Clay-this is awesome!
Good going.
I like your therapist-this sounds like a really useful technique. When I start to feel depressed, it's like that little devil on my shoulder that whispers about all the negative stuff in my life.
BTW Hurricane is a great movie. That guy really dealt with so much pain and suffering...I can't even imagine being accused of a crime you didnt' commit. I love stories like that, where the person is vindicated in the end.
I'm in the process of writing a novel that's based on a pretty low time in my life. It's about me but I'm going to fictionalize the characters. I'm trying to balance the darkness of it with humor, so it won't be too heavy.
If you want, we could swap writing tips
PM me anytime
Originally Posted by
ClayTheScribe 
In my session with my therapist we did roleplaying. At first I played the negative part of my mind--the depression--and she played the positive part of me. I found it very easy to be the negative part--although I was questioning some of the things I was saying--yet she was winning as the positive side. Then we switched roles. She was much more of a stronger negative side, but I kept coming up with positive thoughts to counter it. For one of my responses I referenced Rubin "Hurricane" Carter, a boxer who was falsely imprisoned for murder in the '60s. In the movie The Hurricane, my favorite movie, there's a scene when he's put in the hole for like 90 days and he starts to lose it. He sort of hallucinates in his head one part of him, The Hurricane, who he references in his book as his angry, self-destructive side, he's Rubin the true self, and Carter, his hurt, wounded side. Rubin's trying to console Carter who's frightened, while The Hurricane keeps telling him to shut up and stop acting like a sissy, while Rubin retorts back to leave him alone. Then The Hurricane basically threatens to kill Rubin, so suicide, but he tells him to go away and cries through the night. Later on in the movie when Rubin decides finally to put his all into fighting for his freedom, The Hurricane is talking to him telling him he can't do it, that he'll fail and Rubin simply says "It's time for you to go."
I realized that if I simply let my negative thoughts pass, while acknowledging them and labeling them, and stating the positive, that voice will grow quieter. It's just been hard this week because that voice has been so loud and controlling. If I punish myself anymore, it's going to be harder for me to come out of the hole, so to speak. I still feel the need to drink though and I know it's going to be hard not to tonight. I need to find another way to celebrate my liberation from the job that doesn't involve drugs or alcohol. I think I'm going to start actually writing my ideas out.