Police and a registered forensic and clinical psychologist. He is the co-author of Feeling Better and the co-director of the Institute for Interpersonal Psychotherapy with Cindy Stulberg. Ron lives in Quebec.

Book: Feeling Better: Beat Depression and Improve Your Relationships with Interpersonal Psychotherapy

Interpersonal Psychotherapy Website
@FBthebook on Twitter
Feeling Better the Book on Facebook

This podcast episode about mindful healthcare management is sponsored by:

Are We Happy Yet? Eight Keys to Unlocking a Joyful Life — A boot camp manual for greater emotional fitness. Happiness waits for no one and sometimes we all need support. What is getting in the way of your happiness right now? 

H–Factor: Where is Your Heart? — Lisa’s documentary film that explores the journey of human happiness. Emotions are contagious and happiness is a universally desired state. We tend to forget we all have the freedom to be happy or the liberty to be miserable each day.

“99.9% of the time the present moment is usually okay to pretty good.” @LisaKamen on @HHTalkRadio Click To Tweet “A state of curiosity and wonder is part of a mindful approach to managing depression.” @LisaKamen on @HHTalkRadio Click To Tweet“People are often resistant to taking antidepressants because they don't want to feel dependent upon a chemical yet the medication can offer a life-saving bridge.” @LisaKamen on @HHTalkRadio Click To Tweet“It isn't often necessary to root around in the past to heal depression. Mindfulness heals in the present moment.” — Dr. Eisendrath on @HHTalkRadio Click To Tweet“Often people who are depressed get more depressed because they are depressed. They add more suffering to themselves.” — Dr. Eisendrath on @HHTalkRadio Click To Tweet“Thoughts are mental events. You don’t have to believe them as facts.” — Dr. Eisendrath on @HHTalkRadio Click To Tweet “Depression generates thoughts and those thoughts, in turn, generate more depression.” — Dr. Eisendrath on @HHTalkRadio Click To Tweet “Just learning to focus our attention is very powerful. Learning to focus our attention on a sound can be anti-depressive.” — Dr. Eisendrath on @HHTalkRadio Click To Tweet“Once you start to realize you don't have to be stuck in depression that is where freedom starts to occur.” — Dr. Eisendrath on @HHTalkRadio Click To Tweet “The heart and soul study concluded that exercise was the most powerful antidepressant for its study group.” — Dr. Eisendrath on @HHTalkRadio Click To Tweet

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